Hell

111 languages
 Article
 Talk
 Read
 View source
 View history

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about the abode of the dead in various cultures and religious traditions
around the world. For other uses, see Hell (disambiguation).

Medieval illustration of Hell in the Hortus deliciarum manuscript of Herrad of Landsberg (about 1180)

Hell – detail from a fresco in the medieval church of St Nicholas in Raduil, Bulgaria

Belief in Hell by country (2017-20)

In religion and folklore, hell is a location or state in the afterlife in which evil souls are

subjected to punitive suffering, most often through torture,
as eternal punishment after death. Religions with a linear divine history often depict
hells as eternal destinations, the biggest examples of which
are Christianity and Islam, whereas religions with reincarnation usually depict a hell
as an intermediary period between incarnations, as is the case in the dharmic
religions. Religions typically locate hell in another dimension or under Earth's
surface. Other afterlife destinations include heaven, paradise, purgatory, limbo, and
the underworld.
Other religions, which do not conceive of the afterlife as a place of punishment or
reward, merely describe an abode of the dead, the grave, a neutral place that is
located under the surface of Earth (for example, see Kur, Hades, and Sheol). Such
places are sometimes equated with the English word hell, though a more correct
translation would be "underworld" or "world of the dead". The
ancient Mesopotamian, Greek, Roman, and Finnic religions include entrances to the
underworld from the land of the living.

Overview
Etymology

Hel (1889) by Johannes Gehrts, depicts the Old Norse Hel, a goddess-like figure, in the location of the
same name, which she oversees
The modern English word hell is derived from Old English hel, helle (first attested
around 725 AD to refer to a nether world of the dead) reaching into the Anglo-Saxon
pagan period.[1] The word has cognates in all branches of the Germanic languages,
including Old Norse hel (which refers to both a location and goddess-like
being in Norse mythology), Old Frisian helle, Old Saxon hellia, Old High
German hella, and Gothic halja. All forms ultimately derive from
the reconstructed Proto-Germanic feminine noun *xaljō or *haljō ('concealed place,
the underworld'). In turn, the Proto-Germanic form derives from the o-grade form of
the Proto-Indo-European root *kel-, *kol-: 'to cover, conceal, save'.[2] Indo-European
cognates include Latin cēlāre ("to hide", related to the English word cellar) and early
Irish ceilid ("hides"). Upon the Christianization of the Germanic peoples, extensions
of the Proto-Germanic *xaljō were reinterpreted to denote the underworld in Christian
mythology[1][3] (see Gehenna).
Related early Germanic terms and concepts include Proto-Germanic *xalja-rūnō(n),
a feminine compound noun, and *xalja-wītjan, a neutral compound noun. This form is
reconstructed from the Latinized Gothic plural noun *haliurunnae (attested
by Jordanes; according to philologist Vladimir Orel, meaning 'witches'), Old
English helle-rúne ('sorceress, necromancer', according to Orel), and Old High
German helli-rūna 'magic'. The compound is composed of two elements:
*xaljō (*haljō) and *rūnō, the Proto-Germanic precursor to Modern English rune.
[4]
 The second element in the Gothic haliurunnae may however instead be an agent
noun from the verb rinnan ("to run, go"), which would make its literal meaning "one
who travels to the netherworld".[5][6]
Proto-Germanic *xalja-wītjan (or *halja-wītjan) is reconstructed from Old Norse hel-
víti 'hell', Old English helle-wíte 'hell-torment, hell', Old Saxon helli-wīti 'hell', and the
Middle High German feminine noun helle-wīze. The compound is a compound of
*xaljō (discussed above) and *wītjan (reconstructed from forms such as Old
English witt 'right mind, wits', Old Saxon gewit 'understanding', and Gothic un-
witi 'foolishness, understanding').[7]
Religion, mythology, and folklore
Hell appears in several mythologies and religions. It is commonly inhabited
by demons and the souls of dead people. A fable about hell which recurs
in folklore across several cultures is the allegory of the long spoons.[citation needed]
Punishment

Preserved colonial wall painting of 1802 depicting Hell,[8][9][10] by Tadeo Escalante, inside the Church of San
Juan Bautista in Huaro, Peru

Punishment in hell typically corresponds to sins committed during life. Sometimes

these distinctions are specific, with damned souls suffering for each sin committed,
such as in Plato's myth of Er or Dante's The Divine Comedy, but sometimes they are
general, with condemned sinners relegated to one or more chamber of hell or to a
level of suffering.[citation needed]
In many religious cultures, including Christianity and Islam, hell is often depicted as
fiery, painful, and harsh, inflicting suffering on the guilty. [11] Despite these common
depictions of hell as a place of fire, some other traditions portray hell as cold.
Buddhist – and particularly Tibetan Buddhist – descriptions of hell feature an equal
number of hot and cold hells. Among Christian descriptions Dante's Inferno portrays
the innermost (9th) circle of hell as a frozen lake of blood and guilt. [12] But cold also
played a part in earlier Christian depictions of hell or purgatory, beginning with
the Apocalypse of Paul, originally from the early third century; [13] the "Vision of
Dryhthelm" by the Venerable Bede from the seventh century;[14] "St Patrick's
Purgatory", "The Vision of Tundale" or "Visio Tnugdali", and the "Vision of the Monk
of Eynsham", all from the twelfth century;[15] and the "Vision of Thurkill" from the early
thirteenth century.[16]