Brewer's: Hell

According to Mohammedan faith, there are seven hells—

(1) Jabannam, for wicked Mohammedans, all of whom will be sooner or later taken to paradise:

(2) The Flamer (Lathà) for Christians;

(3) The Smasber (Hutamah, for Jews;

(4) The Blazer Sair for Sabians;

(5) The Scorcher (Sakar, for Magians;

(6) The Burner (Johim, for idolaters; and

(7) The Abyss (Hawiyah, for hypocrites.

Hell

or Arka of the Jewish Cabalists, divided into seven lodges, one under another (Joseph ben Abraham Gikatilla)—

All these presidents are under Duma, the Angel of Silence who keeps the three keys of the three gates of hell.

In the Buddhist system there are 136 places of punishment after death, where the dead are sent according to their degree of demerit. (See Euphemisms.)

Hell

This word occurs eighteen times in the New Testament. In nine instances the Greek word is Hades; in eight instances it is Gehenna; and in one it is Tartarus.

Hades:

Matt. xi. 23, xvi. 18; Luke xvi. 23; Acts ii. 31; 1 Cor. xv. 55; Rev. i. 18, vi. 8, xx. 13, 14. (See Hades.)

Gehenna:

Matt. v. 22, 29, x. 28, xiii. 15, xviii. 9, xxiii. 15, 33; James iii. 6. (See Gehenna.) Tartarus: 2 Peter ii. 4. (See Tartaros.)

Descended into hell

(Creed) means the place of the dead. (Anglo-Saxon, helan, to cover or conceal, like the Greek “Hades,” the abode of the dead, from the verb a-cido, not to see. In both cases it means “the unseen world” or “the world concealed from sight.” The god of this nether world was called “Hades” by the Greeks, and “Hel” or “Hela” by the Scandinavians. In some counties of England to cover in with a roof is “to hell the building,” and thatchers or tilers are termed “helliers.”

Lead apes in hell.

(See Ape.)

Hell

(Rivers of). Classic authors tell us that the Inferno is encompassed by five rivers: Acheron, Cocytus, Styx, Phlegethon, and Lethe. Acheron from the Greek achos-reo, grief-flowing; Cocytus, from the Greek kokuo, to weep, supposed to be a flood of tears; Styx, from the Greek stugeo, to loathe; Phlegethon, from the Greek phleo to burn; and Lethê, from the Greek letle, oblivion.

Five hateful rivers round Inferno run, Grief comes the first, and then the Flood of tears, Next loathsome Styx, then liquid Flame appears, Lethe comes last, or blank oblivion. E. C. B.

Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894

Hell Broth

Heliotrope