An Attempt To Date
the Netherworld
G.D.O'Bradovich III
September 4, 2014
The following information is courtesy of the Oxford English Dictionary:
Etymology of Hell:
Cognate with
Old Frisian helle , hille ,
Old Dutch helle (Middle Dutch helle , Dutch hel ),
Old Saxon hellia , hel
(Middle Low German helle ),
Old High German hella
(Middle High German helle , German Hölle ),
Old Icelandic hel (also the name of the goddess of the underworld: see Hel n., and compare Hela n.1),
Old Swedish häl (Swedish hel ),
Old Danish heliæ , genitive (Danish hel ), Gothic halja , showing a derivative noun (originally strong feminine) probably < the same Indo-European base as hele v.1
An alternative derivation
< the Germanic base of Old Icelandic hella flat stone, hallr stone, boulder, hill, Gothic hallus rock (of uncertain origin, perhaps ultimately < the same Indo-European base as hill n.), suggesting that the underworld was imagined as covered by a stone, is not generally accepted.
From the Oxford English Dictionary with secondary sources in red.
eOE Cleopatra Gloss. MS Cotton Cleopatra A.III (Ph.D. diss., Stanford Univ.) (1956) 219 Ex herebo : of helle.
eOE King Ælfred tr. Boethius De Consol. Philos. (Otho) xxxv. 102 Ða ðohte he [sc. Orfeus] ðæt he wolde gesecan hellegodu [L. infernas adiit domos..umbrarum dominos rogat].
eOE King Ælfred tr. Boethius De Consol. Philos. (Otho) xxxv. 102 Ða sceolde cuman ðære helle hund ongean hine, ...
eOE Metres of Boethius (partly from transcript of damaged MS) viii. 51 Etne..on iglonde Sicilia swefle byrneð, þæt mon hellefyr hateð wide, forþæm hit symle bið sinbyrnende.
eOE (Mercian) Vespasian Psalter (1965) liv. 13 (16) Veniat mors super illos et descendant in infernum uiuentes : cyme deað ofer hie & astigen hie in helle lifgende.
OE Ælfric Catholic Homilies: 2nd Ser. (Cambr. Gg.3.28) xxi. 202 [Seo swearte nywelnyss þe ðu gesawe mid þam ormætum þeostrum and fulum] stence, seo is helle muð.
OE Blickling Homilies 61 Se gifra helle bið a open deoflum & þæm mannum þe nu be his [sc. the Devil's] larum lifiaþ.
OE Crist III 1159 Hell eac ongeat, scyldwreccende, þæt se scyppend cwom, waldende god, þa heo þæt weorud ageaf, hloþe of ðam hatan hreþre.
OE Glosses to Bella Parisiacae Urbis of Abbo of St. Germain (Harl. 3271) in W. H. Stevenson Early Scholastic Colloquies103 Sit machia tibi, quo sit ierarchia, neque sit cloaca tibi : gewin þæt sy halig ealdor ne ne sy helle pyt.
OE Old Eng. Hexateuch: Gen. (Claud.) xxxvii. 35 Ic fare to minum suna to helle [L. descendam ad filium meum lugens in infernum].
OE Rule St. Benet (Tiber.) (1888) vii. 36 Monachus..universa que prius non sine formidine observabat..incipiet custodire non jam timore gehenne sed amore christi : se munuc..ealle þinc ær buton forhte þe he geheold..anginne gehealde na mid ege helle ac mid cristes lufan.
OE tr. Gospel of Nicodemus (Cambr.) xx. §2. 209 Seo hell [L. Inferus] þa swiðe grymme and swyðe egeslice andswarode þa Satanase þam ealdan deofle.
OE West Saxon Gospels: Matt. (Corpus Cambr.) xviii. 9 Betere þe ys mid anum eage on life to ganne þonne þu si mid twam asend on hellefyr [c1384 Wycliffite, E.V. fijr of helle, 1526 Tyndale hell fyre, 1582 Rheims the hel of fire; L. in gehennam ignis, Gk. εἰς τὴν γέενναν τοῦ πυρός].
1200?c Ormulum (Burchfield transcript) l. 10075 Werrpenn inn till helle fir. To bærnenn butenn ende.
1200?c Ormulum (Burchfield transcript) l. 10215 Forr helle pitt niss næfre full.
1200c Serm. in Eng. & Germanic Stud. (1961) 7 63 And heo al man cun to helle venden et heore liues ende.
1225?c (▸?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Cleo. C.vi) (1972) 102 Ihonged in fur of purgatorie [c1230 Corpus purgatoire]. oðer inpine of helle.
1225?c (▸?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Cleo. C.vi) (1972) 119 Þenne nis hit to naut se god ase to þe fur of helle.
1225?c (▸?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Cleo. C.vi) (1972) 120 Wurðe buten ende helle fures fode.
1225a MS Lamb. in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1868) 1st Ser. 61 From hwonne þe engles adun follon in to þe þosternesse hellen.
1225a (▸?OE) MS Vesp. in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1868) 1st Ser. 239 (MED), Wat sceol se wrecce don þe..iseȝð..under him helle muð open.
1300c All Souls (Laud) 79 in C. Horstmann Early S.-Eng. Legendary (1887) 423 (MED), Purgatorie [is]..in fif studes..On is in þe firmament, þare gret brenningue is..Þat oþur is in þe Eyr..Þe þridde is an vrþe..þe feorþe in watere is; Þe fifte is onder vrþe deope, bi-side helle, i-wis.
1325c (▸c1300) Chron. Robert of Gloucester (Calig.) l. 10417 Þouȝtes he adde inowe, Leste þe deuelen of helle al quic to helle ...
1340 Ayenbite (1866) 73 Purgatorie þe ssell seawy hou god clenzeþ veniel zenne.
1374c Chaucer Troilus & Criseyde iv. 1515 (1543) And this on euery god celestial..On euery Nymphe and deite infernal.
1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) 2 Kings xxiii. 10 Forsothe he defoulide Topheth, that is in the valeye of the sone of Ennon, that no man schuld sacryn his sone or his douȝtre thorȝ fyr to Moloch [a1425 has marg. note..Tophet signefieth tympan..for the prestis of this idol, maden noyse with timpans, lest fadres and modris schulden here the cry of her sones, diynge bi fier in the hondis of the idol].
1382▸a Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Bodl. 959) (1961) Deut. xxxii. 35 Nyȝ is þe day of perdycioun [L. dies perditionis; Coverdale, the tyme of their destruccion is at honde].
1382▸a Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Bodl. 959) (1969) Isa. v. 14 Helle [L. infernus] spradde abrod his soule & openede his [16th c. vers. her] mouþ withoute any terme.
1382▸a Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Bodl. 959) Job 28. 22 Whennes þanne wisdam shal comen..perdicioun & deþ [?a1425 L.V. Gloss. that is, the deuel and helle] seiden, ‘with oure eris wee han herd þe fame of it.’
1382▸a Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Bodl. 959) (1959) Gen. xlii. 38 Ȝe schall lede doun myn hore heerez with soru to helle [L.ad inferos].
1382a Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) : Prov. (Bodl. 959) xxvii. 20 Helle & perdicioun neuer ben fulfild.
1384▸c Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(2)) (1850) 1 Tim. vi. 9 Thei that wolen be maad riche fallen into temptacioun and into gnare of the deuel.., the whiche drenchen men into the deeth and perdicioun [L. in interitum et perditionem].
1384c Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(2)) 2 Thess. ii. 3 No but departyng awey, or dissencioun, schal come first, and the man of synne schal be schewid, the sone of perdicioun [L. filius perditionis], that is, aduersarie.
1385▸c Chaucer Knight's Tale 1226 Now is my prisoun worse than biforn; Now is me shape eternally to dwelle, noght in purgatorie [v.r. purgotorye] but in helle.
The first appearance of purgatory.
1393▸a Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) ii. 1421 The man which lith in purgatoire.
1393▸a Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) v. l. 1110 He wolde swere his commun oth, Be Lethen and be Flegeton, Be Cochitum and Acheron.
The first appearance of Acheron, a river in Hades.
1398▸a J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add.) f. 156b/b, Also abissus, þat is depnesse of water, haþ of him silf dymnesse and depnesse and fongeþ al water.
The first appearnace of the Abyss.
1398▸a J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add.) f. 156v, Abissus is depnesse of water vnsey, and þerof cometh and springeþ welles and ryuers.
1400?c (▸c1340) R. Rolle Psalter (Sidney Sussex) ii. 51 Beside is þe day of perdicion [v.r. perdicyum].
1400a (▸a1325) Cursor Mundi (Trin. Cambr.) l. 18025 (MED), Helle ȝaf to sathan vnswere..‘þis..was he Þat dede men dud drawe fro me.’
1400a (▸a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) 29165 (MED), Þai sal..for þair foly Bren in þe fier of purgatori.
1400a (▸a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 478 Lucifer..þat formast fell, thoru his ouengart [read ouergart] in to hell.
1400a (1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 2894 (MED), Godd wit schild ȝe do þat sin, þat ȝee in hell fire [a1400 Gött. hell] for-brin.
1405c (▸c1385) Chaucer Knight's Tale (Hengwrt) 1200 Parotheus..felawe was vn to duc Theseus..whan that oon was deed..His felawe wente and soghte hym down in helle.
1425 ?a Mandeville's Trav. (Egerton) (1889) 29 Þe entreez and þe ȝates of hell.
1425 ?a(▸a1415) Wyclif Lanterne of Liȝt 3 Art not þou þanne a wickid man, a foultid schepard.., þe sone of perdicioun, & anticrist him silf?
1425a (▸c1395) Bible (Wycliffite, L.V.) (Royal) (1850) Isa. xxx. 33 For whi Tophet [1382 Tofeth], that is, helle, deep and alargid, is maad redi of the kyng fro ȝistirdai.
1425a (▸c1395) Bible (Wycliffite, L.V.) (Royal) (1850) John xvii. 12 Noon of hem perischide but the sone of perdicioun [c1384 E.V. sone of perdicioun, or dampnacioun; L. filius perditionis].
1425a (▸c1395) Bible (Wycliffite, L.V.) (Royal) (1850) Matt. vii. 13 The ȝate that ledith to perdicioun [c1384 E.V. to perdicioun, or dampnacioun; L. ad perditionem] is large.
1425a (▸c1395) Bible (Wycliffite, L.V.) (Royal) (1850) Phil. i. 28 Which is to hem cause of perdicioun [c1384 E.V. of perdicioun, or of damnacioun; L. perditionis].
1425c Concordance Wycliffite Bible f. 67v, Helle & deeþ weren sent into a pool of fyer, apoc. twentiþe cap.
1425c Lydgate Troyyes Bk. (Augustus A.iv) iv. 1474 (MED), Out of þe feld..Of þe Grekys, seyng þe meschef Þat þei wern In, and confusion, Vp-on þe brinke of her perdicioun [v.rr. confusioun, distuccioun.].
1425c (▸c1300) Chron. Robert of Gloucester (Harl.) 322 (MED), Heuene & helle & ech þyng [c1325 Calig. Of heuene of helle of ech þing] mot nede hys heste do.
1438▸a Bk. Margery Kempe i. 16 (MED), Þow schalt neuyr com in Helle ne in Purgatorye.
1447 O. Bokenham Lives of Saints 3911 (MED), Þou shalt walwyn in helle-feere.
1450a St. Balaam (Bodl.) 483 in C. Horstmann Altengl. Legenden (1875) 127 (MED), Þe dragon in þe pittes ground, helle mouþ it is.
1450a (▸c1410) H. Lovelich Merlin (1932) III. l. 24513 They fyhten ful hard aȝens vij skore hethene boþe stowt & wrothe, and down to the Erthe j-beten ben bothe; therto jn weye of perdisciown they been.
1450c Long Charter of Christ, A Text (Bodl. Add. C. 280) (1914) l. 229 All þey schull till helle peyne [c1390 Vernon helle-pyne].
1450c (▸1369) Chaucer Bk. Duchess 171 This cave was also as derk As helle-pit overal aboute.
Hell is described as a pit.
1456a (▸a1449) Lydgate Minor Poems (1934) ii. 421 (MED), I am euer in Purgatorye But whanne I seo my lady dere.
1460c (▸a1449) Lydgate Letabundus (Harl.) l. 97 in Minor Poems (1911) i. 52 Off Abyssi this Aungel bar the keyes, Callid Clauis Dauid to shettyn and vnshette, Whom hevene and helle and al the world obeyes.
1464a J. Capgrave Chron. Eng. (Cambr.) 33 (MED), The v. [labour of Hercules] is bynding of Cerberus, the hound of helle.
1475c tr. C. de Pisan Livre du Corps de Policie (Cambr.) (1977) 47 (MED), By euyll doctrine they may be brought into the weye of perdicion.
1475c (▸?a1430) Lydgate tr. G. Deguileville Pilgrimage Life Man (Tiber.) 22876 (MED), Prayer abreggeth purgatory.
1485c Digby Myst. ii. 412 The myȝte prince of the partes infernall.
The first appearance of infernal.
1490 Arte & Crafte to knowe well to Dye (Caxton) 7 The Infyrmyte tofore the deth is lyke as a purgatore.
1500a Treat. Ghostly Battle in C. Horstmann Yorkshire Writers (1896) II. 430 We be made wery in the wey off wykednes and of perdycion.
1500a (▸1413) Pilgrimage of Soul (Egerton) iii. xi. f. 55, This pitte..is the chief palice of helle, þat is calledd Abissus.
1500a (▸c1340) R. Rolle Psalter (Univ. Oxf. 64) (1884) xv. §10. 54 Þou sall noght leue my saule in hell.
By 1500, Hell is firmly in the English language with 16 primary references.
1502 tr. Ordynarye of Crysten Men (de Worde) i. vii. sig. g.iii, For before that he styed vnto the heuens he descended in to the helles.
1505▸?a R. Henryson Orpheus & Eurydice 528 in Poems (1981) 150 Quhen he wes dede, anone Was dampnyt in the flude of Acheron.
1508 W. Kennedy Flyting (Chepman & Myllar) in P. Bawcutt Poems W. Dunbar (1998) I. 218 Spynk, sink wyth stynk ad Tertera Termagorum.]
1513▸?a W. Dunbar Poems (1998) 274 We that ar heir in hevynnis glorie [at Court] To ȝou that ar in purgatorie [at Stirling in distress].
1522 J. Skelton Why come ye nat to Courte 590 As ferce and as cruell As the fynd of hell.
1526 Bible (Tyndale) Matt. v. f. vj, In daunger off hell fyre [Gk. τὴν γέενναν τοῦ πυρός].
Hell has fire.
1529 T. More Supplyc. Soulys ii. f. xxviiiv, Descendit ad inferna: that ys to say he descended downe byneth in to the lowe placys. In stede of whyche low placys the englyshe tong hath euer vsed thys worde hell.
1529a J. Skelton Phyllyp Sparowe (?1545) sig. D.viiv, By the feryman of hell Caron with his beerd hore.
1530a (▸c1425) Andrew of Wyntoun Oryg. Cron. Scotl. (Royal) v. xiv. 5510 Morys..askyt in his prayere Þat he sulde noucht de befor Þat her he tholit his purgator.
1534 in T. Wright Three Chapters Lett. Suppression Monast. (1843) 36 He wold prove purcatory by a certayne vers in the Saulter.
1535 Bible (Coverdale) Acts ii. D, His soule was not left in hell [1881 R. V. Hades].
1535 Coverdale 2 Kings xxiii. 10 He suspended Tophet also in the valley of the children of Ennon [etc.].
The first appearance of Tophet, a place where Moloch worshipers offered burnt sacrifices. We note that this initial appearance occurs after Martin Luther's Bible of 1534.
1535 D. Lindsay Satyre 1132, I dreid, without ȝe get ane remissioun,..The spirtuall stait sall put ȝow to perditioun.
1536 Bp. J. Longland Serm. spoken before Kynge at Grenwiche sig. Kiiv, He dydde nott vtterly slee or kyll hell, but dydd byte itt.
1538 T. Elyot Dict., Abyssus, is a depenes without bottom.
1548 Hall's Vnion: Henry VII f. xxvijv, What losse & perdicion of many noble Capitaynes and stronge souldiours must..ensue at the assaute.
1548? tr. J. Calvin Faythfvl Treat. Sacrament sig. D, But after that this detestable opinion was inuented, this vnhappie custome proceded out of it as out of an hell mouthe.
1550c T. Becon Flour of Godly Praiers f. xii, Almost fallen thorow the multytude of my synnes, into the hellike pit of desperacyon.
1553 T. Becon Iewell of Ioye Pref., in Catechism Thomas Becon (1844) 415 Wo worth thee, thou antichrist, thou son of perdition, thou deceiver of the people.
1555 R. Eden tr. Peter Martyr of Angleria Decades of Newe Worlde f. 325v, To open a way to the courte of infernal Pluto.
1559 W. Baldwin et al. Myrroure for Magistrates Clifford x, Hel haleth tirauntes downe to death amayne.
1562 Articles of Relig. xxii, The Romish doctrine concerning purgatory..is a fond thing vainly inuented.
1562 W. Bullein Bk. Use Sicke Men f. lxxix, in Bulwarke of Defence, God deliuer us all, from soche infernall plagues from hence forthe.
1563 2nd Tome Homelyes Nativity, in J. Griffiths Two Bks. Homilies (1859) ii. 407 Children of perdition and inheritors of hell fire.
1563 2nd Tome Homelyes Rebellion ii, in J. Griffiths Two Bks. Homilies (1859) ii. 567 The miserable captives and vile slaves of that infernal tyrant Satan.
1563 T. Sackville in W. Baldwin et al. Myrrour for Magistrates (new ed.) Induct. lxix, Acheron..bubs up swelth as black as hell.
1574 E. Hellowes tr. A. de Guevara Familiar Epist. 205 Hell is full of good desires; and heauen is full of good workes.
1576 A. Golding Warfare of Christians ii. 42 Whosoeuer calleth his brother foole, shall bee in daunger of Hell fire.
1577? Misogonus in R. W. Bond Early Plays from Ital. (1911) 215 To be revelinge and bousinge after such a lewde fashion I thinke hell breake louse.
1579 in M. Sellers York Mercers & Merchant Adventurers (1918) 219 Wee shall have..brawles, and suspitions amongest us, as if weare to begin hell uponn earthe.
1581 T. Lupton Persuasion from Papistrie 59 You shall haue al the saide plagues and Gods cursses in this world, and endlesse damnation in Hell after your death.
1582 Bible (Rheims) Phil. ii. 10 That in the name of Iesus every knee bowe of the celestials, terrestrials, and infernals.
1586 E. Hoby tr. M. Coignet Polit. Disc. Trueth xxxi. 146 The strange kinde of punishmentes..prepared for the wicked in the gayle of vengeance, which he calleth Tartarus, a place of darkenesse and torments.
The first appearance of Tartarus, the Greek underworld. We note that the initial appearance is towards the end of the 16th century.
1586 W. Fuller Bk. to Queene in A. Peel Seconde Parte Reg. (1915) II. 64 Neuer agree or joine with Antichrist or anie of thantichristian helhounds..for they..must..goe to eternall perdition.
1588 A. Munday tr. Palmerin D'Oliua i. f. 1v, She..made no reckoning of his importunate and dilligent seruice, which drewe a Hell of tormentinge thoughts vppon Tarisius.
1588 W. Kempe Educ. Children 29 Aeneas going to hell, like to Vlysses going to hell.
1590 J. Smythe Certain Disc. Weapons Proeme *iij b, They verifie the olde Proverb, which is, That such as were never but in Hell, doo thinke that there is no other Heaven.
1590 Spenser Faerie Queene i. xi. 12 His deepe deuouring iawes Wyde gaped, like the griesly mouth of hell, Through which into his darke abysse all rauin fell.
1591 Spenser Teares of Muses in Complaints sig. F3, Image of hellish horrour Ignorance, Borne in the bosome of the black Abysse.
1594 H. Smith Sixe Serm. 15 They invented Purgatorie, Masses,..and then all their trinkets.
1596 W. Warner Albions Eng. (rev. ed.) vii. xxxvii. 184 Short leaue I tooke, & mounting left the Hell God.
1597 H. Broughton Epist. Learned Nobility 37 That state to the body is Scheol... Haides in the Greeke is the very same: and neither of them is euer in Scripture, directlie the state of Eternall torment.
The first appearance of sheol, the Jewish underworld occurs towards the end of the 16th century and after Martin Luther's Bible of 1534.
1597 Shakespeare Richard III i. iii. 224 Some tormenting dreame Affrights thee with a hell of vgly diuels.
1598 F. Meres tr. Luis de Granada Deuotion xxxvii. 351 If all hell should rise vp against thee, yea thou wouldest reioyce.
1598 F. Meres tr. Luis de Granada Sinners Guyde i. iv. 51 Who will be so rash and foole-hardie, that he dare offend God, when he seeth before him both Paradice open, and hell enlarging her mouth?
1598 W. Rankins Seauen Satyres 26 My Phoenix liues againe,Passing hell torment with vnspoken paine.
Hell is associated with torment.
1599 Master Broughtons Lett. v. 18 As by his genealogicall glosses he hath abused βιβλὸν γενέσεως, so by his gehennicall cursings he might set on fire τροχὸν γενέσεως [cf. Jam. iii. 6].
The adjective for Gehenna, a place outside ancient Jerusalem, appears.
1599 Master Broughtons Lett. xi. 38 His [sc. Bucer's] conclusion is, that this article He descended into Hell, is but an explication of the former He dyed and was buried, taking Hades for the graue.
1599 Master Broughtons Lett. xii. 43 Homer presents vnto Vlysses, being in Hades, βιὰν ἡρακλειάν, the force and strength of Hercules a ghost.
1600 S. Nicholson Acolastus his After-witte sig. E4v, Before my hell of foule mishap breake loose.
1600 Shakespeare Merchant of Venice iii. ii. 21 Let Fortune goe to hell for it, not I.
1600 Shakespeare Midsummer Night's Dream iii. ii. 358 With drooping fogge as blacke as Acheron.
From 1501 to 1600 there are 22 references to hell, 5 for Purgatory and one each for Tophet, Sheol and Gehennical.
1601 P. Holland tr. Pliny Hist. World I. 3 The infernall powers beneath.
1603 R. Knolles Gen. Hist. Turkes 101 The Sultan..carried with an infernall furie, defaced, and most shamefully polluted the sepulchre of our blessed Sauiour.
1603a A. W. in E. Farr Sel. Poetry Reign Elizabeth (1845) II. 452 Me..He..Brought from hell-torments to the ioyes of heauen.
1604 T. Bilson (title) The Survey of Christ's Sufferings for Man's redemption; and of his descent to Hades or Hel for our deliverance.
Hades and Hell become interchangeable.
1605 J. Dove Confut. Atheisme 5 When their consciences are possessed with an opinion of hell fire.
1605 J. Sylvester tr. G. de S. Du Bartas Deuine Weekes & Wks. ii. i. 303 'Tis that old Python which... A Hell of furies in his fell desire.
1606 P. Howard Foure-Fold Medit. sig. D, Beneath thee hell, to swallow thee doth gape.
1607 G. Wilkins Miseries Inforst Mariage Sig. A4, Women are the Purgatory of mens Pursses,... and the Hel of their mindes.
1608 J. Day Humour out of Breath sig. B1, Since proude Anthonio..Is in his iourney towards th' vnderworld.
1611 Bible (A.V.) 2 Kings xxiii. 10 He defiled Topheth.
1611 Bible (A.V.) Isa. xxx. 33 For Tophet [1885 R.V. a Topheth] is ordained of olde... like a streame of brimstone doeth kindle it.
1611 G. H. tr. Anti-Coton 74 The Pope... which hee ought, in condemning by his Buls to hell pit such murtherers and assassins.
1612 B. Jonson Alchemist iii. i. sig. F3v, The Children of perdition are, oft times, Made instruments euen of the greatest workes.
1613 T. Heywood Brazen Age in Wks. (1874) III. 217 Vnmanacle the fiends, and make a passage Free for the Infernals.
1613 T. Heywood Silver Age in Wks. (1874) III. 158 And with my club Worke my free passage ... Through these infernals.
1614 W. Raleigh Hist. World i. vi. §3. 85 [They] daylie trauaile towards their eternall perdition.
1615 J. Swetnam Arraignm. Women 61 Thou shalt haue a brended slut like a Hell-hagge, with a paire of pappes like a paire of dung-pots.
1616a Shakespeare All's Well that ends Well (1623) ii. iii. 230, I would it were hell paines for thy sake.
1616a Shakespeare Henry VI, Pt. 2 (1623) iv. vii. 215 In despight of the diuels and hell, haue through the verie middest of you.
1616a Shakespeare Othello (1622) ii. ii. 3 Certaine tidings..importing the meere perdition of the Turkish Fleete.
1617 F. Moryson Itinerary iii. 53 England..is said to be the Hell of Horses, the Purgatory of Servants, and the Paradise of Weomen.
1620 tr. Boccaccio Decameron I. i, Vulgar judgement will censure otherwise of him, and thinke him to be rather in perdition then in..Paradice.
1620a M. Fotherby tr. D. Phrygius in Atheomastix (1622) Prol. xii. 124 Through god-begetting Feare, Mans blinded minde did reare, A Hell-god.
1623 H. Cockeram Eng. Dict., Gehenna, Hell.
1624 R. Burton Anat. Melancholy (ed. 2) iii. iv. i. iii. 522 Purgatory, Limbus patrum, infantum, and all that subterranean Geography.
1627 G. Hakewill Apologie iv. i. 281 A valley shadowed with wood, called Gehinnon [sic] or Tophet, from whence is the word Gehenna vsed for hell.
1627a T. Middleton More Dissemblers besides Women iv. iii, in 2 New Playes (1657) 62 Hell-mouth be with thee.
1632 T. Heywood Iron Age v. i. sig. Kv, Charon the Ferri-man of Hell shall bee My Ganimed.
1633a G. Herbert Outlandish Prov. (1640) sig. A7v, Hell is full of good meanings and wishings.
1634 T. Herbert Relation Some Yeares Trauaile 119 The forty load of Toback..fired, whose blacke vapour vpon free-cost, gaue the whole City infernall incense, two whole dayes.
1637 Milton Comus 604 Under the sooty flag of Acheron.
1639 P. Massinger Unnaturall Combat ii. i. sig. D, Were I condemn'd..to fill up..A bottomlesse Abysse, or charge through fire, It could not so much shake me.
1640 H. Mill Nights Search i. 8 He sets out sin (most lively) black as hell.
1640 R. Brome Antipodes sig. C2v, No Isle nor Angle in that Neather world, But I have made discovery of.
1641 R. Brathwait Mercurius Britanicus iv. sig. D4, Now hell hath opened his mouth, come out you generation of vipers.
1642 T. Fuller Holy State i. vii. 19 Those who first called England the Purgatory of servants, sure did us much wrong.
1645 Milton On Christ's Nativity: Hymn xxvi, in Poems 12 The flocking shadows pale, Troop to th' infernall jail.
1649 Bp. J. Taylor Great Exemplar iii. §16. 170 Our Lord descended into hell..that is into the state of separation and common receptacle of spirits.
1649 R. Lovelace Poems (1659) 155 Ye blew flam'd daughters oth' Abysse, Bring all your Snakes, here let them hisse.
1651 T. Hobbes Leviathan (1839) iii. xxxviii. 445 For example, that they [sc. the damned] are in Inferno, in Tartarus, or in the bottomless pit.
1654 R. Whitlock Ζωοτομία 203 It is a saying among Divines, that Hell is full of good Intentions, and Meanings.
1654a J. Richardson Choice Observ. & Explan. Old Test. (1655) 281 A corroding disease it [sc. envy] is; an hel-hag that feeds upon its marrow, bones, and strongest parts.
1656a Bp. J. Hall Great Myst. Godliness (1659) xiv. [xiii.] 63 There is now such an hell of the spirits of errour broken loose into the world.
1658 Sir T. Browne Hydriotaphia iv. 60 Condemned unto the Tartara's of Hell.
1658 Sir T. Browne Hydriotaphia iv. 62 The dead seem all alive in the humane Hades of Homer, yet cannot well speak, prophesie, or know the living, except they drink bloud, wherein is the life of man.
1659 in D. Laing Var. Pieces Fugitive Sc. Poetry (1853) 2nd Ser. xxix. 3 You are the man..That visitt did the neather world.
1660 Milton Readie Way Free Commonw. (ed. 2) 81 The language of thir infernal pamphlets.
1661 T. Blount Glossographia (ed. 2) (at cited word), The Council of Trent, Sect. 15. defines, that there is a Purgatory, and that the souls detained there, are benefitted by the prayers of the faithful.
1667 Milton Paradise Lost i. 404 [Moloch] made his Grove The pleasant Vally of Hinnom, Tophet thence And black Gehenna call'd, the Type of Hell.
1667 Milton Paradise Lost i. 405 [Moloch] made his Grove The pleasant Vally of Hinnom, Tophet thence And black Gehenna call'd, the Type of Hell.]
1667 Milton Paradise Lost i. 47 Flaming from th' Ethereal Skie With hideous ruine and combustion down To bottomless perdition.
1667 Milton Paradise Lost i. 756 A solemn Councel forthwith to be held At Pandæmonium, the high Capital Of Satan and his Peers.
1667 Milton Paradise Lost ii. 578 Sad Acheron of sorrow, black and deep.
1667 Milton Paradise Lost iii. 84 Our adversarie, whom no bounds Prescrib'd, no barrs of Hell..nor yet the main Abyss Wide interrupt can hold.
1667 Milton Paradise Lost vii. 211 They view'd the vast immeasurable Abyss Outrageous as a Sea, dark, wasteful, wilde.
1667 Milton Paradise Lost x. 230 Within the Gates of Hell sate Sin and Death.
Milton provides Hell with gates. This is not surprising since Heaven has gates and Saint Peter holds two keys.
1667 Milton Paradise Lost x. 424 About the walls Of Pandæmonium, Citie and proud seate Of Lucifer.
1671 J. Eliot Indian Dialogues i. 17 They may be tormented among..wicked men in Hell fire for ever.
1671 T. Watson Mischief of Sinne 25 The severity of Hell torment.
1673 Dryden Marriage a-la-Mode v. i. 73 And let me die, but I'll follow you to the Infernals till you pity me.
1673 Milton On Death Fair Infant x, in Poems (ed. 2) 20 To turn Swift-rushing black perdition hence.
1678 J. Bunyan Pilgrim's Progress 2, I fear that this burden..will sinck me lower then the Grave; and I shall fall into Tophet.
1678 J. Bunyan Pilgrim's Progress x, Judas..was lost, cast away, and the very son of perdition.
1679 Dryden & N. Lee Oedipus ii. 26 Since Hell's broke loose, why should not you be mad?
1680a J. Harrington Horæ Consecratæ (1682) 411 The renew'd Fire of Zeal, (this Hell-like) Fire of Sin.
1682a Sir T. Browne Christian Morals (1716) ii. 58 A Man may be cheaply vitious, to the perdition of himself.
1683 W. Bates Serm. Death & Eternal Judgement 48 There will be no righteous Complaint against God in Hell, where the Punishment is inflicted by powerful Justice.
1684 N. S. tr. R. Simon Crit. Enq. Editions Bible xxv. 226 All the stratagems of Popery, all the tophitical Tyranny of the School-men.
1684 R. Baxter Catholick Communion 35 Dementation goeth before Perdition.
1685 W. Clark Grand Tryal iii. xxii. 183 Dost think that God..can tell..What all those things do act, who live in Hell?
1688 R. Holme Acad. Armory ii. x. 209 The three headed Dog of Hell, which Hercules is said to bring away with him in a Chain.
1691a R. Boyle Gen. Hist. Air (1692) 157 The heat of the island Suaquena, Gregory used to call, infernal.
1692 J. Ray Misc. Disc. v. 131 The Waters rising up out of the subterraneous Abyss, the Sea must needs succeed.
1696 T. Scott Mock-Marriage v. i. 55 That Son of Perdition, who having won to his embraces the Daughter of my Bosom.., now..leaveth her like an unholy thing.
1698 J. Norris Pract. Disc. Divine Subj. IV. 246 They..know nothing of the Place and State whither they are going, the dark invisible Hades.
1701 J. Dunton tr. Homer in Merciful Assizes 281 We hate him worse than Hell-Mouth, that utters one thing with his Tongue, and keeps another in his Brest.
1701 J. Ray Wisdom of God (ed. 3) i. 90 Bring up Springs and Rivers from the great Abyss.
1706 D. Baker Hist. Job i. 21 All Hell's Methods prove Unable his Religious Mind to move.
1708a W. Beveridge Private Thoughts Relig. (1709) 150, I never did see..the flaming Tophet that is below.
1711a T. Ken Hymnarium in Wks. (1721) II. 127 Shew me the Gulph, that's fixed between The upper Hades, and the sub-terrene.
1711a T. Ken Psyche in Wks. (1721) IV. 205 That Angel..Of the Abyss Key-keeper made, Rules the infernal Shade.
1712 Pope tr. Statius First Bk. Thebais in Misc. Poems 30 By the black infernal Styx I swear.
1713 Countess of Winchilsea Misc. Poems 18 When to the Under-world despis'd he goes, A pamper'd carcase on the Worms bestows.
1713 J. Addison in Guardian 9 July 1/2 He wou'd have a large Piece of Machinery represent the Pan-dæmonium [of Milton].
1713 Pope Corr. 8 Dec. (1956) I. 200, I cannot set his Delivery from Purgatory at less than Fifty Pounds sterling.
1713 Pope Ode Musick 5 He sung, and Hell consented To hear the Poet's Pray'r.
1716 W. Hendley St. Paul's Charge to Timothy 14 You would not run yourselves into Hell-Fire by your Sins.
1720 J. Gay Trivia ii, in Poems I. 178 When dread Jove the son of Phœbus hurl'd..to the nether world.
1725 T. Thomas in Portland Papers VI. (Hist. MSS. Comm.) 98 Half way to North Allerton is a very bad piece of road which goes by the name of Purgatory.
1731 D. Mallet Eurydice i. i. 2 Where is she now! Hid in the wild abyss, with all her crew, All lost for ever!
1731 J. Fox Door of Heaven ii. 17 Judas was an Apostle and Preacher, but the Son of Perdition.
1731 Pope Epist. to Earl of Burlington 12 Who never mentions Hell to Ears polite.
1731a D. Defoe New Voy. round World (1787) I. 126 An infernal project of the second mates.
1736a T. Yalden On Re-printing Milton's Prose Wks. in Wks. Eng. Poets (1810) XI. 74/1 The dread abyss beneath, Hell's horrid mansions.
1742 H. Fielding Joseph Andrews II. iv. xi. 260 The enraged Beau, who threatened such Perdition and Destruction, that it frighted the Women.
1743 Ld. Chesterfield Old England No. 3 in Misc. Wks. (1777) I. 116 ‘This..is certainly levelled at us,’ says a conscious sullen apostate patriot to his fallen brethren in the Pandæmonium.
1748a I. Watts Improvem. Mind ii. v, in Coll. Wks. (1753) V. 341, I will explain the word hell to signify the state of the dead, or the separate state of souls..and..that the soul of Christ existed three days in the state of separation from his body, or was in the invisible world.
1749 T. Stackhouse New Hist. Bible (ed. 2) II. vi. iv. 911 (note) , It is the general Opinion of the Jews, that the Word Tophet comes from Thoph, which, in their Language, signifies a Drum.
As late as 1749, we are learning about the supposed origin of Tophet.
1753 Chambers's Cycl. Suppl. (at cited word), The existence of an Abyss, or receptacle of subterraneous waters is...
1753 R. Challoner Considerations Christian Truths I. 28 See how hell opens wide its jaws, and daily swallows down ... [sc. souls.]
1756 S. Foote Englishman return'd from Paris i. 25 And you really think Paris a Kind of Purgatory.
1757 E. Burke Philos. Enq. Sublime & Beautiful ii. §23. 70 The poisonous exhalation of Acheron [printed Acheon] is not forgot.
1757 tr. J. G. Keyssler Trav. II. 368 ..is still living in prison here, and few foreigners leave Naples without seeing this infernal hag.
1764 H. Walpole Castle of Otranto i. 20, I will follow thee to the gulph of perdition.
1771 T. Smollett Humphry Clinker II. 175 He bid defiance to the eternity of hell fire.
1773 J. Home Alonzo iii. i. 37 The blackest fiend, that dwells in burning hell.
1774 O. Goldsmith Hist. Earth II. 141 To ascribe this strange production to the operations of an infernal agent.
1774a A. Tucker Light of Nature (1777) III. iii. xix. 114 The doctrine of a purgatory seems innocent in itself..: it is only the absurd notion..of praying or buying souls out of Purgatory, that renders it a heresy repugnant to reason.
1774a A. Tucker Light of Nature (1834) II. 321 The enjoyments of Elysium and punishments of Tartarus.
1775 B. Franklin London 742 ... know a retreat perform'd with more vigour? For we did it in two hours, which sav'd us from perdition.
1775 Johnson in J. Boswell Life Johnson (1887) II. 360 Sir, Hell is paved with good intentions.
1776 W. J. Mickle tr. L. de Camoens Lusiad vii. 283 (note) Pluto, tyrant of hell, having seized Eurydice..detained her.
1777 J. Relly Christian Hymns 118 From Bondage and Chains, From Sin and Hell-pains.
1777 W. Combe Diaboliad 87 Call up my guards—What! is all Hell broke loose?
1780 W. Cowper Progress of Error 609 He that will be cheated to the last, Delusions strong as Hell shall bind him fast.
1781 W. Cowper Hope 387 If appetite, or what divines call lust,..Be punished with perdition, who is pure?
1785 F. Grose Classical Dict. Vulgar Tongue, ... which they deposit in a place called hell... they wish they may find it in hell.
1785 W. Cowper Task v. 862 Fables false as hell..lure down to death The uninformed and heedless souls of men.
1788 S. Low Politician Out-witted i. i, Go to h—ll, if you be please.
We note that earlier writers had no superstition of writing "hell" in full.
1790c W. Cowper Comm. Milton's Paradise Lost i. 114 To invent speeches for these Infernals so well adapted to their character.
1792 T. Holcroft Anna St. Ives VI. cxii. 183 All hell seems busy to blacken me!
1793 H. Boyd Poems 626 Son of perdition! know thy abject birth.
1794 R. J. Sulivan View of Nature I. 30 How striking the profundity of the abysses! the frightful elevation of the rocks!
Etymology of Hell:
Cognate with
Old Frisian helle , hille ,
Old Dutch helle (Middle Dutch helle , Dutch hel ),
Old Saxon hellia , hel
(Middle Low German helle ),
Old High German hella
(Middle High German helle , German Hölle ),
Old Icelandic hel (also the name of the goddess of the underworld: see Hel n., and compare Hela n.1),
Old Swedish häl (Swedish hel ),
Old Danish heliæ , genitive (Danish hel ), Gothic halja , showing a derivative noun (originally strong feminine) probably < the same Indo-European base as hele v.1
An alternative derivation
< the Germanic base of Old Icelandic hella flat stone, hallr stone, boulder, hill, Gothic hallus rock (of uncertain origin, perhaps ultimately < the same Indo-European base as hill n.), suggesting that the underworld was imagined as covered by a stone, is not generally accepted.
From the Oxford English Dictionary with secondary sources in red.
eOE Cleopatra Gloss. MS Cotton Cleopatra A.III (Ph.D. diss., Stanford Univ.) (1956) 219 Ex herebo : of helle.
eOE King Ælfred tr. Boethius De Consol. Philos. (Otho) xxxv. 102 Ða ðohte he [sc. Orfeus] ðæt he wolde gesecan hellegodu [L. infernas adiit domos..umbrarum dominos rogat].
eOE King Ælfred tr. Boethius De Consol. Philos. (Otho) xxxv. 102 Ða sceolde cuman ðære helle hund ongean hine, ...
eOE Metres of Boethius (partly from transcript of damaged MS) viii. 51 Etne..on iglonde Sicilia swefle byrneð, þæt mon hellefyr hateð wide, forþæm hit symle bið sinbyrnende.
eOE (Mercian) Vespasian Psalter (1965) liv. 13 (16) Veniat mors super illos et descendant in infernum uiuentes : cyme deað ofer hie & astigen hie in helle lifgende.
OE Ælfric Catholic Homilies: 2nd Ser. (Cambr. Gg.3.28) xxi. 202 [Seo swearte nywelnyss þe ðu gesawe mid þam ormætum þeostrum and fulum] stence, seo is helle muð.
OE Blickling Homilies 61 Se gifra helle bið a open deoflum & þæm mannum þe nu be his [sc. the Devil's] larum lifiaþ.
OE Crist III 1159 Hell eac ongeat, scyldwreccende, þæt se scyppend cwom, waldende god, þa heo þæt weorud ageaf, hloþe of ðam hatan hreþre.
OE Glosses to Bella Parisiacae Urbis of Abbo of St. Germain (Harl. 3271) in W. H. Stevenson Early Scholastic Colloquies103 Sit machia tibi, quo sit ierarchia, neque sit cloaca tibi : gewin þæt sy halig ealdor ne ne sy helle pyt.
OE Old Eng. Hexateuch: Gen. (Claud.) xxxvii. 35 Ic fare to minum suna to helle [L. descendam ad filium meum lugens in infernum].
OE Rule St. Benet (Tiber.) (1888) vii. 36 Monachus..universa que prius non sine formidine observabat..incipiet custodire non jam timore gehenne sed amore christi : se munuc..ealle þinc ær buton forhte þe he geheold..anginne gehealde na mid ege helle ac mid cristes lufan.
OE tr. Gospel of Nicodemus (Cambr.) xx. §2. 209 Seo hell [L. Inferus] þa swiðe grymme and swyðe egeslice andswarode þa Satanase þam ealdan deofle.
OE West Saxon Gospels: Matt. (Corpus Cambr.) xviii. 9 Betere þe ys mid anum eage on life to ganne þonne þu si mid twam asend on hellefyr [c1384 Wycliffite, E.V. fijr of helle, 1526 Tyndale hell fyre, 1582 Rheims the hel of fire; L. in gehennam ignis, Gk. εἰς τὴν γέενναν τοῦ πυρός].
1200?c Ormulum (Burchfield transcript) l. 10075 Werrpenn inn till helle fir. To bærnenn butenn ende.
1200?c Ormulum (Burchfield transcript) l. 10215 Forr helle pitt niss næfre full.
1200c Serm. in Eng. & Germanic Stud. (1961) 7 63 And heo al man cun to helle venden et heore liues ende.
1225?c (▸?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Cleo. C.vi) (1972) 102 Ihonged in fur of purgatorie [c1230 Corpus purgatoire]. oðer inpine of helle.
1225?c (▸?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Cleo. C.vi) (1972) 119 Þenne nis hit to naut se god ase to þe fur of helle.
1225?c (▸?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Cleo. C.vi) (1972) 120 Wurðe buten ende helle fures fode.
1225a MS Lamb. in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1868) 1st Ser. 61 From hwonne þe engles adun follon in to þe þosternesse hellen.
1225a (▸?OE) MS Vesp. in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1868) 1st Ser. 239 (MED), Wat sceol se wrecce don þe..iseȝð..under him helle muð open.
1300c All Souls (Laud) 79 in C. Horstmann Early S.-Eng. Legendary (1887) 423 (MED), Purgatorie [is]..in fif studes..On is in þe firmament, þare gret brenningue is..Þat oþur is in þe Eyr..Þe þridde is an vrþe..þe feorþe in watere is; Þe fifte is onder vrþe deope, bi-side helle, i-wis.
1325c (▸c1300) Chron. Robert of Gloucester (Calig.) l. 10417 Þouȝtes he adde inowe, Leste þe deuelen of helle al quic to helle ...
1340 Ayenbite (1866) 73 Purgatorie þe ssell seawy hou god clenzeþ veniel zenne.
1374c Chaucer Troilus & Criseyde iv. 1515 (1543) And this on euery god celestial..On euery Nymphe and deite infernal.
1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) 2 Kings xxiii. 10 Forsothe he defoulide Topheth, that is in the valeye of the sone of Ennon, that no man schuld sacryn his sone or his douȝtre thorȝ fyr to Moloch [a1425 has marg. note..Tophet signefieth tympan..for the prestis of this idol, maden noyse with timpans, lest fadres and modris schulden here the cry of her sones, diynge bi fier in the hondis of the idol].
1382▸a Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Bodl. 959) (1961) Deut. xxxii. 35 Nyȝ is þe day of perdycioun [L. dies perditionis; Coverdale, the tyme of their destruccion is at honde].
1382▸a Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Bodl. 959) (1969) Isa. v. 14 Helle [L. infernus] spradde abrod his soule & openede his [16th c. vers. her] mouþ withoute any terme.
1382▸a Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Bodl. 959) Job 28. 22 Whennes þanne wisdam shal comen..perdicioun & deþ [?a1425 L.V. Gloss. that is, the deuel and helle] seiden, ‘with oure eris wee han herd þe fame of it.’
1382▸a Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Bodl. 959) (1959) Gen. xlii. 38 Ȝe schall lede doun myn hore heerez with soru to helle [L.ad inferos].
1382a Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) : Prov. (Bodl. 959) xxvii. 20 Helle & perdicioun neuer ben fulfild.
1384▸c Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(2)) (1850) 1 Tim. vi. 9 Thei that wolen be maad riche fallen into temptacioun and into gnare of the deuel.., the whiche drenchen men into the deeth and perdicioun [L. in interitum et perditionem].
1384c Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(2)) 2 Thess. ii. 3 No but departyng awey, or dissencioun, schal come first, and the man of synne schal be schewid, the sone of perdicioun [L. filius perditionis], that is, aduersarie.
1385▸c Chaucer Knight's Tale 1226 Now is my prisoun worse than biforn; Now is me shape eternally to dwelle, noght in purgatorie [v.r. purgotorye] but in helle.
The first appearance of purgatory.
1393▸a Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) ii. 1421 The man which lith in purgatoire.
1393▸a Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) v. l. 1110 He wolde swere his commun oth, Be Lethen and be Flegeton, Be Cochitum and Acheron.
The first appearance of Acheron, a river in Hades.
1398▸a J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add.) f. 156b/b, Also abissus, þat is depnesse of water, haþ of him silf dymnesse and depnesse and fongeþ al water.
The first appearnace of the Abyss.
1398▸a J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add.) f. 156v, Abissus is depnesse of water vnsey, and þerof cometh and springeþ welles and ryuers.
1400?c (▸c1340) R. Rolle Psalter (Sidney Sussex) ii. 51 Beside is þe day of perdicion [v.r. perdicyum].
1400a (▸a1325) Cursor Mundi (Trin. Cambr.) l. 18025 (MED), Helle ȝaf to sathan vnswere..‘þis..was he Þat dede men dud drawe fro me.’
1400a (▸a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) 29165 (MED), Þai sal..for þair foly Bren in þe fier of purgatori.
1400a (▸a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 478 Lucifer..þat formast fell, thoru his ouengart [read ouergart] in to hell.
1400a (1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 2894 (MED), Godd wit schild ȝe do þat sin, þat ȝee in hell fire [a1400 Gött. hell] for-brin.
1405c (▸c1385) Chaucer Knight's Tale (Hengwrt) 1200 Parotheus..felawe was vn to duc Theseus..whan that oon was deed..His felawe wente and soghte hym down in helle.
1425 ?a Mandeville's Trav. (Egerton) (1889) 29 Þe entreez and þe ȝates of hell.
1425 ?a(▸a1415) Wyclif Lanterne of Liȝt 3 Art not þou þanne a wickid man, a foultid schepard.., þe sone of perdicioun, & anticrist him silf?
1425a (▸c1395) Bible (Wycliffite, L.V.) (Royal) (1850) Isa. xxx. 33 For whi Tophet [1382 Tofeth], that is, helle, deep and alargid, is maad redi of the kyng fro ȝistirdai.
1425a (▸c1395) Bible (Wycliffite, L.V.) (Royal) (1850) John xvii. 12 Noon of hem perischide but the sone of perdicioun [c1384 E.V. sone of perdicioun, or dampnacioun; L. filius perditionis].
1425a (▸c1395) Bible (Wycliffite, L.V.) (Royal) (1850) Matt. vii. 13 The ȝate that ledith to perdicioun [c1384 E.V. to perdicioun, or dampnacioun; L. ad perditionem] is large.
1425a (▸c1395) Bible (Wycliffite, L.V.) (Royal) (1850) Phil. i. 28 Which is to hem cause of perdicioun [c1384 E.V. of perdicioun, or of damnacioun; L. perditionis].
1425c Concordance Wycliffite Bible f. 67v, Helle & deeþ weren sent into a pool of fyer, apoc. twentiþe cap.
1425c Lydgate Troyyes Bk. (Augustus A.iv) iv. 1474 (MED), Out of þe feld..Of þe Grekys, seyng þe meschef Þat þei wern In, and confusion, Vp-on þe brinke of her perdicioun [v.rr. confusioun, distuccioun.].
1425c (▸c1300) Chron. Robert of Gloucester (Harl.) 322 (MED), Heuene & helle & ech þyng [c1325 Calig. Of heuene of helle of ech þing] mot nede hys heste do.
1438▸a Bk. Margery Kempe i. 16 (MED), Þow schalt neuyr com in Helle ne in Purgatorye.
1447 O. Bokenham Lives of Saints 3911 (MED), Þou shalt walwyn in helle-feere.
1450a St. Balaam (Bodl.) 483 in C. Horstmann Altengl. Legenden (1875) 127 (MED), Þe dragon in þe pittes ground, helle mouþ it is.
1450a (▸c1410) H. Lovelich Merlin (1932) III. l. 24513 They fyhten ful hard aȝens vij skore hethene boþe stowt & wrothe, and down to the Erthe j-beten ben bothe; therto jn weye of perdisciown they been.
1450c Long Charter of Christ, A Text (Bodl. Add. C. 280) (1914) l. 229 All þey schull till helle peyne [c1390 Vernon helle-pyne].
1450c (▸1369) Chaucer Bk. Duchess 171 This cave was also as derk As helle-pit overal aboute.
Hell is described as a pit.
1456a (▸a1449) Lydgate Minor Poems (1934) ii. 421 (MED), I am euer in Purgatorye But whanne I seo my lady dere.
1460c (▸a1449) Lydgate Letabundus (Harl.) l. 97 in Minor Poems (1911) i. 52 Off Abyssi this Aungel bar the keyes, Callid Clauis Dauid to shettyn and vnshette, Whom hevene and helle and al the world obeyes.
1464a J. Capgrave Chron. Eng. (Cambr.) 33 (MED), The v. [labour of Hercules] is bynding of Cerberus, the hound of helle.
1475c tr. C. de Pisan Livre du Corps de Policie (Cambr.) (1977) 47 (MED), By euyll doctrine they may be brought into the weye of perdicion.
1475c (▸?a1430) Lydgate tr. G. Deguileville Pilgrimage Life Man (Tiber.) 22876 (MED), Prayer abreggeth purgatory.
1485c Digby Myst. ii. 412 The myȝte prince of the partes infernall.
The first appearance of infernal.
1490 Arte & Crafte to knowe well to Dye (Caxton) 7 The Infyrmyte tofore the deth is lyke as a purgatore.
1500a Treat. Ghostly Battle in C. Horstmann Yorkshire Writers (1896) II. 430 We be made wery in the wey off wykednes and of perdycion.
1500a (▸1413) Pilgrimage of Soul (Egerton) iii. xi. f. 55, This pitte..is the chief palice of helle, þat is calledd Abissus.
1500a (▸c1340) R. Rolle Psalter (Univ. Oxf. 64) (1884) xv. §10. 54 Þou sall noght leue my saule in hell.
By 1500, Hell is firmly in the English language with 16 primary references.
1502 tr. Ordynarye of Crysten Men (de Worde) i. vii. sig. g.iii, For before that he styed vnto the heuens he descended in to the helles.
1505▸?a R. Henryson Orpheus & Eurydice 528 in Poems (1981) 150 Quhen he wes dede, anone Was dampnyt in the flude of Acheron.
1508 W. Kennedy Flyting (Chepman & Myllar) in P. Bawcutt Poems W. Dunbar (1998) I. 218 Spynk, sink wyth stynk ad Tertera Termagorum.]
1513▸?a W. Dunbar Poems (1998) 274 We that ar heir in hevynnis glorie [at Court] To ȝou that ar in purgatorie [at Stirling in distress].
1522 J. Skelton Why come ye nat to Courte 590 As ferce and as cruell As the fynd of hell.
1526 Bible (Tyndale) Matt. v. f. vj, In daunger off hell fyre [Gk. τὴν γέενναν τοῦ πυρός].
Hell has fire.
1529 T. More Supplyc. Soulys ii. f. xxviiiv, Descendit ad inferna: that ys to say he descended downe byneth in to the lowe placys. In stede of whyche low placys the englyshe tong hath euer vsed thys worde hell.
1529a J. Skelton Phyllyp Sparowe (?1545) sig. D.viiv, By the feryman of hell Caron with his beerd hore.
1530a (▸c1425) Andrew of Wyntoun Oryg. Cron. Scotl. (Royal) v. xiv. 5510 Morys..askyt in his prayere Þat he sulde noucht de befor Þat her he tholit his purgator.
1534 in T. Wright Three Chapters Lett. Suppression Monast. (1843) 36 He wold prove purcatory by a certayne vers in the Saulter.
1535 Bible (Coverdale) Acts ii. D, His soule was not left in hell [1881 R. V. Hades].
1535 Coverdale 2 Kings xxiii. 10 He suspended Tophet also in the valley of the children of Ennon [etc.].
The first appearance of Tophet, a place where Moloch worshipers offered burnt sacrifices. We note that this initial appearance occurs after Martin Luther's Bible of 1534.
1535 D. Lindsay Satyre 1132, I dreid, without ȝe get ane remissioun,..The spirtuall stait sall put ȝow to perditioun.
1536 Bp. J. Longland Serm. spoken before Kynge at Grenwiche sig. Kiiv, He dydde nott vtterly slee or kyll hell, but dydd byte itt.
1538 T. Elyot Dict., Abyssus, is a depenes without bottom.
1548 Hall's Vnion: Henry VII f. xxvijv, What losse & perdicion of many noble Capitaynes and stronge souldiours must..ensue at the assaute.
1548? tr. J. Calvin Faythfvl Treat. Sacrament sig. D, But after that this detestable opinion was inuented, this vnhappie custome proceded out of it as out of an hell mouthe.
1550c T. Becon Flour of Godly Praiers f. xii, Almost fallen thorow the multytude of my synnes, into the hellike pit of desperacyon.
1553 T. Becon Iewell of Ioye Pref., in Catechism Thomas Becon (1844) 415 Wo worth thee, thou antichrist, thou son of perdition, thou deceiver of the people.
1555 R. Eden tr. Peter Martyr of Angleria Decades of Newe Worlde f. 325v, To open a way to the courte of infernal Pluto.
1559 W. Baldwin et al. Myrroure for Magistrates Clifford x, Hel haleth tirauntes downe to death amayne.
1562 Articles of Relig. xxii, The Romish doctrine concerning purgatory..is a fond thing vainly inuented.
1562 W. Bullein Bk. Use Sicke Men f. lxxix, in Bulwarke of Defence, God deliuer us all, from soche infernall plagues from hence forthe.
1563 2nd Tome Homelyes Nativity, in J. Griffiths Two Bks. Homilies (1859) ii. 407 Children of perdition and inheritors of hell fire.
1563 2nd Tome Homelyes Rebellion ii, in J. Griffiths Two Bks. Homilies (1859) ii. 567 The miserable captives and vile slaves of that infernal tyrant Satan.
1563 T. Sackville in W. Baldwin et al. Myrrour for Magistrates (new ed.) Induct. lxix, Acheron..bubs up swelth as black as hell.
1574 E. Hellowes tr. A. de Guevara Familiar Epist. 205 Hell is full of good desires; and heauen is full of good workes.
1576 A. Golding Warfare of Christians ii. 42 Whosoeuer calleth his brother foole, shall bee in daunger of Hell fire.
1577? Misogonus in R. W. Bond Early Plays from Ital. (1911) 215 To be revelinge and bousinge after such a lewde fashion I thinke hell breake louse.
1579 in M. Sellers York Mercers & Merchant Adventurers (1918) 219 Wee shall have..brawles, and suspitions amongest us, as if weare to begin hell uponn earthe.
1581 T. Lupton Persuasion from Papistrie 59 You shall haue al the saide plagues and Gods cursses in this world, and endlesse damnation in Hell after your death.
1582 Bible (Rheims) Phil. ii. 10 That in the name of Iesus every knee bowe of the celestials, terrestrials, and infernals.
1586 E. Hoby tr. M. Coignet Polit. Disc. Trueth xxxi. 146 The strange kinde of punishmentes..prepared for the wicked in the gayle of vengeance, which he calleth Tartarus, a place of darkenesse and torments.
The first appearance of Tartarus, the Greek underworld. We note that the initial appearance is towards the end of the 16th century.
1586 W. Fuller Bk. to Queene in A. Peel Seconde Parte Reg. (1915) II. 64 Neuer agree or joine with Antichrist or anie of thantichristian helhounds..for they..must..goe to eternall perdition.
1588 A. Munday tr. Palmerin D'Oliua i. f. 1v, She..made no reckoning of his importunate and dilligent seruice, which drewe a Hell of tormentinge thoughts vppon Tarisius.
1588 W. Kempe Educ. Children 29 Aeneas going to hell, like to Vlysses going to hell.
1590 J. Smythe Certain Disc. Weapons Proeme *iij b, They verifie the olde Proverb, which is, That such as were never but in Hell, doo thinke that there is no other Heaven.
1590 Spenser Faerie Queene i. xi. 12 His deepe deuouring iawes Wyde gaped, like the griesly mouth of hell, Through which into his darke abysse all rauin fell.
1591 Spenser Teares of Muses in Complaints sig. F3, Image of hellish horrour Ignorance, Borne in the bosome of the black Abysse.
1594 H. Smith Sixe Serm. 15 They invented Purgatorie, Masses,..and then all their trinkets.
1596 W. Warner Albions Eng. (rev. ed.) vii. xxxvii. 184 Short leaue I tooke, & mounting left the Hell God.
1597 H. Broughton Epist. Learned Nobility 37 That state to the body is Scheol... Haides in the Greeke is the very same: and neither of them is euer in Scripture, directlie the state of Eternall torment.
The first appearance of sheol, the Jewish underworld occurs towards the end of the 16th century and after Martin Luther's Bible of 1534.
1597 Shakespeare Richard III i. iii. 224 Some tormenting dreame Affrights thee with a hell of vgly diuels.
1598 F. Meres tr. Luis de Granada Deuotion xxxvii. 351 If all hell should rise vp against thee, yea thou wouldest reioyce.
1598 F. Meres tr. Luis de Granada Sinners Guyde i. iv. 51 Who will be so rash and foole-hardie, that he dare offend God, when he seeth before him both Paradice open, and hell enlarging her mouth?
1598 W. Rankins Seauen Satyres 26 My Phoenix liues againe,Passing hell torment with vnspoken paine.
Hell is associated with torment.
1599 Master Broughtons Lett. v. 18 As by his genealogicall glosses he hath abused βιβλὸν γενέσεως, so by his gehennicall cursings he might set on fire τροχὸν γενέσεως [cf. Jam. iii. 6].
The adjective for Gehenna, a place outside ancient Jerusalem, appears.
1599 Master Broughtons Lett. xi. 38 His [sc. Bucer's] conclusion is, that this article He descended into Hell, is but an explication of the former He dyed and was buried, taking Hades for the graue.
1599 Master Broughtons Lett. xii. 43 Homer presents vnto Vlysses, being in Hades, βιὰν ἡρακλειάν, the force and strength of Hercules a ghost.
1600 S. Nicholson Acolastus his After-witte sig. E4v, Before my hell of foule mishap breake loose.
1600 Shakespeare Merchant of Venice iii. ii. 21 Let Fortune goe to hell for it, not I.
1600 Shakespeare Midsummer Night's Dream iii. ii. 358 With drooping fogge as blacke as Acheron.
From 1501 to 1600 there are 22 references to hell, 5 for Purgatory and one each for Tophet, Sheol and Gehennical.
1601 P. Holland tr. Pliny Hist. World I. 3 The infernall powers beneath.
1603 R. Knolles Gen. Hist. Turkes 101 The Sultan..carried with an infernall furie, defaced, and most shamefully polluted the sepulchre of our blessed Sauiour.
1603a A. W. in E. Farr Sel. Poetry Reign Elizabeth (1845) II. 452 Me..He..Brought from hell-torments to the ioyes of heauen.
1604 T. Bilson (title) The Survey of Christ's Sufferings for Man's redemption; and of his descent to Hades or Hel for our deliverance.
Hades and Hell become interchangeable.
1605 J. Dove Confut. Atheisme 5 When their consciences are possessed with an opinion of hell fire.
1605 J. Sylvester tr. G. de S. Du Bartas Deuine Weekes & Wks. ii. i. 303 'Tis that old Python which... A Hell of furies in his fell desire.
1606 P. Howard Foure-Fold Medit. sig. D, Beneath thee hell, to swallow thee doth gape.
1607 G. Wilkins Miseries Inforst Mariage Sig. A4, Women are the Purgatory of mens Pursses,... and the Hel of their mindes.
1608 J. Day Humour out of Breath sig. B1, Since proude Anthonio..Is in his iourney towards th' vnderworld.
1611 Bible (A.V.) 2 Kings xxiii. 10 He defiled Topheth.
1611 Bible (A.V.) Isa. xxx. 33 For Tophet [1885 R.V. a Topheth] is ordained of olde... like a streame of brimstone doeth kindle it.
1611 G. H. tr. Anti-Coton 74 The Pope... which hee ought, in condemning by his Buls to hell pit such murtherers and assassins.
1612 B. Jonson Alchemist iii. i. sig. F3v, The Children of perdition are, oft times, Made instruments euen of the greatest workes.
1613 T. Heywood Brazen Age in Wks. (1874) III. 217 Vnmanacle the fiends, and make a passage Free for the Infernals.
1613 T. Heywood Silver Age in Wks. (1874) III. 158 And with my club Worke my free passage ... Through these infernals.
1614 W. Raleigh Hist. World i. vi. §3. 85 [They] daylie trauaile towards their eternall perdition.
1615 J. Swetnam Arraignm. Women 61 Thou shalt haue a brended slut like a Hell-hagge, with a paire of pappes like a paire of dung-pots.
1616a Shakespeare All's Well that ends Well (1623) ii. iii. 230, I would it were hell paines for thy sake.
1616a Shakespeare Henry VI, Pt. 2 (1623) iv. vii. 215 In despight of the diuels and hell, haue through the verie middest of you.
1616a Shakespeare Othello (1622) ii. ii. 3 Certaine tidings..importing the meere perdition of the Turkish Fleete.
1617 F. Moryson Itinerary iii. 53 England..is said to be the Hell of Horses, the Purgatory of Servants, and the Paradise of Weomen.
1620 tr. Boccaccio Decameron I. i, Vulgar judgement will censure otherwise of him, and thinke him to be rather in perdition then in..Paradice.
1620a M. Fotherby tr. D. Phrygius in Atheomastix (1622) Prol. xii. 124 Through god-begetting Feare, Mans blinded minde did reare, A Hell-god.
1623 H. Cockeram Eng. Dict., Gehenna, Hell.
1624 R. Burton Anat. Melancholy (ed. 2) iii. iv. i. iii. 522 Purgatory, Limbus patrum, infantum, and all that subterranean Geography.
1627 G. Hakewill Apologie iv. i. 281 A valley shadowed with wood, called Gehinnon [sic] or Tophet, from whence is the word Gehenna vsed for hell.
1627a T. Middleton More Dissemblers besides Women iv. iii, in 2 New Playes (1657) 62 Hell-mouth be with thee.
1632 T. Heywood Iron Age v. i. sig. Kv, Charon the Ferri-man of Hell shall bee My Ganimed.
1633a G. Herbert Outlandish Prov. (1640) sig. A7v, Hell is full of good meanings and wishings.
1634 T. Herbert Relation Some Yeares Trauaile 119 The forty load of Toback..fired, whose blacke vapour vpon free-cost, gaue the whole City infernall incense, two whole dayes.
1637 Milton Comus 604 Under the sooty flag of Acheron.
1639 P. Massinger Unnaturall Combat ii. i. sig. D, Were I condemn'd..to fill up..A bottomlesse Abysse, or charge through fire, It could not so much shake me.
1640 H. Mill Nights Search i. 8 He sets out sin (most lively) black as hell.
1640 R. Brome Antipodes sig. C2v, No Isle nor Angle in that Neather world, But I have made discovery of.
1641 R. Brathwait Mercurius Britanicus iv. sig. D4, Now hell hath opened his mouth, come out you generation of vipers.
1642 T. Fuller Holy State i. vii. 19 Those who first called England the Purgatory of servants, sure did us much wrong.
1645 Milton On Christ's Nativity: Hymn xxvi, in Poems 12 The flocking shadows pale, Troop to th' infernall jail.
1649 Bp. J. Taylor Great Exemplar iii. §16. 170 Our Lord descended into hell..that is into the state of separation and common receptacle of spirits.
1649 R. Lovelace Poems (1659) 155 Ye blew flam'd daughters oth' Abysse, Bring all your Snakes, here let them hisse.
1651 T. Hobbes Leviathan (1839) iii. xxxviii. 445 For example, that they [sc. the damned] are in Inferno, in Tartarus, or in the bottomless pit.
1654 R. Whitlock Ζωοτομία 203 It is a saying among Divines, that Hell is full of good Intentions, and Meanings.
1654a J. Richardson Choice Observ. & Explan. Old Test. (1655) 281 A corroding disease it [sc. envy] is; an hel-hag that feeds upon its marrow, bones, and strongest parts.
1656a Bp. J. Hall Great Myst. Godliness (1659) xiv. [xiii.] 63 There is now such an hell of the spirits of errour broken loose into the world.
1658 Sir T. Browne Hydriotaphia iv. 60 Condemned unto the Tartara's of Hell.
1658 Sir T. Browne Hydriotaphia iv. 62 The dead seem all alive in the humane Hades of Homer, yet cannot well speak, prophesie, or know the living, except they drink bloud, wherein is the life of man.
1659 in D. Laing Var. Pieces Fugitive Sc. Poetry (1853) 2nd Ser. xxix. 3 You are the man..That visitt did the neather world.
1660 Milton Readie Way Free Commonw. (ed. 2) 81 The language of thir infernal pamphlets.
1661 T. Blount Glossographia (ed. 2) (at cited word), The Council of Trent, Sect. 15. defines, that there is a Purgatory, and that the souls detained there, are benefitted by the prayers of the faithful.
1667 Milton Paradise Lost i. 404 [Moloch] made his Grove The pleasant Vally of Hinnom, Tophet thence And black Gehenna call'd, the Type of Hell.
1667 Milton Paradise Lost i. 405 [Moloch] made his Grove The pleasant Vally of Hinnom, Tophet thence And black Gehenna call'd, the Type of Hell.]
1667 Milton Paradise Lost i. 47 Flaming from th' Ethereal Skie With hideous ruine and combustion down To bottomless perdition.
1667 Milton Paradise Lost i. 756 A solemn Councel forthwith to be held At Pandæmonium, the high Capital Of Satan and his Peers.
1667 Milton Paradise Lost ii. 578 Sad Acheron of sorrow, black and deep.
1667 Milton Paradise Lost iii. 84 Our adversarie, whom no bounds Prescrib'd, no barrs of Hell..nor yet the main Abyss Wide interrupt can hold.
1667 Milton Paradise Lost vii. 211 They view'd the vast immeasurable Abyss Outrageous as a Sea, dark, wasteful, wilde.
1667 Milton Paradise Lost x. 230 Within the Gates of Hell sate Sin and Death.
Milton provides Hell with gates. This is not surprising since Heaven has gates and Saint Peter holds two keys.
1667 Milton Paradise Lost x. 424 About the walls Of Pandæmonium, Citie and proud seate Of Lucifer.
1671 J. Eliot Indian Dialogues i. 17 They may be tormented among..wicked men in Hell fire for ever.
1671 T. Watson Mischief of Sinne 25 The severity of Hell torment.
1673 Dryden Marriage a-la-Mode v. i. 73 And let me die, but I'll follow you to the Infernals till you pity me.
1673 Milton On Death Fair Infant x, in Poems (ed. 2) 20 To turn Swift-rushing black perdition hence.
1678 J. Bunyan Pilgrim's Progress 2, I fear that this burden..will sinck me lower then the Grave; and I shall fall into Tophet.
1678 J. Bunyan Pilgrim's Progress x, Judas..was lost, cast away, and the very son of perdition.
1679 Dryden & N. Lee Oedipus ii. 26 Since Hell's broke loose, why should not you be mad?
1680a J. Harrington Horæ Consecratæ (1682) 411 The renew'd Fire of Zeal, (this Hell-like) Fire of Sin.
1682a Sir T. Browne Christian Morals (1716) ii. 58 A Man may be cheaply vitious, to the perdition of himself.
1683 W. Bates Serm. Death & Eternal Judgement 48 There will be no righteous Complaint against God in Hell, where the Punishment is inflicted by powerful Justice.
1684 N. S. tr. R. Simon Crit. Enq. Editions Bible xxv. 226 All the stratagems of Popery, all the tophitical Tyranny of the School-men.
1684 R. Baxter Catholick Communion 35 Dementation goeth before Perdition.
1685 W. Clark Grand Tryal iii. xxii. 183 Dost think that God..can tell..What all those things do act, who live in Hell?
1688 R. Holme Acad. Armory ii. x. 209 The three headed Dog of Hell, which Hercules is said to bring away with him in a Chain.
1691a R. Boyle Gen. Hist. Air (1692) 157 The heat of the island Suaquena, Gregory used to call, infernal.
1692 J. Ray Misc. Disc. v. 131 The Waters rising up out of the subterraneous Abyss, the Sea must needs succeed.
1696 T. Scott Mock-Marriage v. i. 55 That Son of Perdition, who having won to his embraces the Daughter of my Bosom.., now..leaveth her like an unholy thing.
1698 J. Norris Pract. Disc. Divine Subj. IV. 246 They..know nothing of the Place and State whither they are going, the dark invisible Hades.
1701 J. Dunton tr. Homer in Merciful Assizes 281 We hate him worse than Hell-Mouth, that utters one thing with his Tongue, and keeps another in his Brest.
1701 J. Ray Wisdom of God (ed. 3) i. 90 Bring up Springs and Rivers from the great Abyss.
1706 D. Baker Hist. Job i. 21 All Hell's Methods prove Unable his Religious Mind to move.
1708a W. Beveridge Private Thoughts Relig. (1709) 150, I never did see..the flaming Tophet that is below.
1711a T. Ken Hymnarium in Wks. (1721) II. 127 Shew me the Gulph, that's fixed between The upper Hades, and the sub-terrene.
1711a T. Ken Psyche in Wks. (1721) IV. 205 That Angel..Of the Abyss Key-keeper made, Rules the infernal Shade.
1712 Pope tr. Statius First Bk. Thebais in Misc. Poems 30 By the black infernal Styx I swear.
1713 Countess of Winchilsea Misc. Poems 18 When to the Under-world despis'd he goes, A pamper'd carcase on the Worms bestows.
1713 J. Addison in Guardian 9 July 1/2 He wou'd have a large Piece of Machinery represent the Pan-dæmonium [of Milton].
1713 Pope Corr. 8 Dec. (1956) I. 200, I cannot set his Delivery from Purgatory at less than Fifty Pounds sterling.
1713 Pope Ode Musick 5 He sung, and Hell consented To hear the Poet's Pray'r.
1716 W. Hendley St. Paul's Charge to Timothy 14 You would not run yourselves into Hell-Fire by your Sins.
1720 J. Gay Trivia ii, in Poems I. 178 When dread Jove the son of Phœbus hurl'd..to the nether world.
1725 T. Thomas in Portland Papers VI. (Hist. MSS. Comm.) 98 Half way to North Allerton is a very bad piece of road which goes by the name of Purgatory.
1731 D. Mallet Eurydice i. i. 2 Where is she now! Hid in the wild abyss, with all her crew, All lost for ever!
1731 J. Fox Door of Heaven ii. 17 Judas was an Apostle and Preacher, but the Son of Perdition.
1731 Pope Epist. to Earl of Burlington 12 Who never mentions Hell to Ears polite.
1731a D. Defoe New Voy. round World (1787) I. 126 An infernal project of the second mates.
1736a T. Yalden On Re-printing Milton's Prose Wks. in Wks. Eng. Poets (1810) XI. 74/1 The dread abyss beneath, Hell's horrid mansions.
1742 H. Fielding Joseph Andrews II. iv. xi. 260 The enraged Beau, who threatened such Perdition and Destruction, that it frighted the Women.
1743 Ld. Chesterfield Old England No. 3 in Misc. Wks. (1777) I. 116 ‘This..is certainly levelled at us,’ says a conscious sullen apostate patriot to his fallen brethren in the Pandæmonium.
1748a I. Watts Improvem. Mind ii. v, in Coll. Wks. (1753) V. 341, I will explain the word hell to signify the state of the dead, or the separate state of souls..and..that the soul of Christ existed three days in the state of separation from his body, or was in the invisible world.
1749 T. Stackhouse New Hist. Bible (ed. 2) II. vi. iv. 911 (note) , It is the general Opinion of the Jews, that the Word Tophet comes from Thoph, which, in their Language, signifies a Drum.
As late as 1749, we are learning about the supposed origin of Tophet.
1753 Chambers's Cycl. Suppl. (at cited word), The existence of an Abyss, or receptacle of subterraneous waters is...
1753 R. Challoner Considerations Christian Truths I. 28 See how hell opens wide its jaws, and daily swallows down ... [sc. souls.]
1756 S. Foote Englishman return'd from Paris i. 25 And you really think Paris a Kind of Purgatory.
1757 E. Burke Philos. Enq. Sublime & Beautiful ii. §23. 70 The poisonous exhalation of Acheron [printed Acheon] is not forgot.
1757 tr. J. G. Keyssler Trav. II. 368 ..is still living in prison here, and few foreigners leave Naples without seeing this infernal hag.
1764 H. Walpole Castle of Otranto i. 20, I will follow thee to the gulph of perdition.
1771 T. Smollett Humphry Clinker II. 175 He bid defiance to the eternity of hell fire.
1773 J. Home Alonzo iii. i. 37 The blackest fiend, that dwells in burning hell.
1774 O. Goldsmith Hist. Earth II. 141 To ascribe this strange production to the operations of an infernal agent.
1774a A. Tucker Light of Nature (1777) III. iii. xix. 114 The doctrine of a purgatory seems innocent in itself..: it is only the absurd notion..of praying or buying souls out of Purgatory, that renders it a heresy repugnant to reason.
1774a A. Tucker Light of Nature (1834) II. 321 The enjoyments of Elysium and punishments of Tartarus.
1775 B. Franklin London 742 ... know a retreat perform'd with more vigour? For we did it in two hours, which sav'd us from perdition.
1775 Johnson in J. Boswell Life Johnson (1887) II. 360 Sir, Hell is paved with good intentions.
1776 W. J. Mickle tr. L. de Camoens Lusiad vii. 283 (note) Pluto, tyrant of hell, having seized Eurydice..detained her.
1777 J. Relly Christian Hymns 118 From Bondage and Chains, From Sin and Hell-pains.
1777 W. Combe Diaboliad 87 Call up my guards—What! is all Hell broke loose?
1780 W. Cowper Progress of Error 609 He that will be cheated to the last, Delusions strong as Hell shall bind him fast.
1781 W. Cowper Hope 387 If appetite, or what divines call lust,..Be punished with perdition, who is pure?
1785 F. Grose Classical Dict. Vulgar Tongue, ... which they deposit in a place called hell... they wish they may find it in hell.
1785 W. Cowper Task v. 862 Fables false as hell..lure down to death The uninformed and heedless souls of men.
1788 S. Low Politician Out-witted i. i, Go to h—ll, if you be please.
We note that earlier writers had no superstition of writing "hell" in full.
1790c W. Cowper Comm. Milton's Paradise Lost i. 114 To invent speeches for these Infernals so well adapted to their character.
1792 T. Holcroft Anna St. Ives VI. cxii. 183 All hell seems busy to blacken me!
1793 H. Boyd Poems 626 Son of perdition! know thy abject birth.
1794 R. J. Sulivan View of Nature I. 30 How striking the profundity of the abysses! the frightful elevation of the rocks!
1369 Hel pit
1385 Purgatory
1393 Acheron
1398 Abyss
1485c Infernal
1522 Luther Bible, New Testament
1526 Hell fire, Tyndale Bible
1534 Luther Bible, Complete
1535 Tophet, Coverdale Bible
1548? Hell mouth
1550c Hell like
1582 Rheims Bible
1586 Tartarus
1597 Sheol
1598 Hell torment
1599 Gehennicall
1604 "Hades or Hel"
1608 Underworld
1627 Gehinon (sic) or Tophet
1640 Netherworld
1667 Gates of Hell
1777 Hell pains
1385 Purgatory
1393 Acheron
1398 Abyss
1485c Infernal
1522 Luther Bible, New Testament
1526 Hell fire, Tyndale Bible
1534 Luther Bible, Complete
1535 Tophet, Coverdale Bible
1548? Hell mouth
1550c Hell like
1582 Rheims Bible
1586 Tartarus
1597 Sheol
1598 Hell torment
1599 Gehennicall
1604 "Hades or Hel"
1608 Underworld
1627 Gehinon (sic) or Tophet
1640 Netherworld
1667 Gates of Hell
1777 Hell pains
We notice that after the publication of the Lutheran, Tyndale, Coverdale Bibles references to Hebrew words appear in the English language. We treat Wycliffe's Bible as a secondary source since it was not published until the early 19th century. It is highly unlikely that the book attributed to Wycliffe can be dated to any time before the 1530s. It was only during this time that Erasmus' New Testament and Luther's complete Bible were available.
If the Bible existed in 1382, we would expect words like Tophet, Tartarus, Sheol and Gehenna to appear within at a maximum of 50 years after their introdution. Since these words [like "Jehovah" (Tyndale, 1530)] only appear in the 16th century, we are confident that the Bible was unknown until Luther combined the Gospels with Jewish writings in the early 16th century.
See"An Attempt to Date Jesus" where we can unequivocally date Jesus to the year 1779.
If the Bible existed in 1382, we would expect words like Tophet, Tartarus, Sheol and Gehenna to appear within at a maximum of 50 years after their introdution. Since these words [like "Jehovah" (Tyndale, 1530)] only appear in the 16th century, we are confident that the Bible was unknown until Luther combined the Gospels with Jewish writings in the early 16th century.
See"An Attempt to Date Jesus" where we can unequivocally date Jesus to the year 1779.