# Mephistopheles
## English
### Alternative forms

* Mephisto
* Mephostopheles (dated) (Faustbook of Spies, 1587; Versified Faustbook, 1587; Widmann's Faustbook, 1599; Pfitzer's Faustbook, 1674)
* Mephostophilus (Shakespeare)
* Mephistophiles (Dr. Fausti dreifacher Höllenzwang, Dr. Fausti vierfacher Höllenzwang, dates of publication are fabricated)
* Mephistopheles (Dr. Joh. Fausti Nigromantia et Cabbala alba, Mephistopheles et Auerhahn; Faustbuch des Christlich-Meynenden, 1728; Goethe's Faust)
* Mephis-Dolophus (Doctor Faustens geheime Manuscripta)
* Mephistophiel (Praxis Cabulae nigrae Doctoris Johannis Fausti, 1612)

### Etymology

Uncertain. The two-time occurrence of -ph- which is the Roman transliteration for Ancient Greek φ and on the termination -es which transliterates Ancient Greek -ης (e.g. found in Ἀριστοτέλης) as well as the resemblance that -phel-/-phil- bears to φιλεῖν (phileîn, “to love”) has led many to believe that this must originally be an Ancient Greek compound word. Following this assumption, the first two characters have been identified with μή (mḗ, “not”), while -phisto-/-phosto- has been interpreted as a corruption of φωτο- (phōto-), the compositional form of φῶς (phôs, “light”). The name would thus mean "not loving light" which seems fitting for a devil. However, two obstacles stand in the way of this being acceptable: Firstly, -photo- is an unlikely candidate for corruption since this is a rather common and perspicuous Greek morpheme. Secondly, μή (mḗ) is not known to be part of Ancient Greek practice of name-composition.
Instead of assuming two stems for the first part of the name, it has been proposed to identify it with Latin mephītis (“poisonous exhalation from the ground”), but the additional s still remains unexplained.
-phosto- has formerly been interpreted as referring to Faust himself, in the sense that Mephostophiles "does not love Faust".
A semantically less straightforward, but morphologically more satisfying etymology postulates Hebrew origin, segmentating the name as מֵפִיץ (mêp̄îṣ) meaning scatterer and ט֫פֶל (tōp̄el) meaning attacher, followed by a suffix that turns the compound into a Greek word. ט֫פֶל would then be short for ט֫פֶל שֶׁ֫קֶר (tōp̄el šeqer) meaning attacher of lies, a phrase found in Job 13,4: וְֽאוּלָ֗ם אַ֖תֶּם טֹֽפְלֵי־שָׁ֑קֶר רֹפְאֵ֖י אֱלִ֣ל כֻּלְּכֶֽם (translated as "ye are forgers of lies, ye are all quacks").
Julius Goebel proposed a different theory centered around the name Mephistophiel, found in the Praxis Cabalae nigrae Doctoris Johannis Fausti magi celeberrimi from 1612, with mephist- being a concealing alteration of megist-, which is a reference to Ἑρμῆς Τρισμέγιστος (Hermês Trismégistos, “thrice-greatest Hermes”), and Ophiel, compounded from ὄφις (óphis, “serpent”) and -ήλ (-ḗl), which is the Hebrew אֵל (“god, deity”). The derivation of demon names in -el from non-Hebrew bases was common in magic-books of the 16th and 17th century, with other examples being Kyniel from κύων (kúōn, “dog”) and Ariel from ariēs (“ram”). Ophiel thus means "serpent-god" and refers to Hermes, as who wields the κηρύκειον (kērúkeion), a staff entwined with two serpents. The fact that Ophiel alone appears in the Wagnerbook and the Arbatel as another name for Mercury, supports this. He therefore identifies Mephistopheles with Hermes Trismegistos and Mercury.
None of these etymologies is compelling.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˌmɛ.fɪˈstɒ.fɪ.liːz/
* Audio (Southern England):(file)

### Proper noun

Mephistopheles
* The Devil to whom Faust sold his soul in the legend.
    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:Satan
** 1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part I, page 215:I let him run on, this papier-maché Mephistopheles, and it seemed to me that if I tried I could poke my forefinger through him, and find nothing inside but a little loose dirt, maybe.
** 2007, “Videotape”, in In Rainbows, performed by Radiohead:When I'm at the pearly gates / This'll be on my videotape, my videotape / When Mephistopheles is just beneath / And he's reaching up to grab me

#### Derived terms

* Mephistophelean

#### Translations
### Noun

Mephistopheles
* A fiendish person, especially one who tricks someone into following a destructive or disastrous course of action; a tempter.
** 1989, Tim Smith (lyrics and music), “Fast Robert”, in On Land and in the Sea, performed by Cardiacs:Poison in my idle mind makes quick work for the Mephistopheles, / Who quickly makes his excuses

### References

* ↑ Snider, Denton Jaques (1886) Goethe's Faust: A Commentary‎, Sigma, pages 132-133
* ↑ https://www.etymonline.com/word/Mephistopheles
* ↑ Goebel, J. (1904): The Etymology of Mephistopheles. Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association, 35, 148–156. https://doi.org/10.2307/282658

### Further reading

* Mephistopheles on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

## German
### Alternative forms

* Mephisto

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /mefɪsˈtoːfelɛs/
* Hyphenation: Me‧phis‧to‧phe‧les; pre-1996: Me‧phi‧sto‧phe‧les
* Audio:(file)

### Proper noun

Mephistopheles m (proper noun, strong, genitive Mephistopheles)
* Mephistopheles

#### Derived terms

* mephistophelisch

### Further reading

* “Mephistopheles” in Duden online
* “Mephistopheles” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache