Hell

In religion and folklore, **Hell** is an afterlife location in which evil souls are subjected to punitive suffering, often 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

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. 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'. 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, extension of Proto-Germanic \**xaljō* were reinterpreted to denote the underworld in Christian mythology, for which 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*. 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".

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').