origin of the word evil

[steven selby]

the word evil probably comes from the hebrew word - eveel- אויל
being adamantly stubborn and not given to change; where others repent
and he himself has no feelings of remorse about his nefarious ways

 

[Andrewn]

Welcome to the CF. According to Oxford Dictionary, the word "evil" comes from old English yfel, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch euvel and German Übel. Which OT verses have the word אויל?

 

[Occams Barber]

the word evil probably comes from the hebrew word - eveel- אויל
being adamantly stubborn and not given to change; where others repent
and he himself has no feelings of remorse about his nefarious ways

There are no indications that 'evil' comes from Hebrew. According to the Online Etymological Dictionary:

evil (adj.)

Old English yfel (Kentish evel) "bad, vicious, ill, wicked," from Proto-Germanic *ubilaz (source also of Old Saxon ubil, Old Frisian and Middle Dutch evel, Dutch euvel, Old High German ubil, German übel, Gothic ubils), from PIE *upelo-, from root *wap- "bad, evil" (source also of Hittite huwapp- "evil").​

The deep origins of 'evil' are from the Proto Indo European (PIE) language family. Hebrew belongs to the, totally separate, Afro-Asiatic family of languages.

OB

PS. Welcome to CF
OB

 

[ViaCrucis]

Welcome to CF! Though as others have pointed out, the word "evil" is of Germanic, Indo-European origin, not Hebrew or any of the Semitic languages.

In linguistics the similarity between אויל and "evil" is what would be called "false friends". That is, a false cognate--two words that one might think have similar meaning or similar linguistic roots because of the similarities between the two words; but which in fact have no relationship to one another at all.

-CryptoLutheran

 

[ViaCrucis]

Welcome to the CF. According to Oxford Dictionary, the word "evil" comes from old English yfel, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch euvel and German Übel. Which OT verses have the word אויל?

The word means "to be foolish", and describes a foolish person, a fool. So, unsurprisingly it appears most frequently in the wisdom literature, especially in the Proverbs.

-CryptoLutheran

 

[Thatgirloncfforums]

The word means "to be foolish", and describes a foolish person, a fool. So, unsurprisingly it appears most frequently in the wisdom literature, especially in the Proverbs.

-CryptoLutheran

Is there then, no such thing as a 'holy fool'?

 

[ViaCrucis]

Is there then, no such thing as a 'holy fool'?

Oh sure there is. But that's not what a "foolish person" is. The fool for Christ is foolish by the standards of the world, because God chose the foolishness of the world to confound the wise.

-CryptoLutheran

 

[sunshineforJesus]

Hi and welcome.

 

[Joy]

MOD HAT ON​

Thread is Closed
for
Staff Review

MOD HAT OFF​

 

[Landon Caeli]

MOD hat on​

MOD hat off​