Namings and Etymology
Muslims traditionally derived the name from the Arabic verbal root balasa بَلَسَ, meaning "he despaired"; therefore, the meaning of ʾIblīs would be "he/it that causes despair".
In popular Islamic culture, "Shaytan" (Arabic: شيطان), is often simply translated as "The Devil," but the term can refer to any of the beings who rebelled against God.
Read more about this topic: Devil (Islam)
Famous quotes containing the words namings and/or etymology:
“Every journey into the past is complicated by delusions, false memories, false namings of real events.”
—Adrienne Rich (b. 1929)
“Semantically, taste is rich and confusing, its etymology as odd and interesting as that of “style.” But while style—deriving from the stylus or pointed rod which Roman scribes used to make marks on wax tablets—suggests activity, taste is more passive.... Etymologically, the word we use derives from the Old French, meaning touch or feel, a sense that is preserved in the current Italian word for a keyboard, tastiera.”
—Stephen Bayley, British historian, art critic. “Taste: The Story of an Idea,” Taste: The Secret Meaning of Things, Random House (1991)