Habib, Sandy (2012). Meeting the prince of darkness: A semantic analysis of English the devil, Arabic ashshaytan, and Hebrew hasatan. In Gil’ad Zuckermann (Ed.), Burning Issues in Afro-Asiatic Linguistics (pp. 123-160). Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
Abstract:
In Christianity, he is a fallen angel; in Islam, he is a kind of jinn, and, in Judaism, he is the only being of his kind. This being is known as the devil by English-speaking Christians, as الشيطان ashshayṭān by Muslim Arabs, and as הסטן hasatan by native Hebrew speakers. Notwithstanding the theological differences, the phrase the devil is almost always glossed in dictionaries and translated in books and stories as الشيطان ashshayṭān, in Arabic, and הסטן hasatan, in Hebrew, and vice versa. Consequently, there is good reason to believe that ordinary native English speakers, Muslim Arabs, and native Hebrew speakers would think that the devil, الشيطان ashshayṭān, and הסטן hasatan refer to the same non-human being. To verify this matter, this study explores these three concepts and delineates the similarities and differences between them.
Since the three concepts originate in three different cultures, each concept is analysed and described in a way that would make it understood, not only to cultural insiders, but also to outsiders. To explain the term the devil, for instance, using words such as supernatural and evil might be problematic, especially when such words (1) are themselves no less complex than devil and hence need explication and (2) do not have equivalents or exact equivalents in other languages. As a consequence, not any linguistic analysis can achieve the goals of this chapter. One method that can is the NSM approach.
Rating:
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
