[Michael Juster]

Does anyone know if the Latin noun "chaos" had evolved from a name for the vague, shadowy classical underworld to the more specific, blazing Christian Hell by, say, the sixth century? Or did it retain its original sense and other words were used for "Hell."

I'll need to know what to wear.

As always, thanks folks!

[Julie Steiner]

I thought that, traditionally, there were two parallel ideas of the underworld, one being cave-influenced (chaos/chasm/abyss/bottomless pit/Cimmerian--a mythical people who dwelled in mist-filled caves near the realm of the dead--darkness, Stygian darkness) and the other being volcano-influenced (a lake of fire, unquenchable fire, and brimstone [another name for the sulfur that precipitates from hydrogen sulfide, a volcanic gas]).

It seems counterintuitive to meld the two into a single vision of Hell, since darkness tends to disperse in the presence of fire, in my experience. The New Testament certainly uses both darkness and fire imagery for Hell, but not in combination.

I cite no sources because I am making this up off the top of my head. Caveat lector.

[Maryann Corbett]

It's easier to show that there were other words used for hell before the sixth century than to show that chaos was so used by the sixth c. I poked around the Perseus Project dictionaries and found patristic uses of infernus for hell, but only classical cites for chaos, and only in the senses of "underworld" or "formless mass." There's apparently no use of chaos in the Vulgate. I also poked around the online Ducange glossaire of middle and low Latin and found no entries for chaos.

Not proof, just absence of evidence, and only the types of evidence I know about. But I wanted to try.

[RCL]

Have any of you seen my former colleague's The Devil, Demonology, and Witchcraft? None of the three exist in Christian doctrine he argues! (He wrote it based on Vatican archives).

[ross hamilton hill]

I think hell is a Germanic word, the two hell's of the old testament were sheol which means a grave and gehenna which was originally a place where garbage was dumped. I just looked up a few things on google, I have no expertise in this area and there are so many interpretations of words and their meaning. I think chaos, origininally Greek was used more as the void, the emptiness before the 7 days of creation. I would imagine translations of the bible would have referred to the Torah to get definitions of Hebrew words, then the Aramaic, I do know not all sects within judaisim believed in life after death ( the resurrection) some only believed in this world, that this world could be redeemed and made into heaven so sheol was literally 'the grave', the end of life not a place of torment.

[Julie Steiner]

I found an interesting article on Google Books contrasting the ancient and early medieval use of Greek khaos (and Latin chaos), including mention of patristic uses...but, being Google Books, a lot of pages are tantalizingly missing. Still, if you're interested, you can pay for the full text, or request it via interlibrary loan.

Probably the most relevant discussion is in the section beginning p. 25, on Luke 16:26, the parable of the rich man and Lazarus in the afterlife.

[Patricia A. Marsh]

Originally Posted by Michael Juster

Does anyone know if the Latin noun "chaos" had evolved from a name for the vague, shadowy classical underworld to the more specific, blazing Christian Hell by, say, the sixth century? Or did it retain its original sense and other words were used for "Hell."

I'll need to know what to wear.

As always, thanks folks!

Here's a link to an article that might be helpful, inasmuch as it mentions chaos and hell, etc.:
https://exploratorius.files.wordpres...m-to-hell1.pdf

[Gail White]

All I know about this, Mike, is that the "hell" envisioned by Jesus (where the worm never dies and the fire is never quenched) is based on Gehenna, the ever-burning garbage dump of Old Jerusalem, an image that would have been familiar to everyone who heard him. I am not familiar with "chaos" as a synonym for hell, although I think Milton has a symbolic being of that name.

[Roger Slater]

I'd wear something light, maybe a cotton/asbestos blend.

[Michael Juster]

Thanks, everyone. I am trying to send a book I have been working on for seven years off to the publisher this weekend, and I am grateful for the leads.

Oh, and I have decided to wear sweatpants and a T-shirt--no real need to overdress!