ScriptureMyths & disputes

Lilith

Lilith started as a Mesopotamian class of wind and storm demons, appears once in Isaiah among creatures of the ruins — Jerome made her a Roman lamia — and only in medieval Jewish lore became Adam's rebellious first wife. Goethe's Faust and Victor Hugo carried her into European literature, and 20th-century feminists claimed her.

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The story you may have heard

Often explained as Hebrew 'creature of the night' from laylāh 'night'; that link is most likely a folk etymology of a borrowed Mesopotamian demon name.

The road to English

From Medieval Hebrew to German

From Biblical Hebrew to Late Latin

From Medieval Hebrew to Modern Hebrew

From German to Russian

From Medieval Hebrew to French

From English to American English

1800 BCESumerian

Hops are evenly spaced; labels show the year each form is first attested.

Lilith

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The road to English

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