Dictionary

Belial en · PROPN

Pronunciation

• /ˈbiːl.jəl/
• /bəˈlaɪ.əl/ spelling pronunciation
• /ˈbiːli.əl/

Etymology

Latin Bĕlĭal, Hebrew בְלִיַּעַל. Of uncertain origin. It has been conventionally interpreted as בְּלִי (“without”) + a word meaning "use" (hence "useless, worthless"), but it is unclear what the latter word is.

Meanings

1. A wicked demon in Christian and Jewish apocrypha.
   • Here, too, the poet calls attention to Belial's role as one who blurs the borderline between essence and appearance: Belial himself seems fair (physically attractive), but is empty inside, and Milton was surely aware that in Hebrew the first syllable of the fallen angel's name means without. 2016 February 24, Nancy Rosenfeld, The Human Satan in Seventeenth-Century English Literature: From Milton to Rochester, Routledge, →ISBN, page 93:

Forms

Deriveds

Belialic

Translations (12)

eo Belialo (a wicked demon in Christian and Jewish apocrypha) · ar بَلِيَّعَال (a wicked demon in Christian and Jewish apocrypha) · ja ベリアル (a wicked demon in Christian and Jewish apocrypha) · sv Beliar (a wicked demon in Christian and Jewish apocrypha) · fr Bélial (a wicked demon in Christian and Jewish apocrypha) · ru Белиа́л (a wicked demon in Christian and Jewish apocrypha) · mk Велијар (a wicked demon in Christian and Jewish apocrypha) · pl Belial (a wicked demon in Christian and Jewish apocrypha) · sv Belial (a wicked demon in Christian and Jewish apocrypha) · grc Βελιάρ (a wicked demon in Christian and Jewish apocrypha) · grc Βελίαλ (a wicked demon in Christian and Jewish apocrypha) · ko 벨리알 (a wicked demon in Christian and Jewish apocrypha)