Beelzebub
(biːˈɛlzɪbʌb)
Also 4 Belsebub, 4–6 Belsabub, -bbe, 1–9 Belzebub.
[a. L. Beëlzebūb, used in the Vulgate to render both the Gr. βεελζεβούβ of the received text of the N.T. (for which early MSS. have βεελζεβούλ), and the Heb. baﻋal-z'būb ‘fly-lord,’ mentioned in 2 Kings i. 2, as ‘the god of Ekron,’ which Aquila had also reproduced in Gr. as βεελζεβούβ, though the LXX rendered it βάαλ µυ{giumlacu}αν. The relation between the Heb. and Gr. words is not settled. The earlier Eng. translations, and the Douay, followed the Vulgate in identifying them in form, but the Geneva Bible of 1560, followed by the ‘Authorized’ of 1611, represent the O.T. word more exactly as Baal-zebub. From the N.T. designation of Beelzebub as ‘prince of demons,’ the word became at an early period one of the popular names of the Devil. Milton used it as the name of one of the fallen angels.]
The Devil; a devil; also transf.
| c 950 Lindisf. Gosp. Matt. xii. 24 In Belzebub ðone aldormenn diobla. c 975 Rushw. G. ibid., Belzebub þæt is aldor deofla. c 1000 Ags. G. ibid., Þurh Belzebub deofla ealdre. c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 55 Loke weo us wið him misdon þurh beelzebubes swikedom. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. ii. 130 A bastarde y-bore Of Belsabubbes kynne. 1562 J. Heywood Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 51 Ye be a baby of Belsabubs bowre. 1601 Shakes. Twel. N. v. i. 291 He holds Belzebub at the staues end as well as a man in his case may do. 1759 Law Lett. Import. Subj. 193 To crucify the Christ of God, as a beelzebub and blasphemer. 1816 Kirby & Sp. Entomol. (1843) I. 124 This fly is truly a beelzebub and perhaps..the prototype of the Philistine idol worshipped under that name and in the form of a fly. 1848 Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. xiii, His old troopers, the Satans and Beelzebubs who had shared his crimes (i.e. of Claverhouse). |