Music, Liszt especially, triggers the question.

We know Satan, the devil, Ol' Nick. A host of Greek and Hebrew terms. And "Lucifer," the light bearer.

But what is the etymology of Mephisto?

Long ago, when the board was without form and void, and darkness ruled over the face of the forums, we discussed mephitic. Could that be related?

And what does -opheles mean, as in Mephistopheles and the anopheles mosquito?

shufitz,I believe you've nailed it.

One use of learned terms is to hide underlying ignorance. In reference to a skunk, the pretentious one says "You mean, Mephitis mephitis..." Though lesser mortals are awed, the Wordcrafters know that simply means "stinkiest of the stinky."

So perhaps the sulphur makes the devil.

The -opheles ending may be ironic. In the Greek it means literally, "helpful." "An" is a negation, so the mosquito is unhelpful, a vector of malaria ("bad air").

quote:

Long ago, when the board was without form and void, and darkness ruled over the face of the forums, we discussed mephitic.

Ah, yes, Shu, I remember that early post. It was one of our first discussions here.

OR Not...

I didn't find "Mephisto" etymology, hence the appeal. But shufitz's post suggested searching for the more complete "Mephistopheles."

On http://www.etymonline.com, I find a different split, and derivation:

Mephistopheles
1598, the evil spirit whom Faust sold his soul to in the Ger. legend, from Ger. (1587), of unknown origin. According to the speculation of eminent Göthe scholar K.J. Schröer (1886) it is a compound of Heb. mephitz "destroyer" + tophel "liar"
(short for tophel sheqer, lit. "falsehood plasterer;" cf. Job xiii.4). Names of devils in the Middle Ages in most cases derived from Heb.

quote:

a compound of Heb. mephitz "destroyer" + tophel "liar

Tophel perhaps related to Tophet? Tophet means 'hell', but it comes from the Bible's name (Jer. xix. 4, etc.) for a place the Jews made human sacrifices to strange gods. If I recall aright, El means god, and is a common ending for Hebrew place-names.