إبليس

See also: ابلیس

Arabic

Etymology

Theorised to come from Ancient Greek διάβολος (diábolos, “devil, accuser, slanderer”). Alternatively, it has been maintained to originate from the trilateral root ب ل س (b-l-s) with the meaning of "despairing [of God's mercy] or confounded [and unable to see the right course]" from the verb أَبْلَسَ (ʔablasa). This would, however, require the trilateral root to take the form if'īl which, excepting إحليل, is usually associated with words of non-Arabic origin (see إدريس, إكليل, إنجيل, إبريز, and إبريق).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʔib.liːs/

Proper noun

إِبْلِيس • (ʔiblīs) m

1. (religion) Iblis, Satan; the Devil.
   • 609–632 CE, Qur'an, 2:34:

     وَإِذْ قُلْنَا لِلْمَلَائِكَةِ ٱسْجُدُوا لِآدَمَ فَسَجَدُوا إِلَّا إِبْلِيسَ أَبَى وَٱسْتَكْبَرَ وَكَانَ مِنَ الْكَافِرِينَ

     waʔiḏ qulnā lilmalāʔikati sjudū liʔādama fasajadū ʔillā ʔiblīsa ʔabā wastakbara wakāna mina l-kāfirīna

     And [mention] when We said to the angels, "Prostrate before Adam"; so they prostrated, except for Iblees. He refused and was arrogant and became of the disbelievers.

Declension

Declension of noun إِبْلِيس (ʔiblīs)

Singular	basic singular diptote
	Indefinite	Definite	Construct
Informal	—	إِبْلِيس ʔiblīs	—
Nominative	—	إِبْلِيسُ ʔiblīsu	—
Accusative	—	إِبْلِيسَ ʔiblīsa	—
Genitive	—	إِبْلِيسَ ʔiblīsa	—

Related terms

• إِبْلِيسِيّ (ʔiblīsiyy)
• شَيْطَان (šayṭān)

Descendants

• → Azerbaijani: iblis
• → Bashkir: иблис (iblis)
• → English: Iblis, Iblees, Eblis
• → Indonesian: iblis
• → Kazakh: ібіліс (ıbılıs)
• → Kyrgyz: ибилис (ibilis)
• → Northern Kurdish: îblîs
• → Ottoman Turkish: ابلیس (iblis)

  > Turkish: iblis (inherited)

• → Swahili: Ibilisi
• → Tatar: иблис (iblis)
• → Toba Batak: ᯘᯪᯅᯬᯞᯪᯘ᯲ (sibolis)
• → Uyghur: ئىبلىس (iblis)
• → Uzbek: iblis
• → Yoruba: bìlísì

References

• Lane, Edward William (1863) “إبليس”, in Arabic-English Lexicon‎^[1], London: Williams & Norgate