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In the etymology section, an editor wrote "Check your translation, The word Φίλις in Greek does not mean loving, it means friend."
— Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.102.192.218 (talk) 20:39, 8 May 2018 (UTC)
It may be true that he works in the Bush administration, but that' POV. Tmesipt.
Must we call it Christian Mythology?
- Thank you all for the information. And, you're right, I shouldn't have suggested that it was Christian (or, at least, exclusively Christian) mythology. But what I really wanted to know, and I haven't used a computer in years, so please pardon my ignorance, is, who wrote the article in Wikipedia, and where they got their information from. Specifically - and none of you guys said this - what are the sources that say "Mephistopheles is the second in command after Satan", and what are the sources that say he is, in fact, different from Satan. I am not really interested in the origins of the name, I just want to know where and when he is mentioned. So if someone could just tell me the names of these "extra-biblical sources" (sorry, not my words), I would really appreciate it.
Dear Septentrionalis,
I put my views in the Discussion because the rules seem to say Wikipedia does not want opinion in its Articles. What I wrote here would be my view, which, I admitted, was less well-proven. For my own curiosity, however, I probably should get a translation of Psellus and see.
-Richard Dengrove
Can we trim down the popular culture a little? The name Mephistopheles is probably used millions of times, we don't need to record all of them.--CyberGhostface 14:18, 25 August 2006 (UTC)
Dear CyberGhostface,
I bet we could trim down the popular culture by quite a bit. It was left over from the previous writer. I will have to think about it. -Richard Dengrove
I think removing the whole section is too much. People who read this for pop culture deserve some information. I think the more important appearances of 'Mephistopheles' should stay. I have an idea for that. -- Rich Dengrove
Pop culture is not my area of expertise. It seems more yours. I was just trying to give the essence of what my predecessor wrote. If you have a better idea for Mephistopheles in Pop Culture, be my guest and write it. -- Rich Dengrove
It's mentioned in Radiohead - Videotape. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 137.122.99.32 (talk) 14:40, 12 October 2007 (UTC)
There is a great deal here about how to pronounce his name and what it could possibly mean, but although there are passing refereces regarding his being in various works of literature, it says little or nothing about his character in any of them. I was wondering whether anyone thought there ought to be? And while I know what he's like in "Dr Faustus" I am not familiar with the Faustbook enough to add a complete section on it. I wondered whether character description, mannerisms, etc., would be relevent here, as they seem to be mentioned for most other major literature characters in Wikipedia. CO.
It would be nice for someone to do that. I do not have the expertise for it. You seem to have some. Perhaps you can fill some blanks until a person with the proper expertise chooses to take on the task. --Rich Dengrove
I'm new to using Wikipedia, but for the author of this page I would like to leave a message.
Mephistopheles is also a character in the popular PC game: Diablo 2 and in the Expansion pack (Lord of Destruction). He is portrayed as the brother of Diablo, and of Baal (who also make appearances in the game). All three your hero must face and defeat in order to continue the main quest (of defeating Diablo). His name was shortened to "Mephisto" in the actualy game. Whether or not this has any relevance to your page is up for you to decide. Either way, there are many references to religous mythology, in particular Christian mythology, found within the game. While this could have been Blizzard (the producing company of the game) simply using the names of these demons and angels to better portray the good and evil elements of the game and the struggle between, I do still believe it to be a good "mention" (if you will).
Thank you for your time.
-John Alexander
i just jumped over here from Faust and they are both covering a lot of similar ground. they need to be merged with a ((main|Faust)) template over here. JoeSmack Talk 21:46, 9 January 2008 (UTC)
I only have heard a vary vague description of the story of Faust and know only the most simple basics. In fact, I didn't realize that Mephistopheles was the name of the devil/demon in the story. The only character I knew that had the name was one of the Marvel character's, Ghost Rider, enemies. Since it is more or less an extension of the character from the Faust story, should that not be included here? I understand that there is a page entitled Mephisto, but since the characters are essentially the same (they both are demons/devils, they both have the same name, they both make shady deals to collect souls, etc) at least a description of the similarities/consistencies should be included maybe? I am not a wiki editor by any means, but I could even see some sort of merge possibly since the subject could easily be viewed as the same entity/character. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 12.207.153.165 (talk) 04:38, 14 February 2008 (UTC)
I wrote in 2006 that I suspect the idea for Mephostophiles, the original of Mephistopheles, was taken from the demonic hierarchy of the 11th Century Byzantine philosopher Michael Psellos. The Renaissance knew about Psellos' demonic hierarchy; Robert Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy mentions it. Some demons in this hierarchy are the Misophaes, in Greek, haters of light. Similarly, Mephostophiles means,in Greek, not a lover of light. However, the Misophaes are the lowest demons and unable to communicate. That was why they tend to strike the people they possess deaf, mute and blind. On the other hand, Mephostophiles, in both the Faustbook and Marlowe's Doctor Faustus, holds a high position in hell and is persuasive. This contradiction is easily explained. The belief of the Renaissance was that Devil loves to turn the natural hierarchy upside down.
Since then, I have cleared another roadblock for this theory: namely, that the name is originally Misophaes and not Mephostophiles. I have discussed my theory with a Dr. Darin Hayton of Haverford College. He points out that those who read Psellos in 16th Century Western Europe would more likely have read Marsilio Ficino's translation in the Latin than the original Greek. There, the Misophaes are referred to as Lucifuge, or one who flees the light. Mephostophiles, not a lover of light, would have been a plausible re-translation into Greek if the original was unknown.
SELECTIVE BIBLIOGRAPHY
Burton, Jeffrey Russell. Lucifer. Ithaca, NY: Cornell, 1984, pp40-43
Hayton, Darin, "Michael Psellos' De daemonibus in the Renaissance," in C. Barber and D. Jenkins, eds., Reading Michael Psellos. The Medieval Mediterranean 61. Leiden: Brill, 2006, 193-215
Tillyard, Eustace Mandeville Wetenhall. The Elizabethan World Picture. NY: Vintage Books, 1943, p51
Is he really classified as a Goetic demon? I don't believe he's mentioned in the Goetia, especially if he was intended to be fictional.--24.255.171.220 (talk) 21:35, 22 September 2008 (UTC)
He's not mentioned in the Ars Goetia at all, so no, he's not Goetic. I'm gonna remove that category marker. Ian.thomson (talk) 01:55, 6 March 2009 (UTC)
Mephisto: "Ich bin der Geist der stets verneint" ... any poetic English translation for that? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 84.59.205.66 (talk) 16:19, 20 November 2008 (UTC)
"THe spirit that always denies" google.com might help.24.9.166.18 (talk) 02:04, 23 March 2009 (UTC)
In my country's language it means, "I am the spirit that always denies." In the country that borders to the south, it is said to mean, "Luca Brasi sleeps with the fishes." 173.72.111.113 (talk) 03:56, 13 September 2014 (UTC)Tonio Palmström
according to DUDEN Band 6, Aussprachewörterbuch; Mannheim [etc.] 1990; Mephistopheles has a long /o:/ in Standard German. Wathiik (talk) 15:06, 23 November 2014 (UTC)
The redirect Misophaes has been listed at redirects for discussion to determine whether its use and function meets the redirect guidelines. Readers of this page are welcome to comment on this redirect at Wikipedia:Redirects for discussion/Log/2023 October 3 § Misophaes until a consensus is reached. Utopes (talk / cont) 05:52, 3 October 2023 (UTC)