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Charles Fossey (1902) has this literally translating to "female night being/demon", although cuneiform inscriptions from Mesopotamia exist where Līlīt and Līlītu refers to disease-bearing wind spirits. Īrchibald Sayce (1882) considered that Hebrew lilit (or lilith) לילית and the earlier Akkadian līlītu are derived from Proto-Semitic.
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The Sumerian female demons lili have no etymological relation to Akkadian lilu, "evening". Some uses of līlītu are listed in the Assyrian Dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago (CAD, 1956, L.190), in Wolfram von Soden's Akkadisches Handwörterbuch (AHw, p. 553), and Reallexikon der Assyriologie (RLA, p. 47). In the Akkadian language of Assyria and Babylonia, the terms lili and līlītu mean spirits. Jewish magical inscriptions on bowls and amulets from the 6th century AD onward identify Lilith as a female demon and provide the first visual depictions of her. In the Dead Sea Scrolls 4Q510-511, the term first occurs in a list of monsters. Commentators and interpreters often envision the figure of Lilith as a dangerous demon of the night, who is sexually wanton, and who steals babies in the darkness. The Isaiah 34:14 Lilith reference does not appear in most common Bible translations such as KJV and NIV. In Hebrew-language texts, the term lilith or lilit (translated as "night creatures", "night monster", "night hag", or "screech owl") first occurs in a list of animals in Isaiah 34.
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Handy, hold the view that though Lilith derives from Mesopotamian demonology, evidence of the Hebrew Lilith being present in the sources frequently cited – the Sumerian Gilgamesh fragment and the Sumerian incantation from Arshlan-Tash being two – is scant, if present at all. In contrast, some scholars, such as Lowell K. Recent scholarship has disputed the relevance of two sources previously used to connect the Jewish lilith to an Akkadian lilītu – the Gilgamesh appendix and the Arslan Tash amulets (see below for discussion of these two problematic sources). Interpretations of Lilith found in later Jewish materials are plentiful, but little information has survived relating to the Sumerian, Akkadian, Assyrian and Babylonian view of this class of demons. For example, in the 13th-century writings of Isaac ben Jacob ha-Cohen, Lilith left Adam after she refused to become subservient to him and then would not return to the Garden of Eden after she had coupled with the archangel Samael. The legend of Lilith developed extensively during the Middle Ages, in the tradition of Aggadah, the Zohar, and Jewish mysticism. 700–1000 AD), Lilith appears as Adam's first wife, who was created at the same time and from the same clay as Adam. In some Jewish folklore, such as the satirical Alphabet of Sirach ( c. Lilith continues to serve as source material in today's popular culture, Western culture, literature, occultism, fantasy, and horror. In the Ancient Mesopotamian religion, found in cuneiform texts of Sumer, Assyria, and Babylonia, Lilith signifies a spirit or demon. The Akkadian word lilu is related to the Hebrew word lilit in Isaiah 34:14, which is thought to be a night bird by some modern scholars such as Judit M. The name Lilith stems from lilû, lilîtu, and (w)ardat lilî). Many traditional rabbinic authorities, including Maimonides and Menachem Meiri, reject the existence of Lilith. She is mentioned in the Babylonian Talmud ( Eruvin 100b, Niddah 24b, Shabbat 151b, Baba Bathra 73a), in the Book of Adam and Eve as Adam's first wife, and in the Zohar Leviticus 19a as "a hot fiery female who first cohabited with man". Lilith appears in historiolas ( incantations incorporating a short mythic story) in various concepts and localities that give partial descriptions of her. She is thought to be mentioned in Biblical Hebrew in the Book of Isaiah, and in Late Antiquity in Mandaean mythology and Jewish mythology sources from 500 CE onward. Lilith is cited as having been "banished" from the Garden of Eden for not complying with and obeying Adam. Lilith ( / ˈ l ɪ l ɪ θ/ LIH-lith Hebrew: לִילִית, romanized: Līlīṯ), also spelt Lilit, Lilitu, or Lilis, is a female figure in Mesopotamian and Judaic mythology, theorized to be the first wife of Adam and supposedly the primordial she-demon.
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