Show I I WORD OF UNKNOWN ORIGIN Scholars Can Only Guess Quess as to Whence Came the Name Goethe Called Satan From time to time there has been considerable dispute concerning the origin fJ of the word Mephistopheles Some v very ery ry bizarre explanations had been propounded before the time of ot Goethe who was himself forced to own to the musician In a letter letter letter let let- ter of November 20 1829 I cannot give any definite answer to the question Whence comes the name Mephistopheles l' l According to one theory It was a ah h hybrid Hebraic formation of and find tophel the liar accordIng accordIng according accord- accord Ing to another Its etymology was entirely entirely entirely en en- Greek very Greek very dubious Greek Greek- he who does not love the light Goethe had a n trick of using the abbreviated abbreviated ab ab- ed form when It suited the exigencies of at his meter It may be remembered that this particularly particularly particularly Irritated who wrote In his pamphlet On liOn the Murder Murder Murder Mur Mur- der of the German Language The foolish desire for brevity goes so so far as to cut off even the devils devil's tall tail by writing for Mephistopheles Mephistopheles |