THE HISTORY OF THE LETTER "J"

J is the 10th letter in the basic modern Latin alphabet used today

it was the last of the 26 letters to be added

Its name in English is pronounced jay


It was formerly jy (from French ji) and still is in some dialects, mainly in Scottish English



J originated as a swash character to end some Roman numerals in place of i. There was an emerging distinctive use in Middle High German.  Gian Giorgio Trissino (1478–1550) was the first to explicitly distinguish I and J as representing separate sounds, in his ?pistola del Trissino de le lettere nu?vamente aggiunte ne la lingua italiana ("Trissino's epistle about the letters recently added in the Italian language") of 1524. Originally, both I and J represented /i/, /i?/, and /j/; but Romance languages developed new sounds (from former /j/ and /?/) that came to be represented as I and J; therefore, English J, acquired from the French J has a sound value quite different from /j/ (which represents the sound in the English word "yet").



The History of j

The letter j is rather different to those discussed so far, as it did not exist in Latin and, of course, a great deal of the medieval literate tradition is in Latin. This does need a little explanation. Old textbooks on the Latin language or paleography will inform you that Classical Latin had no letter for consonantal i. The use of j for this purpose in Latin textbooks predates my learning of the language at school, but contrary to popular belief that was some time after the medieval era. Nonetheless, by that time Latin scholars had come to the astonishing conclusion that if the Latin alphabet had no consonantal i, perhaps the spoken language actually didn't have one either. After all, if the founders of modern western literacy had needed a symbol for a sound, no doubt they could have managed to come up with one.

Latin pronunciation, as taught, was changed and the letter j, representing consonantal i, as it had been introduced to the language, was no longer pronounced as soft g, but as y. As a result of this and other pronunciation changes which were introduced, Iulius (or Julius) Caesar was no longer pronounced jooleeus seezar but yuleeus kizar, at least in theory. We don't actually know exactly how ancient Latin was pronounced, as they had no tape recorders, and who knows what changes might have been wrought through two millennia of church Latin, but inferences have been made through the scansion of Latin poetry and the like. The reformed pronunciation did rather spoil that piece of schoolkid doggerel that began Caesar adsum jam forte.

So basically, it is probably incorrect to say that j is exactly the same as i in both ancient and medieval Latin. More correctly, there was simply no such letter as j.

In Gothic scripts, it became common to extend the second i of a double i below the baseline as an aid to untangling the minims. This looks like a j, but for all functional purposes, it is a variant of i.


    This is the word p[er]tinentiis rendered with an extended second i in a 12th century protogothic document hand.


    This is the word filiis as written with an extended second i in a late 15th or 16th century German psalter in a Gothic textura book hand.


The letter j made its appearance in other languages to serve different purposes. In modern Dutch, the combination ij is used to indicate the long i sound, so it is being used as a vowel, as in words like koninklijk. In fact, j appears in various contexts in Dutch, also representing variants both on the y and soft g sounds. As in all vernacular languages, spelling was not standardised in the medieval period and a range of variants appeared.


    The word pijn, as written in a 15th century Dutch book of hours in a Gothic textura script.


    In this word iaer, the letter i rather than j is used for the y sound, from a different 15th century Dutch book of hours. In modern Dutch the word is jaar. You see what I mean about spelling.


Medieval Dutch and the dialects of German shared a range of spelling individualities. In modern German, the letter j is used for the y sound. Until this was standardised, other solutions were used. Some German writing masters' alphabet samples of the 16th century show no lower case j.
    In this late 15th century German language document, the y sound is represented by a y in the word yemands.
    In this early 16th century letter of the emperor Maximilan I, written in a cursive document hand, the word jaren is presented with a capitalised form of j.


The only words in Italian beginning with j are 20th century modernisms like jazz or jet. The soft g is rendered with gi in such words as giustizia. In Spanish, j represents an h sound, but in written form the words may appear closer to their Latin roots than the Italian.
    In this early 16th century carta ejecutoria in the Spanish language, the j in justicia is written as a rather elaborate capital.
French, of course, uses j for the very soft g sound in such words as je and jeune.


    The word je in a late 14th century French document in a cursive hand shows j as a large letter which resembles a capital.
    In a late 15th or early 16th century French language book of hours, the word je is written with an i for j.
    French was also spoken and written as a vernacular in England, albeit one which was diverging from the French of France. This word jours from a late 14th century French language document from England also uses i for j.


The letter j is not particularly common in English. In late medieval writings it might take the form of a minuscule i or a capital I, in which case words beginning with i were often also adorned with a capital. With a few added flourishes, it developed its own character.


    In the word justyse, the letter j has an extended curved form. This is from a 14th century poem in a cursive book hand.
    In a 15th century version of the Brut chronicle, written in a cursive script, the j of the word justs (meaning jousts) has developed large closed loops.

The letter j can be seen to be a Johnny-come-lately of the medieval alphabet, and had not quite established itself by the end of the period we are looking at here. It came to represent different sounds in different vernacular languages. Most conventions of transcription seem to work along the lines that if it looks like an i it is transcribed as an i, and if it looks like a j it is transcribed as a j, but it can be a delicate judgment (or is that iudgment?).

The letter J has a history that is linked with the history of the letter I. The Romans and their European successors used I both for the vocalic i and for the consonantal y (as in the English word yet). The English letter J did not come into existence until the end of medieval times, when scribes began to use a tailed form of i, with or without the dot, next to the short form of i (1).



J - Letter J: Spiritual Theosophical Dictionary on J - Letter J

J - Letter J - The tenth letter in the English and Hebrew alphabet, in the latter of which it is equivalent

to y, and i, and is numerically number 10, the perfect number (See Jodh and Yodh), or one. (See also "I".)



(See also: J - Letter J, Theosophy, Spirituality, Body mind and Soul, Spiritual Dictionary, )



J - Letter J: Spiritual Dictionary on Jera

Jera: The 12th rune of the Elder Futhark, representing the letter J.



The meaning of this rune is harvest, and a reaping of rewards for efforts expended.


(See also: Jera, Magic, Shamanism, Paganism, Wicca)


J - Letter J: Spiritual Theosophical Dictionary on I - Letter I

I - Letter I. - The ninth letter in the English, the tenth in the Hebrew alphabet. As a numeral it signifies in both languages one, and also ten in the Hebrew (see J), in which it corresponds to the Divine name Jah, the male side, or aspect, of the hermaphrodite being, or the male-female Adam, of which hovah Jah-hovah) is the female aspect. It is symbolized by a hand with bent fore-finger, to show its phallic signification.


(See also: I - Letter I, Theosophy, Spirituality, Body mind and Soul, Spiritual Dictionary, )



J - Letter J: Spiritual Theosophical Dictionary on Yod

Yod (Hebrew, Jewish). The tenth letter of the alphabet, the first in the four fold symbol of the compound name Jah-hovah (Jehovah) or Jah-Eve, the hermaphrodite force and existence in nature.



Without the later vowels, the word Jehovah is written IHVH (the letter Yod standing for all the three English letters y, i, or j,  as the case may require), and is male-female. The letter Yod is the symbol of the lingham, or male organ, in its natural triple form, as the Kabalah shows.


Letter Series: I and J - The letters I and J follow each other in the alphabet and look a lot alike. So it comes as no surprise to discover that our ninth and tenth letters started out as the same character.


And what happened to the Y? After the Roman conquest of Greece in the first century B.C., the Romans began to use some Greek words. They added the Greek Y to the Latin alphabet to accommodate these new additions to their vocabulary. But the sound value given to Y by the Greeks was unknown in the Latin language; when the Romans used it in adopted Greek words it took on the same sound as the letter I.

The letters I and J follow each other in the alphabet and look a lot alike. So it comes as no surprise to discover that our ninth and tenth letters started out as the same character.

The Phoenician ancestor to our present I was a sign called “yodh,” meaning “hand.” The original Phoenician symbol evolved over time into a zigzag shape that was eventually adopted by the Greeks. The Greeks often simplified the symbols they borrowed, and the yodh was no exception. As used by the Greeks, the zigzag became a simple vertical line. The Greeks also changed the name of the letter to “iota.”

Iota was the smallest letter of the Greek alphabet and, as such, has come to mean “a very small amount.” The word “jot” also derives (via Latin) from the Greek iota, and usually refers to a small note or mark.

Like the G and F, the letter I took its time deciding which sound it represented. The Phoenicians used it as a semivowel, as the ‘y’ in toy. When the I was adopted by the Greeks around 900 B.C., they used the letter to represent the long ‘ee’ vowel sound. Then, in early Latin, the I represented both the vowel ‘i’ and the semivowel ‘y.’

Eventually, somebody must have grown tired of using one letter to represent two sounds, and so an attempt was made to differentiate them by lengthening the I slightly to represent the semivowel. In the 16th century, a lettering artist decided that merely lengthening the letter was too subtle a change, and added a hook to the bottom of the J.

Both the lowercase I and J have a dot, but there are two competing theories as to which got its dot first. One theory maintains that the J was first, with the dot added during the 13th century in an attempt to further distinguish J from I. The other theory posits that the I was dotted first (also during the 13th century), and that the dot’s purpose was to help distinguish the I from straight-sided characters like the M, N and U when it appeared near these letters in blocks of text copy.



CONVIENENT TIMING: KJV TRANSLATED 1611? LETTER "J" ADDED 1634

The first English-language book to make a clear distinction between I and J was published in 1634 (Ref). Its use in the English alphabet followed, the letter J was the last of the 26 letters to be added to the English Alphabet. Its emerging distinctive use dates back to Middle High German, originally being a typographical flourish or swash character on the Roman i. The Italian: Gian Giorgio Trissino (1478-1550) was the first to explicitly distinguish I and J as representing separate sounds in 1524 with his "Trissino's epistle about the letters recently added in the Italian language."



Letter "J" - A "recent" addition to English

    It's vitally important that you recognize some significant information about the letter "J". Please note that in the original 1611 edition of the King James Version of the Bible there was no letter "J" used. The letter "J" did not even exist in common usage within the english language. James was spelled Iames. Jesus was spelled Iesous. And as you'll see below, the letter "J" was completely unknown until the 14th century. This is clearly documented in world history.

    It's predecessors were the letter "Y" and the letter "I". Each of these was "morphed" (altered) into the letter "J" at some point, based on human traditions. This was mankind's alteration of YAHWEH's Word. This involved a virtually complete rejection and replacement of the Hebrew letter "Y". In the Hebrew alphabet there is no letter “J”, and no “J” sound.

    The references below demonstrate very clearly that biblical names beginning with "J" are a corruption of the Hebrew "Y" and its accompanying sound.. Unfortunately, using the letter "J" creates a perversion of The Scriptures because of the way we use that letter today. If we would pronounce them as a "Y" we would be closer to the correct sound. But few people today even recognize that this is a possibility. As a result, they are misleading, and cause confusion when trying to properly understand The Scriptures. We would do well to change them to "Y"'s, which would more then follow the original Hebrew letters used in these words.

    This is most certainly true in the case of "Jehovah" and "Jesus". Both of these words are improper transliterations of the original Hebrew. The proper personal names are YAHWEH, for the Father, and YAHSHUA, for the Son. Jehovah and Jesus should be corrected to these proper names. As they stand now, they are corruptions of the original. If we are going to truly  "honor and praise the NAME" of The Creator, we need to know His correct name. The same is true of His Son. Once we know the proper personal names of YAHWEH and YAHUSHUA we need to use them as they were intended to be used.

    This is also true of every other name in The Scriptures that begins with the letter "J" in our modern bible translations.


The Encyclopedia Americana contains the following on the J:

The form of J was unknown in any alphabet until the 14th century. Either symbol (J,I) used initially generally had the consonantal sound of Y as in year. Gradually, the two symbols (J,l) were differentiated, the J usually acquiring consonantal force and thus becoming regarded as a consonant, and the I becoming a vowel. It was not until 1630 that the differentiation became general in England.

Note these additional comments of the Encyclopedia Americana regarding The Letter J:

It is one of the few permanent additions to those alphabets, made in medieval or modern times. More exactly, it was not an addition, but a differentiation from an existing letter, i, which in Latin, besides being a vowel (as in index), had also the consonantal value of "Y" (as in maior, pronounced "mayor"). At a later stage, the symbol "J" was used for distinctive purposes, particularly when the "I" had to be written initially (or in conjunction with another "I"). Either symbol used initially generally had the consonantal sound of "Y" (as in year) so that the Latin pronunciation of either Ianuarius or Januarius was as though the spelling was "Yanuarius." While in some words of Hebrew and other origin (such as Hallelujah or Junker), "J" has the phonetic value of "Y."

Webster's Universal Dictionary (1936) discloses the early relationship between I and J:

As a character it was formerly used interchangeably with "i," both letters having originally the same sound; and after the "j" sound came to be common in English, it was often written where this sound must have been pronounced. The separation of these two letters is of comparatively recent date, being brought about through the influence of the Dutch printers.

The Oxford English Dictionary is acknowledged as one of the most authoritative works existing on the origins and meanings of words in the English language. It's a 12-volume work, and took some fifty years to complete. Under the entry for "J," is the following entry concerning the sound of the pronunciation of this letter:

“Some time before the 6th century, this y-sound had, by compression in articulation, and consequent development of an initial 'stop,' become a consonantal diphthong, passing through a sound (dy), akin to that of our di, de, in odious, hideous, to that represented in our phonetic symbolization (dz). At the same time, the original guttural sound of G, when followed by a front vowel, had changed to that of palatal g (gy), and then, by an advance of the point of closure, had passed through that of (dy), to the same sound (dz); so the i consonant and the so-called g 'soft' came to have, in the Romanic languages, the same identical value.”

The Encyclopedia Britannica reveals that the sound of the letter J was the same as the sound of the letter I:

“The original consonantal sound represented by the letter was the semi-vowel or spirant "I" (the sound of y in yacht). This passed into dy and later into the sound dz which the letter represents today.”

Please take special note of what Webster's New International Dictionary states about the development and usage of the letter:

J is a comparatively late variant from the Latin I which was used indifferently as a vowel or consonant, its consonantal value being that of English Y in yet. The form J was developed from i during the Middle Ages, and it was long used in certain positions in the word merely without regard to the sound as a consonant or vowel. But the lengthened form was often initial, and the initial was usually consonantal, so the j gradually became differentiated from i in function as well as form. It was not, however, until the 17th century that the distinction of j as a consonant and i as a vowel was fully established and the capital J introduced. In English, the regular and practically uniform sound of j as in "jet" (dzh), the same as g in "gem," dates from the 11th century, that being the sound represented by i when consonantal in words then introduced from old French.

 The New Book of Knowledge puts it this way:

The early history of the letter "J" is the same as the history of the letter "1." "1" is a descendant of the ancient Phoenician and Hebrew letter "yod" and the Greek letter "iota." The Phoenicians gave the yod a semiconsonant sound pronounced like the "Y" in yellow. While the lower case "J" of modern type was derived directly from medieval manuscripts, the capital "J" is virtually a printer's invention. The sound "J" as we know it in English today was derived when the "Y" sound eventually passed into a "dy" sound and later into the "J" sound as in juggle.

Under the topic "J," Collier's Encyclopedia shows how this happened:

Introduced as a sign for the consonantal sound of "i" in Latin words, the letter j was soon used in English, French, and Spanish to represent the sound that developed out of Latinic consonantic i in each of these three languages. This was a certain improvement, since these three sounds (y, z, dz) which all developed out of the Latin consonant i, did not exist in Latin, and the Latin alphabet had no sign for them.

    This evidence establishes beyond any doubt that every word in your bible translated with a "J" at the beginning is an improper translation of the original text. It is also not a true transliteration, I encourage you to begin today to use the proper names of YAHWEH and YAHUSHUA.

    We would also do well to discover and use the proper names of all the people in The Scriptures. Altering someone's name, even when moving between different languages, is not normally done. The name should remain the same in every language, precisely because it is someone's personal name. You don't change their name just because you speak a different language. You may have trouble pronouncing it correctly, but the name should not be changed.

    There's a tremendous wealth of information contained in those proper Hebrew names. You could make an entire study of Scripture based solely on the names of the people involved, and discover a wealth of new information that has been hidden in those names. It would certainly take some work, but the rewards would be magnificent.




Our New Letter "J"


   As students with an interest in communication studies, we all know the English language has 26 letters, but did you know that there is a conspiracy contained in one particular letter of our alphabet? As open-minded students, we owe it to ourselves and our professional fields of academic inquiry to unveil this deceptive letter. I first uncovered the truth about this while giving the eulogy at my father’s funeral.

   On a cold, sad winter day in 1993, before my father’s casket was to be buried in the ground, I spoke and read from an old family Bible. My father’s side of the family came to the Massachusetts Colony before 1670, but my Aunt Carolyn mentioned that this Bible came from one of the original thirteen colonies to the south (North Carolina). I was reading from a version of the 1611 King James English Bible. The form of the antiquated English was difficult when I had read out of the New Testament Book of Luke. What puzzled me, however, was that everywhere there should have been the name “Jesus,” the name “Iosous” was written. In fact, I noticed that there was not a single letter “J” to be found in this entire Bible! I asked my Aunt Carolyn about this and she responded that “they didn’t have the letter ‘J’ back then.” This made me curious, so I decided to do a little research about this new letter.

   In my research, I found that the Creator, mentioned in the Bible, does have a name, but it does not begin with an “I” nor a “J”. In fact, He affirms that His name begins with a “Y” and that He has never changed it. I also found that there has been a long history of anti-Semitism that has focused its efforts on disguising the fact that the New Testament Messiah is Jewish. Basically, I found that it is a rhetorical war between biblical Hebrew theology and pagan Greek mythology. The cornerstone upholding this deception of the Bible verses is contained in the letter “J”.

   The dishonest use of the letter “J” has disseminated a rhetoric of deception; one that has empowered European ethnic cleansing. The practice if substituting the “J” for the “Y” is blatantly anti-Semitic. It masquerades as an “I”, and most importantly, falsifies the letter “Y”. According to Webster’s Encyclopedic Dictionary, the letter “J” did not even exist until the 11th century Norman Invasion of the British Islands (Webster’s 983). This warlike letter made a beachhead into the English language in the 1200s, but, in fact, the invasive letter “J” did not become fully established into the English language until the 17th century after fully misrepresenting the letter “I” and vanquishing the letter “Y”.

   Anti-Semitism has its roots in half truths because the predominant religious European political establishment employed anti-Semitic framing in its rhetoric. This framing includes misrepresentations of the actual historical personage mentioned in the New Testament. “Jesus” is often represented as a blonde hair, blue-eyed Gentile in His appearance in iconic artwork. He is often portrayed as a Greek in His actions, specifically as one who is opposed to keeping the Torah.

   This character hiding behind the letter “J” is a lawless counterfeit parading as an angel of light, a true anti-messiah of sorts. According to the genealogies listed in the four evangels, Christ, or more correctly, the Messiah, was a Jew of the lineage of King David. The letter “J” hides the Hebrew roots of this New Testament Savior and the message that He preached. It also misrepresents His family and relations, all being by birth and culture—“Jews.” In fact, the letter “J” conceals the true identity of the Jews. The Scripture Research Institute in South Africa notes, “… we are refrained from using the word ‘Judah’ because this word is derived from the Greek Iudaios (Judaios), which was none other than a Greek deity (see W. H. Roscher’s Lexicon of Mythology).

   Keep in mind that the letter “J” did not exist until around the year 1300 and the Jews, or more correctly, the Yahudim have existed for thousands of years. Yahudim in the Hebrew language means “one who praises Yahweh.” You have heard the name of Yahweh before in the expression “HalleluYah.” This expression in Hebrew means “praise you YAH—the short form of the name Yahweh. The name Yahweh is important to the Yahudim. It is Israel’s exclusive monotheistic national deity and is specifically mentioned in the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament. The name Yahweh is not found five or 500 or 5,000 times, but precisely 6,823 times in the scriptures, existing in the Jewish and Christian Bibles.

   The term “Jehovah” is also a corrupted name as it is a falsely-manufactured hybrid name formed when one takes the Hebrew vowel points for Adonai and transposes them into the Tetragramaton (tetra = four), or four lettered name, Yahweh. G.R. Driver, a scholar from Oxford, in his work The Original Form of the Name ‘Yahweh,’ Evidence and Conclusions, points out that the name Yahweh is found on the Moabite Stone dating from 850 B.C.

   But the real issue is that the letter “J” misrepresents the Messiah presented in the New Testament as a pagan Gentile. The Messianic prophesies in the Old Testament specify that He would be Hebrew Yahudim from the line of King David and the tribe of Yahudah. The name “Jesus” was not in common use until around the year 1,700, even before there was a letter “J”. The name Iesous was used instead. The name Iesous is Greek. It is the feminine form of “the healing Zeus” (Ie+Zeus). In the New Testament, the Messiah says in John 5:43, I have come in My Father’s Name. The Messiah of Israel did not come in the name of Ie or in the name of the Greek Zeus or Iesous, the healing Zeus or in Spanish, H(J)esus. He came in the name of Yahweh and the name, the historical personage of Nazareth, as known by His acquaintances, was Yahshua. But according to some religious leaders, those facts should never be revealed.

   I heard a pastor speaking about the Bible on the radio and was impressed with some of his insights. I decided to talk with this pastor because I was excited to share what I had found about the true name of the New Testament Savior. In our meeting at this large church, I revealed what I had discovered about how the letter “J” covers up the true identity of Yahshua. In my conversation with him, the pastor stated, “We know the name is Yahshua, but the people are not ready for that truth yet.” I was immediately escorted out of his office by two equally large stern men and briskly led to my car in the church’s parking lot. I felt the pastor was hiding something and that what I knew was somehow a threat to him and his large organization. Still, I felt that the details that I had uncovered about the names hiding under the letter “J” were fascinating, yet they were totally dismissed.
 
It is absolutely fascinating what the name Yahshua reveals. The first half of the name, Yah, is from Yahweh, His Heavenly Father. The second half is “shua,” meaning salvation. Yahshua of Nazareth’s name means “Yahweh is Salvation.” His source is Yahweh His Father, and His mission is salvation.

   The tricky “J” covers up the Hebrew origins of the New Testament Messiah. It is a completely unscriptural, falsified, counterfeit name usurping the historical record of Yahshua of Nazareth. In fact, strict orthodox Christianity is Hebrew Messianism. Its origin is exclusively Hebrew theology, not a mixture of Greek mythology. The misuse of the letter “J” continues to promote anti-Semitism and cloak many fascinating historical connections, such as Jerusalem itself. In Paleo Hebrew, it is “Yahrushalayim,” the city of Yahweh. This is mentioned in two places in the Old Testament, 1 Kings 11:36 and 2 Kings 21:4, Yahrushalayim, the city which I have chosen for Myself, to put My name there. And he built altars in the house of Yahweh of which Yahweh said, “In Yahrushalayim I put My name.”

   Yahweh’s people are also known by His name, as are many of the Biblical prophets who carry the short form of Yah in their names. None of them carry any form of “Healing Zeus.” Notice Isaiah—Yah is my reward, Jeremiah—Yah will elevate and Elijah—My Mighty One is Yahweh. Even the New Testament Messianic Book of Matthew is MattatiYAHu, alluding in its linguistic construction as do most of the New Testament Books, to an original Hebrew, not Greek origin.

   When one falsifies the name of another, it can alter the perceived attributes of that individual who has been misrepresented by a rhetoric of deception. The historical misrepresentation of Yahshua of Nazareth as a Greek who disdains the Jewish people is one of the biggest frauds in the history of the rhetorical tradition.

   The intent of my article has been to empower my fellow communication scholars with the knowledge of the communication significance contained in our new letter “J” and how it has been manipulated to frame and disseminate a rhetoric of deception that has brought dishonor to the field of communication. Keep in mind that the letter “J” did not exist until around the 16th century! Look it up and then decide the truth!  

HalleluYAH!


In Islam

Shaitan is the equivalent of Satan in Islam.

    "It is We Who created you and gave you shape; then We bade the angels prostrate to Adam, and they prostrate; not so Iblis (Lucifer); He refused to be of those who prostrate."
    (Allah) said: "What prevented thee from prostrating when I commanded thee?" He said: "I am better than he: Thou didst create me from fire, and him from clay."

        Qur'an 7:11-12


In Christianity


# The most common English synonym for "Satan" is "Devil", which descends from Middle English devel, from Old English de-ofol, that in turn represents an early Germanic borrowing of Latin diabolus (also the source of "diabolical"). This in turn was borrowed from Greek diabolos  "slanderer", from diaballein "to slander": dia- "across, through" + ballein "to hurl".[10]

In the New Testament, "Satan" occurs more than thirty times in passages alongside Diabolos (Greek for "the devil"), referring to the same person or thing as Satan.[11]


# Lucifer is sometimes used in Christian theology to refer to Satan, as a result of identifying the fallen "son of the dawn" of Isaiah 14:12 with the "accuser" of other passages in the Old Testament.


# Beelzebub is originally the name of a Philistine god (more specifically a certain type of Baal, from Ba‘al Zebûb, lit. "Lord of Flies") but is also used in the New Testament as a synonym for Satan.

"The dragon" and "the old serpent"