Topic: Armchair etymologists, what's the origin of these demons?

[Nagumo]

Here's more speculation on my part:

Eligor appears have many corrupted names. Abigor, Abugor, Alugor, Algor, etc. This is probably grasping at straws, but the name Algor (from the Office of Spirits) is similair to Algol. It's derived from Ra's al Ghul, the Arabic name for ghoul. There's also a star called Algol which is known as the "Demon Star".   

[X]

There's also a star called Algol which is known as the "Demon Star".

This is probably where the creator of Phantasy Star got the name for the Algo star system. He just dropped the 'L' at the end.

[Dracula9]

Interesting. On the note of the Ghoul, I'm curious, are there any instances in CV you know of (because I can't think of any) where the Si'lat is referenced? Obviously the Djinni and Shaitan are referred to via Devil and fire elementals, but I can't think of anything close to the Si'lat.

Or Ahriman for that matter, but he's the bigbad of the lore anyway, can't break that down too much.

[Nagumo]

I decided to revive this thread with Bloodstained taking demons from the Lesser Key of Solomon, it means more origins I can dig into.  Anyway, here's a relatively simple one, Astarot:

His name is derived from the Canaanaite goddess Ashtoreth, known in Greek as Astarte, who was known by the Babylonians as Ishtar and by the Sumerians as Inanna. She was a fertility of some kind. Later demonized in Judeo-Christian sources, I believe she is mentioned in the Old Testament. 

I also think I found out why exactly all these demons from the grimoires look the way they do (i.e very bizarre). It seems to be a bit of a complex system involving the letters of their names being tied to certain images of celestial bodies. A lot of grimoires linked demons and angels to celestial bodies, like for example, Angel X being a "spirit of Jupiter" or something. Certain celestial bodies had certain characteristics for their images, a king riding on a wolf, an owl, a young woman, and so on. So it appears a lot of demons seem to have adopted these traits. It seems to have its origin in Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa's "Fourth Book of Occult Philosophy", which contains section explaining how it works, but it could be older.         

Interesting. On the note of the Ghoul, I'm curious, are there any instances in CV you know of (because I can't think of any) where the Si'lat is referenced? 

I'm so sorry, I completely missed this post for some reason. I can't think of any instances out of the top of my head, but I'll let you know if I find anything. 

[Nagumo]

That's was very interesting post, aalluuccaarrdd.  You seem to have done more reading about this than I have. But I disagree about demons being the result of halluctionations, or at least that being the case for the majority of them. From that passage of that book I mentioned in my previous posts, it's clear there was definitely some kind of system behind the characteristics of these demons. These characteristics seem to be taken from certain images that are affliated with specific celestial bodies. However, the concept of these bodies might have indeed been the result of drug use.  Here's a link to what I'm refering to by the way: http://www.esotericarchives.com/agrippa/agrippa4.htm

From what I have read it seems like mystical Jewish texts are the most direct source for many of the more well-known demons that fill the grimoires of western demonology. For many of the original magicians and demonologists (I'm talking 15th-20th centuries here tho traditions stretch back far beyond that) it seems the Kabbalah has been the primary source for information on these beings and the hierarchies. The Hebrew alphabet is a very deep and elaborate system that can give a text an esoteric (hidden) and well as exoteric (more literal) meaning. It seems as if many of the demon names are derived from Hebrew or Greek words and thus the meanings of the names are sort of amorphous and up for debate among scholars. 

Speaking of this, I found this excerpt from the The Offices of Spirits, which seems to be the source used for the Pseudomonarchia Daemonum and ultimately the Lesser Key of Solomon, which may contain an older variant of the name Buer, written as "berur". It's a term from the Kabbalah. Do you think there might a connenction? 

[Nagumo]

I don't actually own any grimoires, but I use a website called Esoteric Archives which has a lot of translations of these kind of books. If you google a grimoire you can often find a PDF with an English translation as well. Unfortunately, I can only find very small excerpt from the Office of Spirits. There is an actual translation of one of the versions of the book with a scholary introduction, but it's quite expansive for some reason.   

I also found a possible origin for the recently unveiled Gremori. Once again, her name has many corruptions. In the Office of Spirits, which although the exact date is not known, I assume is one of the older grimoires has the name written as Gemon. When looking again at the Sworn Book of Honorius, there's an angel called Gimon, one of the angels of "the ninth month, which is called Kislev". I have no idea why she is the goddess of the moon in Bloodstained, though.

[TheouAegis]

I noticed when I looked through, um, Ars Goetia or whatever, the one with the glyphs for the demons, you can actually tell what the demon "looks" like based on the glyphs. There's a particular glyph for a dragon, for an eagle, for a crow, for wings, for serpents, for various animals, etc.  The placement of the glyphs tell you where that aspect is in the demon's physiology. If you see a dragon glyph at the top, it's the head of a dragon; if you see the dragon glyph at the bottom, it rides a dragon.

The comment about demon's appearances being based on their celestial orientation reminded me of that.