To HELL Potatoes

 

The English Word Hell

The old English word hell comes from "helan", and means to cover or conceal. Similar words coming from the same root have a similar meaning.

"Hill" for example is a mound of dirt or stone that covers the level surface of earth. "Hull" is the covering of a nut or the covered part of a ship. "Heal" is the covering of a wound. "Hall" is a building space which is used to cover people or goods. "Hole" is an uncovering. A book heller was someone who put the cover on a book. 

In the early days "to hell potatoes" meant to cover them, as to store them in a cellar or underground. To "hel" a house meant to cover a portion of it with tile. The term "heling a house" is still used in the New England portions of the United States.

Incidentally,  if you google the definition of hell, you will get this comment on the origin of the word: “the Old English hel, hell, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch hel and German Hölle, from an Indo-European root meaning ‘to cover or hide.’” Hence, “helmet, to hell potatoes, etc.”

At first the use of hell had no fiery meaning to it. It was simply used as the common grave of man. To go to hell in the old English language meant simply that one was dead and buried. It was in Germany and England that the word began to evolve into a meaning of eternal punishment.

The NIV and the KJV Bibles translate the words for Hell inconsistently. The KJV in the Old Testament translates the Hebrew word SHEOL 31 times as "hell", 31 times as "grave" and 3 times as "pit." The NIV translates the word hADHS as "grave" at Acts 2:27, "hell" at Luke 16:23, and "Hades" at Rev 20:13.

Perhaps it would be wise to switch Bibles to ones that are more accurate. The New World Translation does not use the word "Hell" and neither does the Catholic New American Bible.*

*See also: Young's Literal Translation (1891); Twentieth Century New Testament (1900); Rotherham's Emphasized Bible; Fenton's Holy Bible in Modern English (1903); Weymouth's New Testament in Modern Speech (1903); Concordant Literal NT; Emphatic Diaglott; the Revised English Version; Revised Version Improved and Corrected; New European Version, David Bentley Hart New Testament, The Kingdom of God Version (KGV) etc