בעל זבוב

Hebrew

Etymology

Roots
ב־ע־ל (b-ʿ-l)
ז־ב־ב (z-b-b)

From בַּעַל (baʿal, “lord, master; Baal”) + זְבוּב (zvuv, “fly”, the insect), appearing in the Hebrew Scriptures as the purported name of a deity worshipped by the Philistines in Ekron. It's likely this was not the god's actual name and instead was a polemic against the deity, possibly by associating the figure with defecation (hence flies).

Proper noun

בַּעַל זְבוּב • (Ba'al Zvuv) m

1. Beelzebub, the lord of the flies, a Philistine god sometimes identified by Jews and Christians with Satan

References

• H1176 in Strong, James (1979) Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible