lilith

See also: Lilith

English

Etymology

See Lilith

Noun

lilith (plural liliths)

1. (mythology) A type of female Mesopotamian demon, typically seen as coming to men in dreams and as endangering women during pregnancy or childbirth.
   • 2004, The Journal of the Ancient Near Eastern Society, volume 29, page 31:

     [A] Mandaic specimen from Kutha (BM 91715) which contains two independent incantations separated by a line: a historiola relating the expulsion of a particular lilith and the report of a dream purportedly dreamt by the client[.]

   • 2013, Practicing Gnosis: Ritual, Magic, Theurgy and Liturgy, page 384:

     It describes the liliths who are divorced with these words: “naked are you sent forth, nor are you clad, with your hair disheveled and let fly behind your backs.” And indeed, the drawing of the lilith depicts her as naked[.]

   • 2017, Ronald Hutton, The Witch, Yale University Press, published 2018, page 68:

     A drawing and a few inscriptions indicate the appearance of a lilith, as a young naked woman with long dishevelled hair and prominent breasts and genitals […].