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MrGuedes Posted 13 years ago
Vocabulary
Hell vs Inferno
Hello! Is there any difference between "hell" and "inferno"?
If asked this question, I would say I think that, whilst "inferno" comes from the Latin, "hell" has another origin, probably anglo-saxonic.
Answering concretely, based on my experience, I would say there is only one "Hell" (normally written with capital letter), which is, according to several religions, the place where one goes when one, who "hasn't behaved" while on Earth, dies. "The Hell" is the opposite of "Heaven", both religious terms.
On the other hand, "inferno" is more general. It can be used for something bad still on Earth. One can say a fire on a building is an inferno. There can be many infernos, therefore, the word is usually written with small-case letters. It isn't necessarily a religious term.
This is what I think, based on my experience. My question now is "Is this right?" I mean, is there really a difference? Can one use "inferno" to refer to the opposite of "Heaven"? Can one use "hell" to refer to a fire? Or am I right, and it would make no sense to switch the terms?
Thank you in advance.
If asked this question, I would say I think that, whilst "inferno" comes from the Latin, "hell" has another origin, probably anglo-saxonic.
Answering concretely, based on my experience, I would say there is only one "Hell" (normally written with capital letter), which is, according to several religions, the place where one goes when one, who "hasn't behaved" while on Earth, dies. "The Hell" is the opposite of "Heaven", both religious terms.
On the other hand, "inferno" is more general. It can be used for something bad still on Earth. One can say a fire on a building is an inferno. There can be many infernos, therefore, the word is usually written with small-case letters. It isn't necessarily a religious term.
This is what I think, based on my experience. My question now is "Is this right?" I mean, is there really a difference? Can one use "inferno" to refer to the opposite of "Heaven"? Can one use "hell" to refer to a fire? Or am I right, and it would make no sense to switch the terms?
Thank you in advance.
Top answer
You're quite right. Being an inferno is a characteristic of ****, but there can also be infernos on earth. " But you can't just call a big fire a ****.
- You're quite right.
- Being an inferno is a characteristic of ****, but there can also be infernos on earth.
- " But you can't just call a big fire a ****.
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5 Answers
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You're quite right. Being an inferno is a characteristic of ****, but there can also be infernos on earth. For that matter, you can use "****" in a metaphorical way to refer to things on earth -- "Being in Auschwitz was a living ****." But you can't just call a big fire a ****.
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Thank you. By the way, about my hunch over the origins of the words, is it correct? Or aren't you sure? I seriously believe "inferno" comes from the Latin, whilst "****" comes from the Anglo-Saxonic. I'd like to confirm that as well. Thank you.
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