1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Hell

HELL (O. Eng. hel, a Teutonic word from a root meaning “to cover,” cf. Ger. Hölle, Dutch hel), the word used in English both of the place of departed spirits and of the place of torment of the wicked after death. It is used in the Old Testament to translate the Hebrew Sheol, and in the New Testament the Greek ᾅδης, Hades, and γεέννα, Hebrew Gehenna (see Eschatology).