Editing Lilith (section)

=== 17th-century Hebrew magical amulets ===
[[File:Medieval amulet to protect mother and child. Wellcome M0008070.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Medieval Hebrew amulet intended to protect a mother and her child from Lilith]]

A copy of [[Jean de Pauly]]'s translation of the Zohar in the [[Ritman Library]] contains an inserted late 17th century printed Hebrew sheet for use in magical amulets where the prophet [[Elijah]] confronts Lilith.<ref>"Printed sheet, late 17th century or early 18th century, 185x130 mm.</ref>

The sheet contains two texts within borders, which are amulets, one for a male ('lazakhar'), the other one for a female ('lanekevah'). The invocations mention Adam, Eve and Lilith, 'Chavah Rishonah' (the first Eve, who is identical with Lilith), also devils or angels: Sanoy, Sansinoy, Smangeluf, Shmari'el (the guardian) and Hasdi'el (the merciful). A few lines in Yiddish are followed by the dialogue between the prophet Elijah and Lilith when he met her with her host of demons to kill the mother and take her new-born child ('to drink her blood, suck her bones and eat her flesh'). She tells Elijah that she will lose her power if someone uses her secret names, which she reveals at the end: ''lilith, abitu, abizu, hakash, avers hikpodu, ayalu, matrota ...''<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ritmanlibrary.nl/c/p/exh/kabb/kab_pheb_25.html |title=Lilith Amulet-J.R. Ritman Library |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100212053545/http://www.ritmanlibrary.nl/c/p/exh/kabb/kab_pheb_25.html |archive-date=12 February 2010 }}</ref>

In other amulets, probably informed by ''The Alphabet of Ben-Sira'', she is Adam's first wife. ([[Yalqut Reubeni]], Zohar 1:34b, 3:19<ref>Humm, Alan. [http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~humm/Topics/Lilith/origin.html Kabbalah: Lilith's origins] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/19991008210815/http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/%7Ehumm/Topics/Lilith/origin.html |date=8 October 1999 }}</ref>)

[[Charles Richardson (lexicographer)|Charles Richardson]]'s dictionary portion of the ''[[Encyclopædia Metropolitana]]'' appends to his etymological discussion of ''lullaby'' "a [manuscript] note written in a copy of Skinner" [i.e. [[Stephen Skinner (lexicographer)|Stephen Skinner]]'s 1671 ''Etymologicon Linguæ Anglicanæ''], which asserts that the word ''lullaby'' originates from {{Transliteration|he|Lillu abi abi}}, a Hebrew incantation meaning "Lilith begone" recited by Jewish mothers over an infant's cradle.<ref name="Richardson1845">{{cite encyclopedia |first=Charles |last=Richardson |author-link=Charles Richardson (lexicographer) |editor1-last=Smedley |editor1-first=Edward |editor2-last=Rose |editor2-first=Hugh James |editor3-last=Rose |editor3-first=Edward John |title=Encyclopædia Metropolitana |date=1845 |volume=XXI |location=London |pages=597–598 |publisher=B. Fellowes; etc., etc. |chapter-url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.c2645836&view=1up&seq=607 |access-date=18 June 2020 |language=en |article=Lexicon: Lull, Lullaby}}</ref> Richardson did not endorse the theory and modern lexicographers consider it a [[false etymology]].<ref name="Richardson1845"/><ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=lullaby |url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/lullaby |dictionary=Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary |publisher=[[Merriam-Webster]] |access-date=18 June 2020 |language=en}}; {{cite encyclopedia |title=lullaby |url=https://www.ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=lullaby |dictionary=[[American Heritage Dictionary]] |edition=5th |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt |access-date=18 June 2020}}; {{cite encyclopedia |editor1-last=Simpson |editor1-first=John A. |title=The Oxford English dictionary |date=1989 |publisher=Clarendon Press |location=Oxford |page=93 |volume=IX |isbn=978-0-19-861221-6 |edition=2nd |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/oxfordenglishdic09simp/page/93 |access-date=18 June 2020 |article=lullaby |via=Internet Archive |chapter-url-access=registration}}</ref>