*** Welcome to piglix ***

Mammon


Mammon /ˈmæmən/ in the New Testament of the Bible is commonly thought to mean money, material wealth, or any entity that promises wealth, and is associated with the greedy pursuit of gain. "You cannot serve both God and mammon." In the Middle Ages it was often personified as a deity and sometimes included in the seven princes of Hell.

The word Mammon comes into English from post-classical Latin mammona 'wealth', used most importantly in the Vulgate Bible (along with Tertullian's mammonas and pseudo-Jerome's mammon). This was in turn borrowed from Hellenistic Greek μαμωνᾶς, which appears in the New Testament, borrowed from Aramaic מָמוֹנָא māmōnā, an emphatic form of the word māmōn 'wealth, profit', perhaps specifically from the Syriac dialect. However, it is not clear what the earlier history of the Aramaic form is. The word may have been present throughout the Canaanite languages: the word is unknown in Old Testament Hebrew, but has been found in the Qumran documents; post-biblical Hebrew attests to māmōn; and, according to St Augustine of Hippo, Punic included the word mammon 'profit'. It has been suggested that the Aramaic word māmōn was a loanword from Mishnaic Hebrew ממון (mamôn) meaning money, wealth, or possessions; although it may also have meant "that in which one trusts".


...
Wikipedia

...