14th century, deabolik "pertaining to the Devil; outrageously wicked, infernal"
Late Latin diabolicus "characteristic of/proceeding/derived from the devil"
from Ecclesiastical Greek diabolikos "devilish"
➛ literally means slanderer
Latin diabole, diaboles "false accusation, slander"
Ancient Greek διάβολος diabolos "slanderous, accusing falsely"
“Errare humanum est,
(sed) perseverare diabolicum.”
“To err is human, (but) to persist is diabolical.”
“It was miraculous. It was almost no trick at all, he saw, to turn vice into virtue and slander into truth, impotence into abstinence, arrogance into humility, plunder into philanthropy, thievery into honor, blasphemy into wisdom, brutality into patriotism, and sadism into justice. Anybody could do it; it required no brains at all. It merely required no character.”
"Catch-22"
~☉~ | lucid definition; added layer of lucidity, or aethereal context |
⚜ | classic definition |
☣ | artificium definition; usually words which have undergone a warped evolution, or a complete perversion of the original sense |