Magog

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A nation or people named in the Hebrew Bible and the Book of Revelation, often paired with Gog as an enemy of God
2. The northern land or race of biblical tradition, ruled by Gog, that is said to threaten God's people in the end times
3. In scripture, a northern people or territory whose leader Gog is portrayed as an adversary of God and his followers

Etymology: Magog is one of the rare English words that names a place in the Americas and a figure from the Bible at the same time. The Hebrew name "Magog" (māḡôḡ) appears in the Book of Ezekiel as a land of Gog, a northern realm whose ruler leads a vast army against Israel. Over centuries that scriptural name came to stand for a remote, barbarous people beyond the known world, and it is this sense that gives the word its older resonance. The modern use is a different story. Lake Memphremagog, a long lake straddling the border between Vermont and Quebec, takes its name from the Abenaki place-name "mamhlawbagak," which translates roughly as "at the great lake" or "at the great expanse of water." The lake's name was later borrowed as the word "Memphremagog," and the shorter form "Magog" came to be applied to it. The connection with the biblical figure is thus purely a matter of shared sound, not of shared meaning.