Molokh

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An ancient Semitic deity worshipped in Canaan, to whom children were offered by fire ; anything that demands enormous sacrifice or destruction in return
2. A Canaanite idol linked with the burning of children as offerings ; a force or institution that consumes everything it claims as its due
3. The fire-god of the ancient Levant, honored with child sacrifice ; a figurative devourer that exacts a terrible price from those who serve it

Etymology: The Hebrew word "molekh" is built on the root that also gives "melekh," meaning "king," so the name of this deity was essentially a royal title. The Hebrew Bible condemns rites in which people, including children, were offered to a god under this name. The vowels of "molokh" that English inherited come from the Hebrew word "bosheth," meaning "shame," which scribes attached to the consonants, apparently as a deliberate insult to the god. In English, the name moved from a foreign deity to a symbol of something that demands enormous sacrifice. John Milton's "Paradise Lost" made Moloch a fallen angel who rules by terror, and the word has kept that sense of a power that devours whatever is given to it.