Lucifer
Lucifer is a translation of the Latin words lucem ferre (from lux "light" and ferre "carry") meaning the "light-bearer". It was the name given to the morning star, i.e., the planet Venus when seen at dawn.
The only time the name "Lucifer" appears in the old testament is in Isaiah xiv:12, where he calls the King of Babylon "Helel" (הֵילֵל, Shining One), a Hebrew word that refers to the Day Star or Morning Star (the Latin term for which is lucifer). The verse was interpreted as a reference to Satan in early Christianity, in the 2nd or 3rd century.[1]
H. P. Blavatsky wrote:
Lucifer (Lat.). The planet Venus, as the bright “Morning Star”. Before Milton, Lucifer had never been a name of the Devil. Quite the reverse, since the Christian Saviour is made to say of himself in Revelations (xvi. 22.) “I am . . . the bright morning star” or Lucifer. One of the early Popes of Rome bore that name; and there was even a Christian sect in the fourth century which was called the Luciferians.[2]
Notes
Further reading
- Lucifer at Theosopedia