Caim (or Camio) is a Gaelic rendering of

biblical The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...

Cain Cain ''Káïn''; ar, قابيل/قايين, Qābīl/Qāyīn is a Biblical figure in the Book of Genesis within Abrahamic religions. He is the elder brother of Abel, and the firstborn son of Adam and Eve, the first couple within the Bible. He wa ...

', who appears in a variation of the fantastical pedigree of Dardanus of Troy that is spun out in '' Lebor Bretnach'', the Middle Irish language recension of the compilation called '' Historia Brittonum'', known in the 9th century version by

Nennius Nennius – or Nemnius or Nemnivus – was a Welsh monk of the 9th century. He has traditionally been attributed with the authorship of the ''Historia Brittonum'', based on the prologue affixed to that work. This attribution is widely considered ...

. The ''Lebor Bretnach'', greatly modifies the genealogy given in Nennius, making emendations to earlier sources and tracing the line through Ham rather than Japheth with further spurious names: :''Dardain m. Ioib m. Sadoirn m. Peil m. Palloir m. Zorastres m. Mesraim m. Caim''. In the predominantly Welsh-speaking regions of Wales (Gwynedd, Dyfed and Ynys Mon), Cain, Caio, Caim and Cail are commonplace first names for males. These names are derivatives of an ancient Welsh name "Ca" which is recorded in the book of Welsh folklore called the

Mabinogion The ''Mabinogion'' () are the earliest Welsh prose stories, and belong to the Matter of Britain. The stories were compiled in Middle Welsh in the 12th–13th centuries from earlier oral traditions. There are two main source manuscripts, create ...

In demonology

Of ''Cain'', originator of murder, consigned to

Hell In religion and folklore, hell is a location in the afterlife in which evil souls are subjected to punitive suffering, most often through torture, as eternal punishment after death. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hell ...

by early Christian writers. In demonology, Caim appears in '' Ars Goetia'', the first part of '' Lesser Key of Solomon'' as a great president of

, ruling over thirty legions of

demon A demon is a malevolent supernatural entity. Historically, belief in demons, or stories about demons, occurs in religion, occultism, literature, fiction, mythology, and folklore; as well as in media such as comics, video games, movies, ani ...

s. Much detail is offered: he is a good disputer, gives men the understanding of the voices of birds, bullocks, dogs, and other creatures, and of the noise of the waters too, and gives true answers concerning things to come. He is depicted in 19th and 20th century occultist

illustration An illustration is a decoration, interpretation or visual explanation of a text, concept or process, designed for integration in print and digital published media, such as posters, flyers, magazines, books, teaching materials, animations, vid ...

s as appearing in the form of the black bird called a

thrush ''The Man from U.N.C.L.E.'' is an American spy fiction television series produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Television and first broadcast on NBC. The series follows secret agents, played by Robert Vaughn and David McCallum, who work for a secret ...

, but soon he changes his shape into a man that has a sharp

sword A sword is an edged, bladed weapon intended for manual cutting or thrusting. Its blade, longer than a knife or dagger, is attached to a hilt and can be straight or curved. A thrusting sword tends to have a straighter blade with a pointed ti ...

in his hand. When answering questions he seems to stand on burning ashes or coals. The title ' president' of Hell would suggest a parallel with the presiding officer of a college or

convocation A convocation (from the Latin ''wikt:convocare, convocare'' meaning "to call/come together", a translation of the Ancient Greek, Greek wikt:ἐκκλησία, ἐκκλησία ''ekklēsia'') is a group of people formally assembled for a speci ...

, which are the only pre-modern uses of the term. Other authors consider Caim a 'prince' of Hell instead and depict him as a man wearing rich and elegant clothes, and the head and wings of a blackbird. Demonological directories give an etymology from a supposed Latin word 'Chamos', 'Chamus', said to be a name given to

Baal Peor Numbers 31 is the 31st chapter of the Book of Numbers, the fourth book of the Pentateuch (Torah), the central part of the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament), a sacred text in Judaism and Christianity. Scholars such as Israel Knohl and Dennis T. Olson ...

, and possibly corrupted from Hebrew 'Chium', an epithet given to several Assyrian and

Babylonia Babylonia (; Akkadian: , ''māt Akkadī'') was an ancient Akkadian-speaking state and cultural area based in the city of Babylon in central-southern Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq and parts of Syria). It emerged as an Amorite-ruled state c. ...

n gods.

Epigraphy Epigraphy () is the study of inscriptions, or epigraphs, as writing; it is the science of identifying graphemes, clarifying their meanings, classifying their uses according to dates and cultural contexts, and drawing conclusions about the wr ...

does not confirm this etymology.

Sources

*S. L. MacGregor Mathers, A. Crowley, '' The Goetia: The Lesser Key of Solomon the King'' (1904). 1995 reprint: .

External links

'The Trojans and Gildas Quartus' traces the growth of some mythic genealogies.
{{Demons in Pseudomonarchia Daemonum Goetic demons

In demonology

See also

Sources

External links