English

Proper noun

Babylon

1. A city in ancient Mesopotamia built on the banks of the Euphrates, which was the capital of Babylonia.
2. Any city of great wealth, luxury and vice.
   • 1922, Ben Travers, chapter 2, in A Cuckoo in the Nest:

     Mother […] considered that the exclusiveness of Peter's circle was due not to its distinction, but to the fact that it was an inner Babylon of prodigality and whoredom, from which every Kensingtonian held aloof, except on the conventional tip-and-run excursions in pursuit of shopping, tea and theatres.

3. (Rastafarian) Western civilization, seen as corrupt and materialistic, and contrasted with Zion.

Translations

Derived terms

• Babylonia
• Babylonian
• Whore of Babylon

Latin

Etymology

From Ancient Greek Βαβυλών ‎(Babulṓn), from Akkadian 𒆍𒀭𒊏𒆠 ‎(Bābili [KA₂.DINGIR.RA^KI], literally “Gate of God”), translation of Sumerian [script needed] ‎(KA.DINGIR); the name of the ancient Chaldean capital and Biblical city of the Apocalypse.

Proper noun

Babylōn f ‎(genitive Babylōnis); third declension

1. (geography) Babylon

Inflection

Third declension.

Related terms

References

Babylon in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press

• Félix Gaffiot (1934), “Babylon”, in Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Paris: Hachette.
• Babylon in The Perseus Project (1999) Perseus Encyclopedia
• Babylon in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898) Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• Babylon in William Smith., editor (1854, 1857) A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, volume 1 & 2, London: Walton and Maberly

Scots

Proper noun

Babylon

1. Babylon