The English phrase “Prince of Darkness” is a translation of a Latin phrase, princeps tenebrarum.
Princeps is a noun meaning “First one” or “Leader.” It would, in time, expand in meaning to include ideas such as “first in time or order; the first, chief, the most eminent, distinguished, or noble; the first man, first person.” In Roman culture, Princeps was the title of the Emperor, meaning that he was the “First Citizen” of the Empire. Originally it was used in the title of Princeps Senatus, “First Among Equals,” which was a role in the Roman Senate. Caesar Augustus, upon becoming Emperor, chose princeps as his title in place of rex because he felt it would cause less concern and opposition, such as Julius Caesar had faced from the Senate.
The title of princeps would be used in the Eastern Roman Empire. It eventually gave way to the contemporary word “prince” in English. While many now think of a Prince as the son of a King, the title was originally one of a pure sovereign in their own right. The use of a Prince as an heir apparent would not come into fashion until the 17th Century.
Tenebrarum is the generative conjugation of the word Tenebrae, which in Latin means either “darkness” or “shadows.” The darkness to which tenenbrarum speaks is specifically the darkness of night or the kind of darkness which appears in the absence of light, such as in a prison or a cave. It is thought to derive from the Proto-Indo-European root “temes-” or “tem-.” “Temes-” as a root yields such words as the Sanskrit tamas “darkness” and similar sounding words in Avestan, Lithuanian, Old Irish, and Old Church Slavonic. Oddly the English word “temerity” means “excessive confidence,” “boldness,” or “audacity.”
The construct of princeps tenebrarum is first found in a text known as Acta Pilati or The Acts of Pilate, which is sometimes titled the Gospel of Nicodemus. The book first appeared in Greek and included a description of the so-called “Harrowing of Hell,’ the descent of Jesus to Hell following his death to free those contained there. A final short section of the text claims to be an official report from Pontius Pilate to Rome discussing the Jewish refusal to accept Jesus as a manifestation of their God. In the context of the Harrowing of Hell, the term princeps tenebrarum is used in relation to Satan. The book is thought to originate around 150 CE and takes its present form in the 4th Century CE.
Princeps tenebrarum appears in the 11th Century hymn Rhythmus de die mortis by Pietro Damiani
Falsa tunc dulcendo carnis in amarum uertitur,
Quando beuem uoluptatem perpes poena sequitur.
Iam quod magnum credebatur, nil fuisse cernitur.
8. At quae mens in summae lucis gloriam sustollitur,
Aspernatur lutum carnis, quo mersa prouoluitur,
Et ut carcerali nexu laetabunda soluitur.
9. Sed egressa durum iter experitur anima,
Quam incursant furiosa dirae pestis agmina
Et diuersa suis locis instruunt certamina.
10. Nam hic incentores gulae, illic auaritiae,
Alibi fautores irae, alibi superbiae;
Vitii cuiusque globus suas parat acies.
11. Iam si cedat una turma, mox insurgit altera.
Omnis ars temptatur belli, omnis pugnae machina,
Ne ad hostium pudorem sic euadat anima.
12. O quam torua bellatorum monstra sunt feralium!
Taetri, truces, truculenti flammas efflant naribus,
Dracontea tument colla, uirus stilant faucibus.
13. Serpentinis armant spiris manus doctas proeliis;
His oppugnant aduentates telis uelut ferreis,
His quos attrahunt, aeternis mancipant incendiis.
14. Quaeso, Christe, rex inuicte, tu succurre misero
Sub extremae sortis hora, cum iussus obiero.
Nullum in me ius tyranno praebeatur impio.
15. Cadat princeps tenebrarum, cedat pars Tartarea.
Pastor, ouem iam redemptam tunc reduc ad patriam,
Vbi te uiuendi causa perfruar in saecula.
Amen.
Here the Prince of Darkness is referred to as the yield of Tartarus, the Greek Underworld, which functioned as an alternate term for Hell.
The phrase also appears in the 12th Century “Sermones in Cantica canticorum” by Bernard of Clairvaux (1090 – 1153 CE).
Accepit tamen Satan regnum super omnes filios superbiae, factus princeps tenebrarum harum, ut regno humilitatis etiam superbia militet, dum in uno suo principatu temporali, et tali, multos humiles excelsos aeternosque reges constituit.
_____
The kingdom of Satan, however, took over all the sons of pride, he was made the ruler of the darkness, in order to serve the kingdom of humility, pride, even when, his temporal sovereignty, and such a one, on the haughty to the humble aeternosque many of the kings he appointed.
It would appear that the phrase princeps tenenbrarum was a term that entered early into the Church and was retained through its first millennium.
Setemheb 