# Why do cartoon demons carry pitchforks/tridents? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 13, 2014, 8:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-cartoon-demons-carry-pitchforks-tridents/686006 "2014-04-13T08:54:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![the\_diego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2014, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-cartoon-demons-carry-pitchforks-tridents/686006/21 "2014-04-14T23:14:49Z")
They’re all tridents but some get bent in the tines when hot stuffs lean on them so they look like pitchforks. ---
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2014, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-cartoon-demons-carry-pitchforks-tridents/686006/22 "2014-04-14T23:17:33Z")
Stereotypes. Without stereotypes, you wouldn’t recognize what it is. That’s why all cartoon santa clauses look the same. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2014, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-cartoon-demons-carry-pitchforks-tridents/686006/23 "2014-04-15T04:57:36Z")
In Bosch’s Garden of Earthly Delights tree is one rabbit devil, and I think he’s got a boat hook or pike. It seems to me devils just need something to prod along the herds of condemned souls. There is a tasteless joke, however, about telling the difference between dead babies and live babies using a pitchfork. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2014, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-cartoon-demons-carry-pitchforks-tridents/686006/24 "2014-04-15T13:25:25Z")
**Moderator Note** > [@Gatopescado](#): > > \*\*Why do cartoon demons carry pitchforks/tridents? \*\* > > Because the Democrats took all their guns! Political jabs are not permitted in GQ. Please don’t do this again. No warning issued. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Kobayashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4af34b/32.png) [@Mr.Kobayashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Kobayashi)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2014, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-cartoon-demons-carry-pitchforks-tridents/686006/25 "2014-04-15T13:51:23Z")
On the influence of Hinduism, [see Shiva, Vishnu, Brahma and Kali](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9f/Shiva%2C_Vishnu%2C_and_Brahma_Adoring_Kali_LACMA_M.80.101_%281_of_7%29.jpg/800px-Shiva%2C_Vishnu%2C_and_Brahma_Adoring_Kali_LACMA_M.80.101_%281_of_7%29.jpg). The two ‘destructive’ ones, Shiva and Kali, are holding a trishul - trident. Early Catholic missionaries like Francis Xavier weren’t shy about calling Hindu deities ‘demonic’; the tridents serving as a visual shorthand for the concept. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2014, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-cartoon-demons-carry-pitchforks-tridents/686006/26 "2014-04-15T17:10:34Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > In Bosch’s Garden of Earthly Delights tree is one rabbit devil, and I think he’s got a boat hook or pike. It seems to me devils just need something to prod along the herds of condemned souls. > > … That was my first thought too. Makes sense, as agricultural tool familiar to everybody, but not the proper one, a staff, for cared-for sheep, but a goad, for things that don’t want to move (cattle?). ---
**Author:** ![Enola\_Straight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2014, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-cartoon-demons-carry-pitchforks-tridents/686006/27 "2014-04-15T18:29:51Z")
> [@Mr.Kobayashi](#): > > On the influence of Hinduism, [see Shiva, Vishnu, Brahma and Kali](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9f/Shiva%2C_Vishnu%2C_and_Brahma_Adoring_Kali_LACMA_M.80.101_%281_of_7%29.jpg/800px-Shiva%2C_Vishnu%2C_and_Brahma_Adoring_Kali_LACMA_M.80.101_%281_of_7%29.jpg). The two ‘destructive’ ones, Shiva and Kali, are holding a trishul - trident. Early Catholic missionaries like Francis Xavier weren’t shy about calling Hindu deities ‘demonic’; the tridents serving as a visual shorthand for the concept. Hindu gods are called devas, and goddesses are devis…etymologistically, :dubious: is the english word “devil” derived from deva/devi? ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2014, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-cartoon-demons-carry-pitchforks-tridents/686006/28 "2014-04-15T19:31:59Z")
> [@Enola\_Straight](#): > > Hindu gods are called devas, and goddesses are devis…etymologistically, :dubious: is the english word “devil” derived from deva/devi? [Seems to come from Greek](http://ewonago.wordpress.com/2010/03/28/etymology-of-devil/). I have no idea where the Greeks got it from. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Kobayashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4af34b/32.png) [@Mr.Kobayashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Kobayashi)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2014, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-cartoon-demons-carry-pitchforks-tridents/686006/29 "2014-04-15T19:41:13Z")
> [@Enola\_Straight](#): > > Hindu gods are called devas, and goddesses are devis…etymologistically, :dubious: is the english word “devil” derived from deva/devi? I think it might just be coincidence; the English ‘devil’ ultimately comes from the Greek diabolos, ‘slanderer’. Sanskrit [‘deva’](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deva_%28Hinduism%29#Etymology) apparently comes from the proto-Indo-European ‘dyeus’; roughly ‘sky’. I thought maybe ‘demon’ might be connected although that apparently goes back to the PIE [‘dai’](http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=demon&allowed_in_frame=0), ‘divide’ so again I don’t think it’s connected either. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Kobayashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4af34b/32.png) [@Mr.Kobayashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Kobayashi)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2014, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-cartoon-demons-carry-pitchforks-tridents/686006/30 "2014-04-15T19:46:01Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > [Seems to come from Greek](http://ewonago.wordpress.com/2010/03/28/etymology-of-devil/). I have no idea where the Greeks got it from. According to wiktionary the ‘dia’ part comes from PIE ‘dis’; ‘twice’. The ‘-bollo’ part seems to be from [a PIE word](http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%CE%B2%CE%AC%CE%BB%CE%BB%CF%89#Ancient_Greek) meaning ‘to hit’. ---
**Author:** ![EdwardLost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bbe5ce/32.png) [@EdwardLost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EdwardLost)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2014, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-cartoon-demons-carry-pitchforks-tridents/686006/31 "2014-04-15T22:12:22Z")
> [@Wakinyan](#): > > Perhaps it comes from hoarding the souls of lost men. Death reaps with his scythe and the devil hoards with the pitchfork. This would be my guess. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2014, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-cartoon-demons-carry-pitchforks-tridents/686006/32 "2014-04-16T00:56:35Z")
> [@Enola\_Straight](#): > > Hindu gods are called devas, and goddesses are devis…etymologistically, :dubious: is the english word “devil” derived from deva/devi? > [@TriPolar](#): > > [Seems to come from Greek](http://ewonago.wordpress.com/2010/03/28/etymology-of-devil/). I have no idea where the Greeks got it from. [QUOTE=Mr. Kobayashi] Sanskrit ‘deva’ apparently comes from the proto-Indo-European ‘dyeus’; roughly ‘sky’. I thought maybe ‘demon’ might be connected although that apparently goes back to the PIE ‘dai’, ‘divide’ so again I don’t think it’s connected either. [/QUOTE] The word “divine” is closely related as is the Latin “Deus”. So “heavenly being” or “celestial”? Demon comes from “daemon”: a familiar, a spirit guide, a guardian or mentor spirit. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-cartoon-demons-carry-pitchforks-tridents/686006.md?page=1)