And Christ adopted this usage of the term.

For this reason it was defiled by Josias (IV Kings, xxiii, 10), cursed by Jeremias (Jer., vii, 31-33), and held in abomination by the Jews, who, accordingly, used the name of this valley to designate the abode of the damned (Targ. It was notorious as the scene, in earlier days, of the horrible worship of Moloch. The Valley of Hinnom is south of Jerusalem and is now called Wadi er-rababi. Hinnom seems to be the name of a person not otherwise known. Gehenna is the Hebrew gГЄ-hinnom (Neh., xi, 30), or the longer form gГЄ-ben-hinnom (Jos., xv, 8), and gГЄ-benГЄ-hinnom (IV Kings, xxiii, 10) 'valley of the sons of Hinnom'. However, in the New Testament the term Gehenna is used more frequently in preference to hades, as a name for the place of punishment of the damned. Since Christ's Ascension the just no longer go down to the lower world, but they dwell in heaven (II Cor., v 1). infernus) in the New Testament always designates the hell of the damned. But, as the limbo of the Fathers ended at the time of Christ's Ascension, hades (Vulg. infernus) sheol is used quite in general to designate the kingdom of the dead, of the good (Gen., xxxvii, 35) as well as of the bad (Num., xvi, 30) it means hell in the strict sense of the term, as well as the limbo of the Fathers. It is generally supposed to come from the Hebrew root meaning, 'to be sunk in, to be hollow' accordingly it denotes a cave or a place under the earth. Haides, formed from the root fid, to see, and a privative, denotes an invisible, hidden, and dark place thus it is similar to the term hell. Infernus is derived from the root in hence it designates hell as a place within and below the earth.

The Latin infernus ( inferum, inferi), the Greek Hades, and the Hebrew sheol correspond to the word hell. The present article treats only of hell in the strict sense of the term. purgatory, where the just, who die in venial sin or who still owe a debt of temporal punishment for sin, are cleansed by suffering before their admission to heaven.the limbo of the Fathers ( limbus patrum), in which the souls of the just who died before Christ awaited their admission to heaven for in the meantime heaven was closed against them in punishment for the sin of Adam.the limbo of infants ( limbus parvulorum), where those who die in original sin alone, and without personal mortal sin, are confined and undergo some kind of punishment.hell in the strict sense, or the place of punishment for the damned, be they demons or men.Theologians distinguish four meanings of the term hell: Hell ( infernus) in theological usage is a place of punishment after death. Only those who fall in battle can enter Valhalla the rest go down to Hel in the underworld, not all, however, to the place of punishment of criminals. In ancient Norse mythology Hel is the ill-favoured goddess of the underworld. Thus by derivation hell denotes a dark and hidden place. This verb has the same primitive as the Latin occulere and celare and the Greek kalyptein. It is a substantive formed from the Anglo-Saxon helan or behelian, 'to hide'. The term hell is cognate to 'hole' (cavern) and 'hollow'. This subject is treated under eight headings: (I) Name and Place of Hell (II) Existence of Hell (III) Eternity of Hell (IV) Impenitence of the Damned (V) Poena Damni (VI) Poena Sensus (VII) Accidental Pains of the Damned (VIII) Characteristics of the Pains of Hell. 100905 Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 7 - Hell Joseph Hontheim

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