From Marlowe's "Dr. Faustus" Scene 1

Marlowe's "Dr. Faustus" Scene 1Mephistopheles (also Mephistophilus, Mephistophilis, Mephostopheles, Mephisto and variants) is one of the seven princes of Hell. Originally appearing in literature as the name of the demon in the Faust legend, he has since appeared in other works as a stock character version of the Devil himself.
The name is associated with the Faust legend of a scholar who wagers his soul against the Devil being able to make Faust wish to live, even for a moment, based on the historical Johann Georg Faust.

The name appears in the late 16th century Faust chapbooks. In the 1725 version which was read by Goethe, Mephostophiles is a Devil in the form of a greyfriar summoned by Faust in a wood outside Wittenberg. The name Mephistophiles already appears in the 1527 Praxis Magia Faustiana, printed in Passau, alongside pseudo-Hebrew text. It is best explained as a purposely obscure pseudo-Greek or pseudo-Hebrew formation of Renaissance magic.


MEPHISTO_PHILES in the 1527 Praxis Magia Faustiana, attributed to Faust.From the chapbook, the name enters Faustian literature and is also used by authors from Marlowe down to Goethe. In the 1616 edition of The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus, Mephostophiles became Mephistophilis.

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