Looking up the etymology of the Devil's nickname, Old Nick, I came across this article in OUPblog written by Anatoly Liberman.
For some reason, devils, at least in English, are often called old:
Old Bogey, Old Scratch, Old Nick, and even Old Nick Bogey. […] But who was Nick? This
question has bothered numerous researchers.
The author then goes on to discuss several plausible, and entertaining theories but one in particular gripped my attention:
A fairly recent hypothesis derives Old Nick from Old Iniquity, the name of the devil in medieval plays. The derivation is clever, and the OED mentions it in a noncommittal way, […] Charles P. G. Scott, the etymologist for The Century Dictionary wrote: “In considering the application of the name Nick thus derived, and of other familiar personal names, to the Devil, we are not to think of that personage as the black malignant theological spirit of evil, but rather as a goblin of limited powers, a ‘poor’ devil, who may be half daunted, half placated, by a little friendly impudence or homely familiarity.”
The expression an old man/woman usually carries a negative connotation, someone who is harmless, and perhaps frail; a figure either to be pitied or deserving of our respect. On the other hand, old when positioned in front of kinship terms or first names has positive connotations. Imagine the greeting between two close friends; e.g. "Hello old man!" and "How's me old mate?" When we mention our elderly relatives, "Dear old Auntie May", and when someone is reliable and trustworthy we say, "Good ol' Barney, you can always count on him."
Curiously, pictorial representations of God in the Occident from the 15th century onwards, depict Him as looking almost elderly.
The social imaginary of the Christian deity is a bearded man with a lined face and flowing white hair (Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel) — the stereotypical traits of an old man. Although God is advanced in years, He also appears to be vigorous, intimidating and solemn-looking; would we dare call Him old? In this case, was the term old considered too derogatory and disrespectful, six or five hundred years ago?
Whereas if one Googles images of Satan, the devil, Lucifer, etc. one will see time and time again a youthful, strong, malevolent and powerful-looking figure, very different from the adjective "old".
As far as I'm aware, the adjective old is never used in Italian to describe the devil in person, instead Italians will often call him: il male /MA-le/ (evil/wickedness), la bestia (the beast), L'Anticristo (the Antichrist), Principe delle Tenebre (Prince of Darkness), and Satana (Satan). All of these expressions sound grotesque, frightening, and fearful. Now I am well aware that equivalent English expressions exist but there are no Italian equivalents for these English nicknames: Old Nick, Old Scratch, Old Ned, Old Roger, Old Horny, Old Harry, Old Billy, old boy (US term, according to the OED), which sound terribly innocuous, endearing and affectionate to my ears.
- Why did the English and Americans freely adopt "old" to describe Satan and not God?
- Were the nicknames Old Nick, Old Bogey, Old Scratch etc. meant to be jocular, fearful or derogatory in nature?
- Did the word old have different connotations before the 19th century?
- And finally, when was the adjective old first used as a nickname for the devil?
Best Answer
According to Daniel Defoe, The Political History of the Devil (1726), the attribution of oldness to the Devil reflects his relative experience and wiliness:
Defoe says that the Devil is first called "the old Serpent" in Revelations xii: 9. The Genevan New Testament (1557) gives this wording for that passage of the Bible:
It is this name for the Devil that appears earliest in the company of "old." For example, from Bishop Poynet, The Real Reformation Catechism of 1553 (1553):
Likewise, William Crashaw, The Parable of Poyson. In Five Sermons of Spirituall Poyson (1618) refers to "the old Serpent" twice:
and
And from George Downame, A Treatise of Justification (1633) [one of three instances of "the old serpent" in this book]:
And from Henry Ainsworth, Annotations upon the Five Bookes of Moses, the Booke of the Psalmes, and the Song of Songs, or Canticles (1639):
Many instances of "the old Serpent" as a nickname for the Devil appear in later 17th-century writings.
"Old Nick" appears to be the oldest of the three main terms that the OP mentions. From Edmund Gayton, Pleasant Notes Upon Don Quixote (1654):
And from "A Song" in Rump: Or an Exact Collection of the Choycest Poems and Songs, Relating to the Late Times (1662):
Francis Grose, A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue (1785) reports a folk explanation for the terms "Old Nick" and "Old Scratch":
That same source identifies the terms "Old Harry," "Old One," and "Old Roger" as additional then-current nicknames for the Devil.
One of the earliest occurrences of "Old Scratch" in a Google Books search is from "The Story of Jack Spriggins and the Enchanted Bean" in Christmas Entertainments (1740):
One year later, Henry Fielding, An Apology for the Life of Mrs. Shamela Andrews (1741):
John Bartlett, Dictionary of Americanisms (1848) notes that in informal American speech the word old had by the late 1820s acquired the sense of wiliness:
This sense of old may or may not have come from the longstanding association of old with the Devil; a more neutral reading of the phrase "I'm a little too old for you" is that it means "I'm not as naïve as you think."
To sum up, the association of the Devil with old may in the first instance be connected to the biblical reference to "that old serpent called the devil and Satan," and subsequently (and more generally) to the Devil's ancientness and cunning.