I. Name
The Heb. term lîlît as a demon in Isa. 34.14 is connected by popular etymology with the word laylâ ‘night’. But it is certainly to be considered a loan from Akk. lilı̄tu, which is ultimately derived from Sum. líl.
II. Identity
The Mesopotamian evidence for this demon reaches back to the 3rd millennium bce as we can see from the Sumerian epic ‘Gilgamesh, Enkidu and the Netherworld’. Here we find Inanna (Ishtar) who plants a tree later hoping to cut from its wood a throne and a bed for herself…