Hi all,
I'm reading a novel and came across the term 煉獄 れんごく. Jisho.org translates this word as "purgatory" as in Christianity. The context is that "the dragon tribe lives beyond the mountain of purgatory."
The sentence makes sense, but I'm wondering about the usage of 煉獄. Is this a common enough term that it would appear in a children's book? And is the term originally from Japanese Buddhism and not Christianity, or did Catholic Christians create the kanji term. I don't have an etymological dictionary (is there a good one?) so I though that I'd ask here.
by Ysbrydoliaeth