ARIEL, the name of a Moabite mentioned in the Old Testament (II. Sam. 23; I. Chron. ii. R.V.). In Shakespeare's comedy The Tempest the spirit of the air delivered from captivity by Prospero, and henceforward his devoted familiar, is called Ariel. Milton used the name for one of the fallen angels in his Paradise Lost.
The word is generally interpreted as "lion (or altar) of God," and, although of Hebrew origin, the name has become familiar in English fairy-tale and folklore.