Lucifer [OE] This is a Latin word originally, meaning ‘light-bringing, morning star’, from luc- ‘light’ and -fer ‘bearing’. It was sometimes used in poetry to refer to the planet Venus appearing in the sky before sunrise. It was also used for the rebel archangel (Satan) by association with the biblical quotation ‘How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning’ (Isaiah 14:12). Lucifer matches [M19th] were an early form of match, often shortened to lucifers.