δαιμόνιον

Forms

δαιμόνῐον (daimónion) n (genitive δαιμονῐ́ου); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is the neuter, used as a noun, from Ancient Greek δαιμόνιος (daimónios, “of a divinity, divine”).^[1][2][3] The adjective comes from δαίμων (daímōn, “god, divinity”), which Beekes connects with δαίομαι (daíomai, “to divide”), from Proto-Indo-European *deh₂- (“to cut, divide”): the divinity would be a “divider”, one who allots.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Aeschylus and Herodotus use it of the divine power in general, “the divine”, often beside or in place of “the gods”.^[5][6][7]

Semantic evolution

In classical Greek the word meant the divinity or divine power, as an abstract force.^[6][5] Plato's Symposium makes the daemonic a being between god and mortal, and Socrates was accused of bringing in new divinities.^[6] Xenophon and Plato use it of the inner divine sign that held Socrates back.^[6][5]

The Stoic Chrysippus speaks of evil spirits, and the Septuagint uses the word for the gods of the heathen.^[6][8][3] In the New Testament it is the usual word for a demon, an evil spirit that possesses people and is driven out, though Acts 17:18 has “foreign divinities” in the older sense.^[2][9][3] BDAG notes that its older, neutral sense is what “daemon” renders, while “demon” carries the hostile sense.^[2]

It passed into Latin as daemonium, and into Coptic from about AD 300.^[1][10] Medieval vernacular Greek used it of an unclean spirit, and Modern Greek δαιμόνιο (daimónio), a learned word from Hellenistic Greek, still means an evil spirit; the phrase “new divinities” is used of novel ideas.^[11][12]

Timeline

• 6th–5th century BC – Aeschylus uses it of the divine.^[5][13]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it of divine power.^[6][7]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato and Xenophon use it of the divine sign of Socrates.^[6][5]
• 3rd century BC – Chrysippus speaks of evil spirits.^[6]
• 1st century AD – The Gospels use it for the demons that Jesus drives out.^[2][9]
• About AD 300 – Coptic texts record it as a borrowing.^[10]
• Modern Greek – The learned δαιμόνιο (daimónio) means an evil spirit.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. The divine power, divinity, the divine.^[6][5][7]
2. A lesser divine being, between god and mortal; the inner divine sign of Socrates.^[6][5]
3. A god or spirit as an individual being.^[5][9]
4. (Septuagint, New Testament) A demon, an evil spirit; a heathen god.^[6][2][8]
5. The world of spiritual powers.^[5]

Word family

• δαιμονίζομαι (daimonízomai)

Related words

• δαίμων (daímōn)
• δαιμόνιος (daimónios)
• Latin daemonium

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Bauer, Walter; Danker, Frederick W., et al. (2000), A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed., Chicago: University of Chicago Press
3. ^ a b c Abbott-Smith, G. (1922), A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament, Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark
4. ^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
8. ^ a b Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
9. ^ a b c United Bible Societies (2023), UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament (revised Louw–Nida semantic domains), open-licence ed.
10. ^ a b Database and Dictionary of Greek Loanwords in Coptic (DDGLC), Freie Universität Berlin and Universität Leipzig
11. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
12. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
13. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux