Etymologically
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demone

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Pronunciation

  • /ˈdɛ.mo.ne/[1]

Forms

demone m (plural demoni)[1] Old and poetic forms include Old Italian demon, Old Italian dimone and Old Italian dimon.[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin daemōn (“spirit”), from Ancient Greek δαίμων (daímōn, “deity, protective spirit; dispenser”).[4][5][6][1] DELI and the Zingarelli derive the Greek word, with a question mark, from δαίομαι (daíomai, “to distribute, divide”), so that the demon would be a “dispenser” of fortunes.[4][7] The sense “evil spirit” arose in the Jewish and Christian tradition and is already in Christian Latin, in Lactantius and Tertullian.[5][8]

According to the LEI the Church's word was daemonium, the source of demonio, so the Romance reflexes of the Latin word stayed in the literary language that consciously recalled pagan antiquity: Romanian demon, French démon (from 1664, after an older Latin spelling of 1546), Catalan demon, Spanish demón and Portuguese demo.[3] The word never entered the Italian dialects.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Iacopone da Todi (before 1306), with the sense “devil, demon”, the same as demonio.[4][9][3] The Zingarelli dates it to before 1294.[7]

Semantic evolution

The classical senses returned with the humanists: Varchi (before 1565) uses demone for the personal genius, good or bad, that accompanies a man from birth to death, and Tasso (1594) for a being between the divine and the human in pagan religion.[3][4] The Socratic daemon, an inner voice that warns a man what to do or avoid, is recorded before 1673, in Orazio Rucellai Ricasoli.[4] Leopardi discusses Plato's demons as an intermediate kind of being.[8]

Foscolo (1798–1817) gave the word its figurative sense of an unbridled passion, as in il demone del gioco, “the demon of gambling”.[4][6] In the sense “devil” the word is now literary, demonio and diavolo being the usual words.[10][7][11] In physics the demone di Maxwell names the imaginary being of Maxwell's thought experiment.[6]

Timeline

  • Before 1306 – Iacopone da Todi uses demone for the devil.[4][9]
  • Before 1565 – Varchi uses it for a personal genius.[3]
  • 1594 – Tasso uses it for a semi-divine being of the ancient religions.[4]
  • Before 1673 – Orazio Rucellai Ricasoli writes of the Socratic daemon.[4]
  • 1798–1817 – Foscolo uses demone for an unbridled passion.[4]
  • 1820 – Demonologia is recorded.[4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. In ancient polytheistic religions and popular belief, a spirit between gods and men, good or evil.[6][12][7]
  2. (figurative) An unbridled, tormenting passion: Lo ha rovinato il demone delle scommesse.[6][12][11]
  3. (philosophy) In Stoicism and Neoplatonism, a rational being between the divine and the human; a personal genius that inspires one's actions: il demone di Socrate.[6][7][10]
  4. (literary) A devil.[6][12][11]

Word family

  • demonico
  • demonismo
  • demonologia

References

  1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
  3. ^ a b c d e f Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 19, 19
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  5. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  6. ^ a b c d e f g De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  7. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  8. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
  9. ^ a b Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
  10. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  11. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  12. ^ a b c Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier