deus

Forms

deus m (plural deuses, feminine deusa or (poetic) deia, feminine plural deusas or (poetic) deias)^[1] Old Galician-Portuguese wrote Deus; the Cancioneiro da Ajuda never has deos, which Houaiss dates from the 14th century.^[2][3] Old Portuguese also had a form des.^[4] Morais (1813) held that etymology and pronunciation called for Deus but entered the word under Deos because of usage.^[5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin deus (“god”), written Old Galician-Portuguese deus in the oldest texts.^[3][6][1] Houaiss calls it a semi-learned word, kept close to the Latin by the Church.^[3] Unusually, it continues the Latin nominative rather than the accusative deum.^[1] Early Spanish kept both forms, until Spanish dios prevailed over Old Spanish dio through its use in prayers and exclamations.^[7]

The same Latin word is Galician deus, Catalan déu, French dieu, Italian dio and Romanian zeu.^[4][1]

The Latin noun comes from deivos, found in the Duenos inscription, from Proto-Italic *deiwos and Proto-Indo-European *deywós (“god”), a derivative of *dyew- (“sky, heaven”).^[1][8] De Vaan glosses the Indo-European word “god, divinity (god of the clear sky)”; its cognates include Lithuanian diẽvas and Old Irish dia.^[8][9] The Latin dīvus, diēs and Iuppiter come from the same root.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The 13th-century cantigas use the word constantly in invocations and oaths: par Deus “by God”, por Deus, se Deus quiser “God willing”, ai Deus.^[2] The Cantigas de Santa Maria also use it for a pagan god (algun deus).^[2]

Semantic evolution

The Christian God and the gods of other religions have been named by the word since the Middle Ages; the modern dictionaries add figurative senses, a person or thing that is idolised, and the philosophers' first principle.^[2][3][10] The feminine is deusa, with a poetic deia recorded from 1572.^[1][6]

In Japan the Christian God was called デウス (Deusu).^[1] Javanese formed dejos from it in the 16th century; through Chinese Pidgin English this became the English joss “Chinese idol”, recorded in 1711.^[11][1]

Timeline

• 12th century – Houaiss's first date for deus.^[3]
• 13th century – Deus in the cantigas, in oaths such as par Deus.^[2][6]
• 14th century – the spelling deos.^[3]
• 14th century – Deus in the Trasladação de S. Nicolau.^[12]
• 15th century – first record of deidade.^[6]
• 16th century – first record of adeus.^[6]
• 1572 – the poetic feminine deia.^[6]
• 1711 – the English joss, through Javanese and Chinese Pidgin English.^[11]
• 1813 – Morais enters the word under Deos.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. (usually capitalised: Deus) God, the one supreme being of the monotheistic religions, creator of the universe.^[3][10][13]
2. (capitalised) Each of the three persons of the Trindade: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.^[3][14]
3. A god, a male deity of a polytheistic religion.^[3][10][15]
4. (figurative) A person held above all others; an idol.^[3][14]
5. (figurative) Whatever one desires or worships above all else.^[3][10]
6. (philosophy) The absolute principle that explains the existence and order of the universe.^[3][10][13]

Word family

• deusa
• adeus
• endeusar
• endeusamento
• deus-dará

Related words

• deidade
• deificar
• deicida
• Latin deus
• Spanish dios

Usage notes

Written with a capital, Deus names the God of the monotheistic religions.^[3][14] The plural is deuses.^[10] Set phrases include meu Deus! and santo Deus!, exclamations of surprise or fear, Deus e o mundo “everybody”, and ao deus-dará “at random, haphazardly”.^[3][16][15]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Instituto da Lingua Galega, Dicionario de dicionarios do galego medieval (DDGM), ed. Ernesto González Seoane, Santiago de Compostela: Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, https://ilg.usc.gal/ddgm, p. s.v. deus
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. deus
4. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 2610
5. ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 1, 609
6. ^ a b c d e f Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. deus
7. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 498
8. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. deus
10. ^ a b c d e f Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. deus
11. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com, p. s.v. joss
12. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. deus
13. ^ a b Academia das Ciências de Lisboa, Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, revised online edition (2023–) of the Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa Contemporânea (2001), https://dicionario.acad-ciencias.pt, p. s.v. deus
14. ^ a b c Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. deus
15. ^ a b Michaelis: Moderno Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, São Paulo: Melhoramentos (online as Michaelis Dicionário Brasileiro da Língua Portuguesa, https://michaelis.uol.com.br), p. s.v. deus
16. ^ Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 3103