Word journey
The word demon
an evil spirit (earlier: any divine power or guardian spirit)
The journey
| Form | Language | Date | Sense |
|---|---|---|---|
| daímōn | Ancient Greek · Ancient Greek Religion | 700 BCE | god, divine power, allotter of fate |
| daimónion | Koine Greek · Christianity | 50 CE | thing of divine nature; in Jewish and Christian writers, evil spirit |
| daemonium / daemōn | Late Latin · Christianity | 400 CE | evil spirit; also lar, guardian spirit |
| demon | Middle English · Christianity | 1375 CE | evil spirit (displacing native scucca) |
What is certain and what is not
Greek daimon meant a divine power or allotter of fate, not an evil being; the negative sense came with Jewish and Christian writers. Beekes derives it from PIE *deh2(i)- "to divide", but the root is a reconstruction.