daimon
Synonym of demon, particularly as
Noun
- Synonym of demon, particularly as
- Love, as we know it in the book, is a daimon which possesses and undoes each of its victims. - 1983 August 13, John Rosario, “Illustrious Obscurity”, in Gay Community News, volume 11, number 5, page 16:
Synonyms: demon particularly as
-
(Greek mythology) A tutelary deity or spirit that watches over a person or place.
- All at once, my daimōn—that other Me over whom I button my waistcoat when I button it over my own person—put it into my head to look up the story of Madame Saqui. - 1890 January, Oliver Wendell Holmes [Sr.], “Over the...
- The object which first appears is adopted as the personal mystery, guardian spirit, or tutelary daimon of the entranced, and is never mentioned by him without first making a sacrifice. - 1891, W[alter] J[ames] Hoffman,...
- Marcus Aurelius is persuaded that God gives every man a special daimon as his guide – a belief which reappears in the Christian guardian angel. - 1945, Bertrand Russell, A History of Western Philosophy: And its...
Origin
A modern romanization of Ancient Greek δαίμων (daímōn, “the one who divides, dispenser, tutelary deity”), intended to distinguish its ancient Greek sense from later conceptions of demons. Compare Ancient Greek Λᾰκεδαίμων (Lăkedaímōn, “Laconian dispenser”).