
The Origin of the word Daemon (2002) - trueduke
http://ei.cs.vt.edu/~history/Daemon.html
======
thwave
A bit more about the etymology: δαίμων (daimon) in ancient greek is simply a
god, or a divine spirit [1]. It appears earliest in the Iliad (1.222), and is
probably related to the the root _da: "from PIE _dai-mon- "divider, provider"
(of fortunes or destinies), from root *da- "to divide."[2]. Classical Latin
trascribed it as daemon, because "ae" was pronounced "ai". Some years had
passed, and Latin-speakers stated saying "e" instaed of "ai"[3], and writing
"demon". English, as was mention in the article, borrowed the word twice, in
both spellings.

I think that since there's a gap in the meaning and writing of the two words,
we might as well pronounce them differently, and so I follow the Greek and say
"dai-mon".

[1] LSJ Greek-English Lexicon:
[http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%...](http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3Ddai%2Fmwn)
[2]
[https://www.etymonline.com/word/demon?ref=etymonline_crossre...](https://www.etymonline.com/word/demon?ref=etymonline_crossreference)
[3]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin_spelling_and_pronunciati...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin_spelling_and_pronunciation#Diphthongs)

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jaimehrubiks
Very interesting. Here in Spain some people wrongly translate it as "demonio"
which means "demon". However people with more knowledge strongly disencourage
saying it and recommend to say "daemon" even when probably near no one really
knowing where it comes from. I like the word daemon though.

Checking the oxford dictionary I can see that demon and daemon are indeed
related, and that it could theoretically be translated in the same way. I
prefer to say daemon though.

~~~
jameshart
There seems to be a common misunderstanding here.

'Daemon' is just an alternate spelling of 'demon'. It's pronounced the same,
means the same thing, and is simply the _same word_. Just as 'encyclopaedia'
and 'encyclopedia' are the same word, or 'mediaeval' and 'medieval' are the
same word.

~~~
olavk
Yes and no - they have the origin in the same word, but as the article point
out the two spellings have acquired different connotations. So they are not
exactly the same word anymore.

~~~
fnordsensei
And since they are no longer the same word, the distinction is aided by
difference in pronunciation.

I went looking for the Greek pronunciation of daemon/daimon, and this is what
I found:

MP3:
[http://media.studylight.org/lex/grk/1142g.mp3](http://media.studylight.org/lex/grk/1142g.mp3)

Source:
[http://classic.studylight.org/lex/grk/view.cgi?number=1142](http://classic.studylight.org/lex/grk/view.cgi?number=1142)

The pronunciation of Kubernetes is also interesting.

MP3:
[http://media.studylight.org/lex/grk/2942g.mp3](http://media.studylight.org/lex/grk/2942g.mp3)

Source:
[http://classic.studylight.org/lex/grk/view.cgi?number=2942](http://classic.studylight.org/lex/grk/view.cgi?number=2942)

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keeler
What the answer doesn't explain about Socrates is that his daemon, according
to his own telling, was constantly monitoring since childhood what he said and
did, and would often warn him against saying and doing certain things.

In philosophy, it is often pronounced (and written) "daimon," after the Greek,
to avoid confusion with demons in Christian mythology.

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mirimir
Me, I wonder about the relationship between Hindu devas, which are benevolent,
and Zoroastrian daevas, which are basically demons. And then there's the
Zoroastrian god Ahura Mazda vs Hindu asuras, which are demonic.

It's like Zoroastrianism just reversed the Hindu categories. I get that
there's been millennia of bad blood, but this seems rather extreme.

And software demons are generally benevolent, not demonic. So does the usage
come from Hinduism?

~~~
Sniffnoy
No, as mentioned it comes from Greek:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daemon_(classical_mythology)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daemon_\(classical_mythology\))

~~~
twic
That doesn't mean it didn't come from Hinduism. The concept and word were in
Greek when Homer was writing, around 800 - 700 BC, and Hinduism was coalescing
around 1500 - 600 BC (it says on Wikipedia). Greek and Sanskrit are related
languages, and the Greek word has a root in their common ancestor. We know
there was cultural interchange between the Greek and Indian worlds. Indeed,
it's probably a mistake to think of them as separate worlds; Europe and India
seems quite distinct now, but there was a time when it was all just the
fertile crescent and its hinterlands.

Admittedly, it's probably wrong to say it came from Hinduism per se. But it
doesn't seem impossible that the Greek, Hindu, and Zoroastrian ideas are from
the same root.

~~~
mirimir
Yes, and what I wonder is how for Hindu/Greek they're benevolent, whereas for
Zoroastrian/Christian they're malevolent.

Edit: Cut Roman from malevolent side because I'm not sure.

~~~
twic
My impression is that for the Greeks, they were explanations for natural
processes. Why does the wind blow suddenly? Demon. Why did that rock fall into
the sea? Demon. Why did i remember to pack some cheese? Demon.

Some of what the world does is helpful, and some of it is harmful. So demons
can be benevolent or malevolent.

I'm not sure about this, though.

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dang
From 2011:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2691752](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2691752)

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zerostar07
the origin of the world daemon is a lot older than 2002

~~~
caf
The meaning of (2002) appended to an article title on HN is that the article
was written / last significantly updated in 2002.

