{{Short description|Latin for "god" or "deity"}} {{italic}} {{other uses}} {{god}} {{Deism sidebar}} {{wiktionary|deus}} '''''Deus''''' ({{IPA|la-x-classic|ˈd̪e.ʊs|lang|link=yes}}, {{IPA|la-x-church|ˈd̪ɛː.us|lang|link=yes}}) is the Latin word for "god" or "deity" . Latin ''deus'' and ''dīvus'' ('divine') are in turn descended from Proto-Indo-European *''deiwos'', "celestial" or "shining", from the same root as ''*Dyēus'', the reconstructed chief god of the Proto-Indo-European pantheon.
In Classical Latin, ''deus'' (''"dea"'' in the feminine) was a general noun<ref>''Generale nomen'': Servius, note to ''Aeneid'' 12.139.</ref> referring to a deity, while in technical usage a ''divus'' or ''diva'' was a figure who had become divine, such as a divinized emperor. In Late Latin, ''Deus'' came to be used mostly for the Christian God. It was inherited by the Romance languages in Galician and Portuguese ''Deus'', Catalan and Sardinian ''Déu'', French and Occitan ''Dieu'', Friulian and Sicilian ''Diu'', Italian ''Dio'', Spanish ''Dios'' and (for the Jewish God) Ladino דייו/דיו ''Dio/Dyo'', etc., and by the Celtic languages in Welsh ''Duw,'' and Irish and Scottish Gaelic ''Dia.''
==Cognates== While Latin ''deus'' can be translated as and bears superficial similarity to Greek θεός ''theós'', meaning 'god', these are false cognates. A true cognate is Ancient Greek Zeus, king of the Olympian gods in Greek mythology ({{langx|grc-x-attic|Ζεύς|Zeús}}, {{IPA|grc-x-attic|zděu̯s|lang}} or {{IPA|grc|dzěu̯s|}}; {{langx|grc-x-doric|Δεύς|Deús}}, {{IPA|grc-x-doric|děu̯s|lang}}). In the archaic period, the initial Zeta would have been pronounced such that Attic Ζεύς would phonetically transliterate as ''Zdeús'' or ''Dzeús'', from Proto-Hellenic ''*dzéus''.
By combining a form of ''deus'' with the Ancient Roman word for 'father' ({{langx|la|pater}}, {{IPA|la|ˈpa.t̪ɛr|}}), one derives the name of the mythical Roman equivalent of Zeus: the sky god ''Diespiter'' ({{IPA|la|d̪iˈɛs.pɪ.t̪ɛr|}}), later called ''Iuppiter'' or Jūpiter, from Proto-Italic ''*djous patēr'', descended from Proto-Indo-European root ''*Dyḗws*Pahtḗr'' literally meaning 'Sky Father'. From the same root is derived the Greek vocative 'O father Zeus' ({{langx|grc-x-attic|Ζεῦ πάτερ|Zeû páter}}), and whence is also derived the name of the Hindu sky god Dyáuṣ Pitṛ́ (Vedic Sanskrit: {{IAST|Dyáuṣpitṛ́}}, {{lang|sa|द्यौष्पितृ}}), and Proto-Germanic ''*Tīwaz'' or ''Tius'' hence Old Norse Týr.<ref>{{cite book|author=Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short|title=A Latin Dictionary|publisher=Clarendon Press|location=Oxford|year=1879}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Charlton T. Lewis|title=An Elementary Latin Dictionary|publisher=Harper & Brothers|location=New York|year=1891}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Liddell & Scott|title=An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon|publisher=Harper & Brothers|location=New York|year=1889}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Liddell & Scott|title=A Greek–English Lexicon|publisher=Clarendon Press|location=Oxford|year=1940}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=Werner |last=Winter |title=Language in Time and Space|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mox4cw6zY6kC&pg=PA134 |date=2003 |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |isbn=978-3-11-017648-3 |pages=134–135}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Bopp |first=F. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ai07AQAAMAAJ&pg=RA1-PA171 |title=Edinburgh Review, or Critical Journal |last2=Wilson |first2=H. H. |date=1851 |publisher=A & C Black |volume=XCIII–XCIV |pages=171 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=Friedrich Max |last=Müller |title=The life and letters of the right Honourable Friedrich Max Müller |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=NdsNAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA506 |date=1902 |publisher=Longmans, Green, and co. |pages=506–507}}</ref>
==Latin Bible== Latin ''Deus'' consistently translates Greek Θεός ''Theós'' in both the Vetus Latina and Jerome's Vulgate. In the Septuagint, Greek ''Theós'' in turn renders Hebrew Elohim (אֱלוֹהִים, אלהים), as in Genesis 1:1: * Masoretic Text {{langx|hbo|בְּרֵאשִׁית בָּרָא אֱלֹהִים אֵת הַשָּׁמַיִם וְאֵת הָאָרֶץ.|B'reshít bará Elohím et hashamáyim w'et haʾáretz.}} * Septuagint {{langx|grc-x-koine|Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἐποίησεν ὁ Θεὸς τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν.|En archê epoíēsen ho Theòs tòn ouranòn kaì tḕn gên.}} * Vulgate {{langx|la|In principio creavit Deus cælum et terram.}} * {{langx|en|In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.}}
==In theological terminology== The word ''de-us'' is the root of deity, and thereby of deism, pandeism, and polydeism, all of which are theories in which any divine figure is ''absent'' from intervening in human affairs. This curious circumstance originates from the use of the word "deism" in the 17th and 18th centuries as a contrast to the prevailing "theism", belief in an actively intervening God:
{{quotation|The new religion of reason would be known as Deism. It had no time for the imaginative disciplines of mysticism and mythology. It turned its back on the myth of revelation and on such traditional "mysteries" as the Trinity, which had for so long held people in the thrall of superstition. Instead it declared allegiance to the impersonal "Deus".<ref>Karen Armstrong, ''A History of God'' (1993), page 310.</ref>}}
By 1888, it was written in the ''Encyclopaedia Britannica'': "Although ''deus'' and ''theos'' are equivalent, deism has come to be distinguished from theism. The former word first appeared in the 16th century, when it was used to designate antitrinitarian opinions. In the 17th century it came to be applied to the view that the light of nature is the only light in which man can know God, no special revelation having been given to the human race."<ref>Thomas Spencer Baynes, ed., ''The Encyclopaedia Britannica: A Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, and General Literature'', Ninth Edition, Volume 23, 1888, p. 234.</ref> Followers of these theories, and occasionally followers of pantheism, may sometimes refer to God as "Deus" or "the Deus" to make clear that the entity being discussed is not a theistic "God". Arthur C. Clarke picks up this usage in his novel ''3001: The Final Odyssey''. William Blake said of the Deists that they worship "the Deus of the Heathen, The God of This World, & the Goddess Nature, Mystery, Babylon the Great, The Druid Dragon & hidden Harlot".<ref>Samuel Foster Damon, Morris Eaves, ''A Blake dictionary: the ideas and symbols of William Blake'', 1988, page 103.</ref>
In Cartesian philosophy, the phrase ''deus deceptor'' is sometimes used to discuss the possibility of an evil God that seeks to deceive us. This character is related to a skeptical argument as to how much we can really know if an evil demon were attempting to thwart our knowledge. Another is the ''deus otiosus'' ('idle god'), which is a creator god who largely retires from the world and is no longer involved in its daily operation. A similar concept is that of the ''deus absconditus'' ('hidden god') of Thomas Aquinas. Both refer to a deity whose existence is not readily knowable by humans through either contemplation or examination of divine actions. The concept of ''deus otiosus'' often suggests a god who has grown weary from involvement in this world and who has been replaced by younger, more active gods, whereas ''deus absconditus'' suggests a god who has consciously left this world to hide elsewhere.
==Latin phrases with ''deus''== ''Nobiscum deus'' ('God with us') was a battle cry of the late Roman Empire and of the Byzantine Empire. The name ''Amadeus'' translates to 'for love of God'. The genitive singular/nominative-vocative plural ''dei'' occurs in such phrases as Roman Catholic organization ''Opus Dei'' ('work of God'), ''Agnus Dei'' ('Lamb of God') and ''Dei Gratia'' ('By the Grace of God'). The ablative/accusative ''deo'' occurs in expressions as ''Deo Optimo Maximo'' ('to God, most good, most great').
*''Agnus Dei'' *''Deo Juvante'' *''Deo vindice'' *''Deus absconditus'' *''Deus ex machina'' *''Deus otiosus'' *''Deus sive Natura'' *''Deus vult'' *''Divs'' *''Munificentissimus Deus'' *''Nihil sine Deo'' *''Opus Dei'' *''Pro Deo et patria'' *''Providentissimus Deus'' *''Quis ut Deus'' *''Rector Potens, Verax Deus'' *''Regnator omnium deus'' *''Rerum, Deus, tenax vigor'' *''Rex Deus'' *''Sublimis Deus'' *''Te Deum'' *''Unigenitus dei filius'' *''Vox populi, vox Dei''
==See also== * God (word)
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{Names of God}}
Category:Latin words and phrases Category:Names of God Category:Roman deities