Deus
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This article is about the Latin word for "god"; for other uses, see also Deus (disambiguation) and DEI.
Deus (pronounced ['deːus]) is the Latin word for "god" or "deity". The Latin words deus and dīvus, and Greek διFος = "divine", are descended from Primitive Indo-European *deiwos = "divine", from the same root as Dyēus, the reconstructed chief god of the Proto-Indo-European pantheon, also a cognate of the Greek Ζευς (Zeus). By the era of Classical Latin it was a general noun referring to any number of divine figures. The word continues to refer directly to God in the Portuguese language.
Dei is an inflected form of deus, used 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). It is most often the genitive case ("of god"), but can also be a variant of the plural form, di. There is another plural sometimes used, dii, and a feminine form deae ("goddesses").
The word "Deus," through "Dei," is the root of deism, pandeism, panendeism, and polydeism, ironically 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.
St. Jerome translated the Hebrew word Elohim into Latin as Deus.
[edit] Trivia
- In Arthur C. Clarke's novel 3001: The Final Odyssey, the term Deus has replaced God in the 31st Century, the word God being associated with religious fanaticism. The prevailing religious view in Clarke's story is Deism.
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