Editing Demon (section)

== Etymology ==
{{Further|Daemon (classical mythology)|Agathodaemon|Cacodemon|Daimonic|Eudaimonia}}

[[File:Mephistopheles2.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Mephistopheles]] (a [[Middle Ages|medieval]] demon from [[German folklore]]) flying over [[Wittenberg]], in a [[lithograph]] by [[Eugène Delacroix]].]]

The [[Ancient Greek language|Ancient Greek]] word {{lang|grc|δαίμων}} (''{{Lang|grc-latn|[[daimōn]]}}'') denotes a spirit or divine power, much like the [[Latin]] ''{{Lang|la|[[Genius (mythology)|genius]]}}'' or ''{{Lang|la|[[numen]]}}''. {{Lang|grc-latn|Daimōn}} most likely came from the Greek verb ''{{Lang|el-latn|daiesthai}}'' ({{Gloss|to divide}} or {{Gloss|distribute}}).<ref name="merriam-webster">{{cite web |title=Demon |url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/demon |work=Merriam-Webster Dictionary |access-date=12 April 2012 |archive-date=7 May 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120507222928/http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/demon |url-status=live}}</ref> The Greek conception of a {{Lang|grc-latn|daimōn}} notably appears in the philosophical works of [[Plato]], where it describes the divine inspiration of [[Socrates]]. The original Greek word ''{{Lang|grc-latn|daimōn}}'' does not carry the negative connotation initially understood by implementation of the [[Koine Greek|Koine]] {{lang|grc|δαιμόνιον}} (''[[Daimonion (Socrates)|daimonion]]''),<ref name="Liddell & Scott" /> and later ascribed to any cognate words sharing the root.

The Greek terms do not have any connotations of evil or malevolence. By the early centuries of the [[Roman Empire]], [[Cult image|cult statues]] were seen, by [[Paganism|Pagans]] and their Christian neighbors alike, as inhabited by the numinous presence of the [[Hellenistic religion|Greco-Roman gods]]: "Like pagans, Christians still sensed and saw the gods and their power, and as something, they had to assume, lay behind it, by an easy traditional shift of opinion they turned these pagan ''daimones'' into malevolent 'demons', the troupe of [[Satan]]. Far into the [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine period]], Christians eyed their cities' old pagan statuary as a seat of the demons' presence. It was no longer beautiful, it was "infested."{{sfn|Lane Fox|1988|p=137}} The term had first acquired its negative connotations in the [[Septuagint]] translation of the [[Hebrew Bible]] into Greek, which drew on the mythology of [[ancient Semitic religions]]. This was then inherited by the Koine text of the [[New Testament]].

The English use of ''demon'' as synonym for devils goes back at least as far as about 825. The German word (''{{Lang|de|Dämon}}''), however, is different from devil (''{{Lang|de|Teufel}}'') and demons as evil spirits, and akin to the original meaning of ''{{Lang|grc-latn|daimōn}}''.{{sfn|Russell|1986|p=37}} The Western [[Modern era]] conception of demons, as in the ''[[Ars Goetia]]'', derives seamlessly from the ambient [[popular culture]] of [[Late Antiquity]].