Date: Mon, 26 Jun 2000 18:03:34 GMT From: Salvo Bartolotta <bartequi@inwind.it> To: gsutter@zer0.org, jkh@zippy.osd.bsdi.com, err@intergrafix.net Cc: freebsd-doc@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: the word demon II (the revenge :-) Message-ID: <20000626.18033400@bartequi.ottodomain.org>
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Dear Gregory Sutter,
thank you for writing.
I had read something in Grog's guide (The complete FreeBSD) before;
but I was glad to visit the page you kindly provided.
Also, you made me recall another etymological, albeit secondary,
point: "daimon", in (ancient) Greek, is not a semantically "marked"
term; rather, it is employed as a vox media. AFAIR, the "dark" shades
of meaning appear in the New Testament.
A vox media is a word having no (positive||negative) connotations
*per se*: the (classical) Greek term "pharmakon" (medicine, or
poison, depending on the context) and the Latin "fortuna" (chance,
luck; the English term "fortune" comes from there) are such words.
As regards "fortuna", the positive sense is more used today in
contemporary English (cf the Italian "fortuna"; the French "fortune"
is slightly closer to a vox media; cf the German "Fortuna",
"Fortune").
As far as the Greek term "daimon" is concerned, the root "daiomai"
{~ "I give, assign [as someone's good||bad luck/destiny)]}", with
which it is closely interconnected, is a vox media itself;
specifically, it is related to the concept of chance, luck.
As a result, "daimon" originally indicated a "god" (ie "being who has
the power to give ..."); subsequently (after Homer), its significance
became "being intermediate between gods and men", etc. Finally, in the
New Testament, the word developed the typical unhappy/evil
connotations, which are (more or less) found in modern European
languages -- including Italian.
On a related note, the Greek word "eudaimonia" ("eu" ~ "good/well"
and "daimon"; cf "eudaemonic", "eudaemonism") springs to mind.
It has an ample semantic spectrum, hinging on "good luck", and
expressing, inter alia, the idea of "welfare, happiness".
Incidentally, in German, "Daemon" (actually written with umlaut) is
virtually equivalent to "daemon" ("being intermediate between gods and
men"; "inner inspiring force"); in French, "d=E9mon" is mostly used in a=
religiously/morally (also figuratively) marked sense (~ devil); in
Italian, "demone" covers the areas of the German "daemon", as well as
those of the English terms "devil" and "daemon" (~ background
process in C.S.).
Not to mention other Italian correlated/associated words, "demonio" (~
devil; negative also in figurative senses) and "diavolo" (~ devil; not
surprisingly, both "diavolo and "devil" derive from Greek "dia+ballo";
cf syn+ballo --> symbol).
Best regards,
Salvo
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