Date: Sat, 13 Mar 1999 07:17:51 -0800 From: Greg Shenaut <greg@bogslab.ucdavis.edu> To: questions@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Daemon not Demon (the difference is significant) Message-ID: <199903131517.HAA08588@deal1.bogs.org> In-Reply-To: Your message of "Sat, 13 Mar 1999 08:14:15 EST." <Pine.BSF.3.96.990313081022.6080B-100000@homebase.wizard.net>
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In message <Pine.BSF.3.96.990313081022.6080B-100000@homebase.wizard.net>, "Donald R. Tyson" cleopede: >>From the FreeBSD web page: > "Many people equate the word ``daemon'' with the word ``demon,'' implying some kind of > Satanic connection between UNIX and the underworld. This is an egregious > misunderstanding. ``Daemon'' is actually a much older form of ``demon''; daemons have > no particular bias towards good or evil, but rather serve to help define a person's > character or personality. The ancient Greeks' concept of a ``personal daemon'' was > similar to the modern concept of a ``guardian angel'' --- ``eudaemonia'' is the state > of being helped or protected by a kindly spirit. As a rule, UNIX systems seem to be > infested with both daemons and demons." (p403) To this it should have been added that the Christian "demon" is historically the same word as the Greek "daemon"--there was no intention on the part of the monks to create a new word. They classified all of the various manifestations of polytheism as evil, and for them, daemons were in the same class as imps, idols, and other false gods. However, in an independent process, the spelling of the English word was eventually simplified to "demon". Modern writers then picked up on the historical spelling as a way of indicating the two historically different meanings of the word: the original Greek sense of an intermediate divinity between gods and men could be indicated by "daemon", while the modern Christian sense of evil spirit is spelled "demon". Of course, the information processing concept was named metaphorically with the original Greek meaning in mind, so it is completely appropriate to adopt the older, more Greek-like spelling. -Greg To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message
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