daeva (English)

Where does "daeva" come from?

The English noun 'daeva', meaning a supernatural entity of disagreeable nature or a demon, enters the language as a transliteration of the Avestan 'daēuua'[1]. Tracing its deeper ancestry, this term descends through Proto-Iranian '*daywáh' and Proto-Indo-Iranian '*daywás' back to the Proto-Indo-European root '*deywós'[2]. Along the way, the word underwent a notable semantic shift, moving from the original Indo-Iranian meaning of 'god' to the Old Iranian meaning of 'demon'[2].

Open questions

• The intermediate historical stages leading back to the Proto-Indo-European root are reconstructed forms. [2]

Full etymology tree

• daeva (English), 'A supernatural entity of disagreeable nature, usually considered as a demon.'
  • borrowed 𐬛𐬀𐬉𐬎𐬎𐬀 (daēuua) (Avestan), 'demon'
    • derived *daywáh (Proto-Iranian), 'demon; malevolent being'
      • derived *daywás (Proto-Indo-Iranian), 'god'
        • derived *deywós (Proto-Indo-European), 'god'

Ancestors

• *dyew- (Proto-Indo-European)

Cognates and doublets

• deva (English)

Sources

1. daeva (English) - Wiktionary
2. 𐬛𐬀𐬉𐬎𐬎𐬀 (daēuua) (Avestan) - Wiktionary

Updated August 2026

More words starting with D

Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris