deity (English)
Where does "deity" come from?
The word 'deity' traces back to the Proto-Indo-European root *dyew-, conveying the sense of celestial brightness or the sky. This evolved into the Latin deus and was later transformed by Augustine of Hippo into the abstract noun deitas, which eventually traveled through Middle French as deité before entering English.
Full etymology tree
- deity (English), 'Synonym of divinity: the state, position, or fact of being a god.'
- inherited deité (Middle French), 'deity, god'
- inherited deitās (Latin), 'divinity, deity, the nature of a god'
- derived deus (Latin), 'god, deity'
- inherited deivos (Latin), 'god, deity'
- inherited *deiwos (Proto-Italic), 'god, deity'
- inherited *deywós (Proto-Indo-European), 'god'
- derived *dyew- (Proto-Indo-European), 'to be bright, to shine'
- suffix *-ós (Proto-Indo-European), 'Forms possessive adjectives from nouns.'
- inherited *deywós (Proto-Indo-European), 'god'
- inherited *deiwos (Proto-Italic), 'god, deity'
- inherited deivos (Latin), 'god, deity'
- suffix -tās (Latin), '-ty, -dom, -hood, -ness, -ship; Used to form feminine abstract nouns indicating a state of being.'
- derived deus (Latin), 'god, deity'
- inherited deitās (Latin), 'divinity, deity, the nature of a god'
- inherited deité (Middle French), 'deity, god'
Direct ancestors
Updated July 2026
Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris