Enthousiaste etymologieën: de oorsprong van θεός, deus en god
- Isabelle De Meyer
Abstract
The point of departure of the article is the etymology of three nouns for ‘god’: Greek θεός, Latin deus and Dutch (or English) god. In order to find an answer it is necessary to turn to a broader framework: comparative linguistics. In the first section it is explained how the reconstruction of Proto-Indo-European (PIE), the proto-language of Greek, Latin, Dutch and others, is necessary for the establishment of the etymology of these specific words. It is stated that the terms for ‘god’ find their origin in three PIE conceptualizations: 1) gods exert human forces; 2) gods are characterized by their opposites towards humans; 3) gods are an integral part of ritual practices. In the following three parts these notions are explored and it is shown that the Latin term arose from the second concept, whereas the Greek and Dutch one from the third one. The final section focuses on the (semantic) evolutions of the words for ‘god’.
How to Cite:
De Meyer, I., (2021) “Enthousiaste etymologieën: de oorsprong van θεός, deus en god”, Tetradio 30(1): 3, 57–81. doi: https://doi.org/10.21825/tetradio.91894
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