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How Words Describing Demons and Angels Evolved

Question:

Why does "demon" mean "evil spirit" when its predecessor, "daimon" in Greek, meant "guardian spirit"?

Answer:

“Daimon” originally meant simply spirit and so could mean any kind of spirit, good or evil. In the Greek-speaking Jewish world, this use changed. In the language of the Greek translation of the Old Testament and in the Greek of the New Testament, the word is used exclusively for evil spirits or the fallen angels.

As it is, the word angel, which means a spirit sent by God on a mission, is also used of the demons, even though as fallen angels they are not sent as messengers of God, as they would have been had they not fallen. Rather, God uses them against their will as instruments of his providence.

So in these matters of vocabulary, especially when we are using bodily language to talk about bodiless beings, there can be a great deal of flexibility.

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