deus

Alternative forms

• Deus (letter case, God in Abrahamic faiths)
• dius (used in the phrase "me dius fidius")

Etymology

From Old Latin deivos, from Proto-Italic *deiwos, from Proto-Indo-European *deywós. An o-stem derivative from *dyew- (“sky, heaven”), from which also diēs and Iuppiter.

Despite its superficial similarity in form and meaning, not related to Ancient Greek θεός (theós) — the Latin cognate of the latter is Latin fānum.^[3]

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈde.us/, [ˈd̪eʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈde.us/, [ˈd̪ɛːus]

Noun

deus m (irregular, genitive deī, feminine dea); second declension

1. god, deity
   • c. 200 BCE – 190 BCE, Plautus, Captivi 138–140:

     HEGIO Ergasile, salvē. ERGASILUS Dī tē bene ament, Hēgiō.

     HE. How are you, Ergasilus? ER. May the gods be kind to you, Hegio.

   • 57 BCE, Cicero, De haruspicum responsis 42:

     Hic vērō, dē quō ego ipse tam multa nunc dīcō. Prō, dī immortālēs! Quid est? Quid valet?

     And as for him, the man that I myself have now spent so many words on. Good gods! What is he? What power does he exert?

   • 47 CE, Scribonius Largus, Compositiones medicamentorum 84.6–7, 17–19:

     Sī nōn vīderant medicī, meritō essent culpandī […] Et, ō bone deus, hī sunt ipsī, quī imputant suam culpam medicāmentīs quasi nihil proficientibus!

     If physicians didn't see this, they deserved to be blamed […] And, my god, these are the very people who blame their failure on medications, saying that they don't work!

   • ca. 19 BCE – ca. 31 CE, Velleius Paterculus, Historia Romana 2.126:

     Sacrāvit parentem suum Caesar nōn imperiō, sed religiōne. Nōn appellāvit eum, sed fēcit deum.

     Augustus deified his father [Julius] not by the exercise of power, but by creating an attitude of reverence. He did not just call him a god, but made him be one.

   • 405 CE, Jerome, Vulgate John.1.1:

     In prīncipiō erat Verbum, et Verbum erat apud Deum, et Deus erat Verbum.

     In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and God was the Word.

2. the ancient Roman “Dī Penātēs,” personal or family gods of hearth and home, embodied as small statues or icons
   • 29 BCE – 19 BCE, Virgil, Aeneid 1.5–6:

     multa quoque et bellō passūs, dum conderet urbem, īnferretque deōs Latiō.

     And [Aeneas] also suffered much in war, until he could found a city, and could carry his gods into Latium.
     (Within the context of ancient Roman religious beliefs, the safe transfer of Aeneas’s family gods from Troy to Italy was symbolically as meaningful as the arrival of the man himself. See: Di Penates.)

3. epithet of high distinction
   • 68 BCE – 44 BCE, Cicero, Epistulae ad Atticum 4.16:

     fēcī idem quod in Πολιτείᾳ deus ille noster Platō.

     I did the same thing as our good old everything, Plato, had done in his Republic.

   • 29 BCE – 19 BCE, Virgil, Aeneid 5.392–393:

     "Entelle, hērōum quondam fortissime frūstrā […] Ubi nunc nōbīs deus ille, magister nēquīquam memorātus, Eryx? […] "

     "Entellus, once bravest of heroes, though in vain […] Where now is that divine Eryx [the Sicilian king], whom you have vaunted to be your teacher?

References

Further reading

• “deus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “deus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• deus in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• deus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎, London: Macmillan and Co.
  • God made the world: deus mundum aedificavit, fabricatus est, effecit (not creavit)
    
  • God is the Creator of the world: deus est mundi procreator (not creator), aedificator, fabricator, opifex rerum
    
  • the sovereign power of the gods: numen (deorum) divinum
    
  • to be an earnest worshipper of the gods: deos sancte, pie venerari
    
  • to honour the gods with all due ceremonial (very devoutly): deum rite (summa religione) colere
    
  • (ambiguous) worship of the gods; divine service: cultus dei, deorum (N. D. 2. 3. 8)
    
  • to make a pilgrimage to the shrines of the gods: templa deorum adire
    
  • to be regarded as a god: numerum deorum obtinere (N. D. 3. 20)
    
  • to deify a person: aliquem in deorum numerum referre, reponere
    
  • to consider as a god: aliquem in deorum numero referre
    
  • to approach the gods: propius ad deos accedere (Mil. 22. 59)
    
  • we believe in the existence of a God: deum esse credimus
    
  • to deny the existence of the gods: deos esse negare
    
  • belief in God is part of every one's nature: omnibus innatum est et in animo quasi insculptum esse deum
    
  • an atheist: qui deum esse negat
    
  • to pray to God: precari aliquid a deo
    
  • to pray to God: precari deum, deos
    
  • to pray to God: supplicare deo (Sall. Iug. 63. 1)
    
  • to pray to God: adhibere deo preces
    
  • to call the gods to witness: testari deos (Sull. 31. 86)
    
  • to call gods and men to witness: contestari deos hominesque
    
  • and may God grant success: quod deus bene vertat!
    
  • and may heaven avert the omen! heaven preserve us from this: quod di immortales omen avertant! (Phil. 44. 11)
    
  • heaven forfend: di prohibeant, di meliora!
    
  • to appease the anger of the gods: deos placare (B. G. 6. 15)
    
  • (ambiguous) to give thanks to heaven: grates agere (dis immortalibus)
    
  • (ambiguous) the favour of heaven: dei propitii (opp. irati)
    
  • (ambiguous) worship of the gods; divine service: cultus dei, deorum (N. D. 2. 3. 8)
    
  • (ambiguous) belief in god: opinio dei
    
  • (ambiguous) to have innate ideas of the Godhead; to believe in the Deity by intuition: insitas (innatas) dei cognitiones habere (N. D. 1. 17. 44)
    
  • (ambiguous) Nature has implanted in all men the idea of a God: natura in omnium animis notionem dei impressit (N. D. 1. 16. 43)
    
  • (ambiguous) to thank, glorify the immortal gods: grates, laudes agere dis immortalibus
    
  • (ambiguous) with the help of the gods: dis bene iuvantibus (Fam. 7. 20. 2)
    
  • (ambiguous) to sacrifice: rem divinam facere (dis)
    

Alternative forms

• deuz

Etymology

From Latin duos, duas, the masculine and feminine accusative singulars of duō. The nominative form dui come from plural Vulgar Latin *duī, altered from duō under analogy with forms like duae.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /deu̯s/

Numeral

deus (nominative dui)

1. two

Alternative forms

• Deus
• deꝯ (abbreviation)
• dṡ (abbreviation)

Etymology

From Latin deus (“god”). See deus for more information.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈd̪ews̺/

Proper noun

deus

1. (Christianity) God
   • 13th century CE, Alfonso X of Castile, Cantigas de Santa Maria, Códice de los músicos, cantiga 3 (facsimile):

     Por ela nos perdõou / deus o pecado Dadam. / da maçãa que goſtou. per / que ſoffreu muit affan.

     Through her, God forgave us of Adam’s sin. Of the apple he tasted, because she felt very anguished.

Alternative forms

• deos (obsolete)

Etymology

From Old Galician-Portuguese deus (“God”), from Latin deus (“god, deity”), unusual in that it was derived from the nominative instead of the accusative (deum), from Old Latin deivos (“god, deity”), from Proto-Italic *deiwos (“god, deity”), from Proto-Indo-European *deywós (“god, deity”), from *dyew- (“sky, heaven”).

Pronunciation

• Homophone: Deus

Noun

deus m (plural deuses, feminine deusa or (poetic) deia, feminine plural deusas or (poetic) deias)

1. god; deity

   Synonym: divindade

Etymology

From Old French deus (compare French deux), from Latin duōs, masculine accusative of duo.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /døː/

Numeral

deus

1. two