Daimon
The Ancient Greek: δαίμων, pronounced daimon or daemon (meaning "god", "godlike", "power", "fate"),[1][2] originally referred to a lesser deity or guiding spirit such as the daimons of ancient Greek religion and mythology and of later Hellenistic religion and philosophy.[3] The word is derived from Proto-Indo-European daimon "provider, divider (of fortunes or destinies)," from the root *da- "to divide".[4] Daimons were possibly seen as the souls of men of the golden age acting as tutelary deities, according to entry δαίμων at Liddell & Scott.[5] See also daimonic: a religious, philosophical, literary and psychological concept.
This article is about the semi-divine beings of Classical Greek mythology. For the evil beings associated with the word today, see Demon. For other uses, see Demon (disambiguation) (includes daemon disambiguation) or Daimon (disambiguation).