dev- / Devil

[Aditya, the Cheerful Hindu Skeptic]

Gunthard Mueller <gm at ANTHOSIMPRINT.COM> has written as follows:

>"Devil" is not related to dev-. Devil is ultimately a derivative of Ancient Greek diábolos,
>an agent noun of diabállein (different ablaut) "to throw around, mislead, confuse".
>The original meaning is the "misleader, confuser". (diá "through/around", bállein "to
>throw", related to English/German ball/Ball).
>Diábolos is used as a synonym of Satan in the Greek Christian tradition, from where
>it reached Latin (as diabolus), with the same meaning. Legalese and proverbial advocatus
>diaboli "devil's advocate". The Latin form -- and concept... -- entered most European
>languages, e.g. Ital. diabolo, Engl. devil, German Teufel, etc.
I am not sure whether Greek or Latin derivation have any mention of Asur or
Ahur too and the two concepts may be unrelated.

I was thinking  about  the mid eastern tradition where Asur or Ahur was
worshiped.  In Arabian Nights and other folklore , "dev" is considered an
evil spirit as synonym for Jinn.

Have a peaceful and joyous day.
Aditya Mishra 
Primary email: a018967t at bc.seflin.org
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