Okay, so I was at a loose end and suffering from various post.... syndrome! So last night I went into EBSCOhost.. and search 'Classic Greek literature'. Second article in the list was "Daimon in Classical Greek Literature" by John E Lexine.
In his introduction, Lexine wrote :=
"Δαίμων is a word of literature rather than cult. It is a word that is more generalized and less personalized than θεός. A systematic examination of the various Greek authors would tend to show that no ONE meaning was fixed upon the word until Christian times. The Christian vocabulary used it to mean "an evil spirit," and in Modern Greek2 ό δαίμονας = ό δαίμων means simply "the Devil.'
Lexine's brief survey with a limited number of Homeric illustrations serves to suggest the three basic senses of δαίμων in Homer:
(1) reference to a specific god or goddess or an unnamed god or goddess;
(2) divine power, divinity, power that controls human circumstances;
(3) one's personal fate or lot, good or evil.
Lexine's conclusion:
It is characteristic of the modern conceptual mind to categorize and classify meanings. Undoubtedly, to the Greek mind, the word and the idea had a fluidity and range greater than possibly can be understood by the modern age, and certainly the Greeks did not stop to categorize, whenever they made use of the word, at least not consciously.
My conclusion:
a. Cor! the innuendo's of a language! We could hardly graze the tip in this lifetime!
b. I am humbled! There are such a well of knowledge out there! In retrospect, my lecturers were so kind in their grading of my past-rather-shallow papers!
c. Apparently, in the Old Testament and Hebrew literature, there are variations of Δαίμων, too! I can't wait - God-willing!
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