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Deus = Latin name of God
'''''Deus''''' (pronounced 'deːus) is the [[Latin]] word for "[[god]]" or "[[deity]]". The Latin words ''deus'' and ''dīvus'', and Greek διϝος = "divine", are believed to descend from [[Proto-Indo-European]] *''deiwos'' = "divine", from the same [[root (linguistics)|root]] as [[Dyeus|Dyēus]], the reconstructed chief god of the [[Proto-Indo-European religion|Proto-Indo-European pantheon]], also a cognate of the Greek Ζευς ([[Zeus]]).
By the era of Classical Latin it was a general noun referring to any number of divine figures. The word continues to refer directly to God in the [[Portuguese language]]. But Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus, also known as St. Jerome translated the Hebrew word ''Elohim'' as used in the [[Bible]] (אֱלוֹהִים , אלהים) into Latin as ''Deus''.
'''''Dei''''' is an [[inflection|inflected form]] of ''deus'', used in such phrases as Roman Catholic organization ''[[Opus Dei]]'' (work of God), ''[[Agnus Dei]]'' ([[Lamb of God]]) and ''[[Dei Gratia]]'' ([[By the Grace of God]]). It is most often the [[genitive case]] ("of god"), but can also be a variant of the [[plural]] form, ''[[di]]''. There is another plural sometimes used, ''dii'', and a feminine form ''deae'' ("goddesses").
The word "''Deus''," through "''Dei''," is the root of [[deism]], [[pandeism]], [[panendeism]], and [[polydeism]], theories in which any divine figure is, ironically, ''absent'' from intervening in human affairs. This curiousity originates from use of "deism" in the 17th and 18th centuries as a contrast to "[[theism]]", then the prevailing word for the belief in an actively intervening God:
Followers of these theories, and occasionally of [[pantheism]], sometimes name God "Deus" or "the Deus" to make clear that the entity being discussed is not a theistic "God". Some uses of the word are negative. [[René Descartes]] used the phrase ''deus deceptor'' to discuss skeptic's argument that an evil God might deceives us. Another, ''[[deus otiosus]]'' ("idle god"), is a theological concept describing belief in a creator god who largely retires from the world and is no longer involved in its daily operation. Like the ''deus absconditus'' ("hidden god") of [[Thomas Aquinas]], it refers to a deity with an existence is not readily knowable to humans through either contemplation or examination of divine actions. ''Deus otiosus'' suggests a god grown weary from involvement in this world, replaced by younger, more active gods (as in Sumerian and Greek [[myth]]), while ''deus absonditus'' suggests a god who consciously left the world to hide elsewhere.
==See also==
{{top}}
*''[[Agnus Dei]]''
*''[[Deus ex machina]]''
*''[[Deus otiosus]]''/''[[Deus absconditus]]''
*''[[Munificentissimus Deus]]''
*''[[Nobiscum Deus]]''
*''[[Opus Dei]]''
*''[[Providentissimus Deus]]''
{{mid}}
*''[[Rector Potens, Verax Deus]]''
*''[[Regnator omnium deus]]''
*''[[Rerum Deus Tenax Vigor]]''
*''[[Rex Deus]]''
*''[[Sublimus Dei]]''
*''[[Te Deum]]''
{{bottom}}
[[Category:God]]
By the era of Classical Latin it was a general noun referring to any number of divine figures. The word continues to refer directly to God in the [[Portuguese language]]. But Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus, also known as St. Jerome translated the Hebrew word ''Elohim'' as used in the [[Bible]] (אֱלוֹהִים , אלהים) into Latin as ''Deus''.
'''''Dei''''' is an [[inflection|inflected form]] of ''deus'', used in such phrases as Roman Catholic organization ''[[Opus Dei]]'' (work of God), ''[[Agnus Dei]]'' ([[Lamb of God]]) and ''[[Dei Gratia]]'' ([[By the Grace of God]]). It is most often the [[genitive case]] ("of god"), but can also be a variant of the [[plural]] form, ''[[di]]''. There is another plural sometimes used, ''dii'', and a feminine form ''deae'' ("goddesses").
The word "''Deus''," through "''Dei''," is the root of [[deism]], [[pandeism]], [[panendeism]], and [[polydeism]], theories in which any divine figure is, ironically, ''absent'' from intervening in human affairs. This curiousity originates from use of "deism" in the 17th and 18th centuries as a contrast to "[[theism]]", then the prevailing word for the belief in an actively intervening God:
Followers of these theories, and occasionally of [[pantheism]], sometimes name God "Deus" or "the Deus" to make clear that the entity being discussed is not a theistic "God". Some uses of the word are negative. [[René Descartes]] used the phrase ''deus deceptor'' to discuss skeptic's argument that an evil God might deceives us. Another, ''[[deus otiosus]]'' ("idle god"), is a theological concept describing belief in a creator god who largely retires from the world and is no longer involved in its daily operation. Like the ''deus absconditus'' ("hidden god") of [[Thomas Aquinas]], it refers to a deity with an existence is not readily knowable to humans through either contemplation or examination of divine actions. ''Deus otiosus'' suggests a god grown weary from involvement in this world, replaced by younger, more active gods (as in Sumerian and Greek [[myth]]), while ''deus absonditus'' suggests a god who consciously left the world to hide elsewhere.
==See also==
{{top}}
*''[[Agnus Dei]]''
*''[[Deus ex machina]]''
*''[[Deus otiosus]]''/''[[Deus absconditus]]''
*''[[Munificentissimus Deus]]''
*''[[Nobiscum Deus]]''
*''[[Opus Dei]]''
*''[[Providentissimus Deus]]''
{{mid}}
*''[[Rector Potens, Verax Deus]]''
*''[[Regnator omnium deus]]''
*''[[Rerum Deus Tenax Vigor]]''
*''[[Rex Deus]]''
*''[[Sublimus Dei]]''
*''[[Te Deum]]''
{{bottom}}
[[Category:God]]