daimon

English

Etymology

From Latin dæmon ("spirit"), originally from Ancient Greek δαίμων (daimon, “a god, goddess, divine power, genius, guardian spirit”)

Noun

Wikipedia daimon (plural daimons)

1. A tutelary spirit that guides a person; a genius.
   • 1891, Walter James Hoffman, The Mide'wiwin or "Grand Medicine Society" of the Ojibwa

     The object which first appears is adopted as the personal mystery, guardian spirit, or tutelary daimon of the entranced, and is never mentioned by him without first making a sacrifice.

   • 1900, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Over the Teacups

     All at once, my daimon—that other Me over whom I button my waistcoat when I button it over my own person—put it into my head to look up the story of Madame Saqui.

   • 1960, Charles I. Glicksberg, Norman Mailer: The Angry Young Novelist in America, in Wisconsin Studies in Contemporary Literature, vol. 1, no. 1

     He will release his pent-up rage and fear no evil, for his genius is with him, and his daimon bids him violate all the taboos of the literary marketplace.

   • 1946, Bertrand Russell, History of Western Philosophy, I.27:

     Marcus Aurelius is persuaded that God gives every man a special daimon as his guide – a belief which reappears in the Christian guardian angel.

Translations

tutelary spirit that guides a person

• French: génie (fr)
• Japanese: 守護神 (ja) (しゅごしん, shugoshin), (Greek mythology) ダイモーン (ja) (daimōn)

• Portuguese: gênio (pt) m
• Spanish: genio (es) m, musa (es) f

Derived terms

• daimonic

References

• Oxford English Dictionary, second edition.

Anagrams

• domain
• domina

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Japanese

Romanization

daimon

1. See だいもん
2. See ダイモン