deamhan

Irish

Etymology

From Old Irish demon, borrowed from Latin daemon, from Ancient Greek δαίμων (daímōn, “god, goddess, divine power”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [dʲəunʲ]

Noun

deamhan m (genitive singular deamhain, nominative plural deamhain)

1. demon

   Ó thigh (an) deamhain go tigh (an) diabhail.

   Out of the frying-pan into the fire.

   (literally, “From the demon's house to the devil's house.”)

Declension

Declension of deamhan

First declension

Bare forms: Case Singular Plural Nominative deamhan deamhain Vocative a dheamhain a dheamhana Genitive deamhain deamhan Dative deamhan deamhain

Forms with the definite article: Case Singular Plural Nominative an deamhan na deamhain Genitive an deamhain na ndeamhan Dative leis an deamhan don deamhan leis na deamhain

Derived terms

• deamhan coimhdeachta (“familiar spirit; evil genius”)
• deamhan fola (“vampire”)
• deamhandíbirt (“exorcism”)
• deamhanta (“demoniac(al); fiendish”, adjective)

 

Mutation

Irish mutation
Radical	Lenition	Eclipsis
deamhan	dheamhan	ndeamhan
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

External links

• Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977) “deamhan”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN
• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “demon”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language

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Scottish Gaelic

Noun

deamhan m (genitive singular deamhain, plural deamhanan)

1. demon, fiend