Daevas

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Beings from ancient Persian mythology often regarded as spirits or deities represented in dualistic concepts of good and evil
2. Supernatural entities in Zoroastrianism, sometimes viewed as malevolent forces opposing the supreme god
3. Mythical figures associated with chaos or corruption in various ancient texts, embodying harmful traits contrary to divinity

Etymology: "Daevas" is simply the plural of "daeva," so the story belongs to the singular. "Daeva" is a transliteration of the Avestan word daēuua, the name of a class of beings in the sacred texts of Zoroastrianism. The Avestan word and the Sanskrit "deva," meaning a god, are doublets: two forms of one ancestral word that split as the languages separated. Across the two traditions the same root came to mean opposite things. In the Vedic world "deva" named the gods worshipped as bright and benevolent, while in the Zoroastrian scriptures the daēuua became the demons, the followers of the hostile spirit and the enemies of the wise lord Ahura Mazda. That reversal is the heart of the word. A single term for divine beings was split by religious reform, so that the same sound could name the divine in one tradition and the corrupting in the other. English took the Avestan form directly, which is why the spelling keeps the Iranian vowels rather than the Sanskrit ones, and it is used mainly for the demonic class in the Zoroastrian texts.