Lemma 1deus

nounmasculine

a god, a deity

Morphology2 analyses

genitive pluralirregular

accusative singularde + um · regular

Lewis & Short

key · deusFull entry

dĕus, i, m. [root in Sanscr.: dī, div- (dyu-), to gleam: dyāus (Gr. ), heaven: dévas, God; cf. Gr.; but not, Curt. Gr. etym. 503 sqq.]

I.voc. sing. deus; Prob. The nom. plur. is di and dei; dii is freq. in MSS., but prob. indicates only the length of the ī. Di alone is found in Verg. and Hor.; di and dei indifferently in post-Aug. poets. — Gen.: deōrum and deum. — Poet. also, divum or divom, Enn. ap. — Dat.: dis or diis, usually monosyl.; and, deis, mostly postAug. — As monosyllable, deus: deorum, dissyl. a god, a deity (for syn. cf.: divus, numen).

II.Prop.: qualem te patriae custodem di genuerunt, etc., Enn. ap. (Ann. v. 116 sq. ed Vahl.): ab Jove ceterisque dis deabusque immortalibus. deorum immortalium numen, Cic. Rab. perd. 2, 5 et innum. al.

B.Special combinations.

1.Forms of ejaculation.

2.Forms of wishing (well or ill), greeting, asseveration, etc.; di averruncent, Att. ap. A, 1; Liv; 39, 10 et saep.

C.Esp.

1.In poets sometimes a goddess; Gr.; (but in all these passages, some regard deus as absol., =, the divinity, Heyne ad ).

2.Of Bacchus.

D.In eccl. Lat., esp. the God of the Hebrews and Christians, God: et passim. Also of the Son of God, God the Son, Christ.

III.Transf., of highly distinguished or fortunate persons; esp. of great patrons or protectors, a guardian god. — Hence freq. in inscriptions and on coins of the period of the empire, as an epithet of the emperors.