From: "Wayne E. Seguin" <wayneeseguin@...>
Date: 2007-07-19T22:39:43+09:00
Subject: Re: [OT] Re: Religion (was: god 0.1.0 released)

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On Jul 18, 2007, at 22:57 , Chad Perrin wrote:
> <snip>
> No, not really.  "Daemon" is particular to the Greek meaning, as it
> specifically referenced that usage, whereas "demon" is associated with
> the Christian cultural usage.  The difference is similar to the
> difference between "camber" and "chamber", which have (even more)
> distinct meanings despite deriving from the same etymological  
> source and
> having strikingly similar spellings.  Just as "demon" is entrenched  
> as a
> Hell-denizen, a spirit of evil and torment in service to the devil,  
> and
> "daemon" is primarily a helper "entity" (in modern usage, composed of
> electrons rather than whatever spiritual stuff composed the daimons of
> old), so too are camber and chamber distinct terms with differing
> meanings that originated, as words, in the same etymological ancestry.
>
> There is a reason separate words, with separate spellings, derived  
> from
> the same ancestral origin, exist at the same time in the same  
> language.
> One is not simply the kewler spelling than the other.  The cultural
> ignorance of some people looking for an excuse to be offended by  
> the use
> of the term "daemon" in no way implies that it's meaning is  
> identical to
> that of "demon".
>
> It would take a pretty extreme linguistic descriptivist to try to  
> argue
> otherwise, armed with a complete disregard for much evidence to the
> contrary.

Excellent exposition Chad.

--
Wayne E. Seguin
Sr. Systems Architect & Systems Admin
wayneseguin@gmail.com


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