Demogorgon
English
editEtymology
editA pseudo-Greek mythological figure most likely actually invented by a Christian scholar ca 350–400 C.E.. The origins of the name are uncertain, partly because the figure itself was possibly of imaginary coinage. Various theories suggest that the name is derived from the Greek words daemon (“spirit”, given the Christian connotations of “demon” in the early Middle Ages)—or, less likely demos (“people”)—and Gorgon or γοργός (gorgós, “grim”). A less accepted theory claims that it is derived from a variation of “demiurge”.
Proper noun
editDemogorgon
- A pagan god or demon, associated with the underworld and envisaged as a powerful primordial being, whose very name was taboo; an incubus.
- 1667, John Milton, “Book II”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 963–965:
- A manufactured horror; a Frankenstein's monster.