The design of this dissertation is to show how far truth and accuracy of thinking are concerned in a clear understanding of words. I am sensible that in the eye of prejudice and ignorance, grammatical researches are the business of school boys; and hence we may deduce the reason why philosophers have generally been so inattentiv to this subject. But if it can be proved that the mere use of words has led nations into error, and still continues the delusion, we cannot hesitate a moment to conclude, that grammatical enquiries are worthy of the labor of men.
The Greek name of the Supreme Being, Theos, is derived from Theo, to run, or move one's self. Hence we discover the ideas which the Greeks originally entertained of God, viz. that he was the great principle of motion. The same word, it is said, was primarily appropriated to the stars, as moving bodies; and it is probable that, in the early ages of Greece, the heavenly bodies might be esteemed Deities, and denominated Theoi, moving bodies or principles. The Latin word Deus was used to denote those inferior beings which we call spirits or angels, or perhaps one God among several. To giv the true idea of Deus in French and English, the word should be rendered le Dieu, the God. This at least may be said of the word, in its true original sense; however it may have been used in the later ages of Rome.
The English word God, is merely the old Saxon adjectiv god, now spelt and pronounced good.
The German Gott is from the same root. The words God and good therefore are synonimous. The derivation of the word leads us to the notions which our ancestors entertained of the Supreme Being; supposing him to be the principle or author of good, they called him, by way of eminence, Good, or the Good. By long use and the progress of knowlege, the word is become the name of the great Creator, and we have added to it ideas of other attributes, as justice, power, immutability, &c. Had our heathen ancestors entertained different ideas of the Deity; had they, for instance, supposed justice to have been his leading attribute, if I may use the term, they would have called him the just; and this appellation, by being uniformly appropriated to a certain invisible being, or supposed cause of certain events, would in time have lost the article the, and just would have become the name of the Deity. Such is the influence of opinion in the formation of language.
Let us now compare the names of the Deity in the three languages; the Greek, Theos, denoting a moving being, or the principle of action, evinces to us that the Greeks gave the name to the cause of events, without having very clear ideas of the nature or attributes of that cause. They supposed the great operations of nature to have each its cause; and hence the plurality of causes, theoi, or moving principles.
The Romans borrowed the same word, Deus, and used it to denote the celestial agents or gods which they supposed to exist, and to superintend the affairs of the universe.
Our northern ancestors had an idea that all favorable events must have an efficient cause; and to this cause they gave the name of God or good. Hence we observe that the English and German words God and Got do not convey precisely the same idea, as the Theos and Deus of the Greeks and Romans. The former cannot be used in the plural number; as they are the names of a single indivisible being; the latter were used as names common to a number of beings.
The word Demon, in Greek, was used to signify subordinate deities, both good and evil. The Jews, who had more perfect ideas of the Supreme Being, supposed there could be but one good Deity, and consequently that all the demons of the Greeks must be evil beings or devils. In this sense alone they used the word, and this restricted sense has been communicated thro Christian countries in modern ages. The opinion of the Jews, therefore, has had a material effect upon language, and would lead us into an error respecting the Greek mythology; unless we should trace the word demon to its primitiv signification.
The word devil, in English, is merely a corruption of the evil, occasioned by a rapid pronunciation. This will not appear improbable to those who know, that in some of the Saxon dialects, the character which we write th is almost invariably written and pronounced d. Hence we learn, the notion which our ancestors entertained of the cause of evil, or of unfortunate events. They probably ascribed such events to a malignant principle, or being, which they called, by way of eminence, the evil; and these words, corrupted by common use, have given name to the being or principle.
I would only observe here that the etymology of these two words, God and devil, proves that the Manichean doctrine of a good and evil principle prevailed among our northern ancestors. It has prevailed over most of the eastern countries in all ages, and Christianity admits the doctrine, with this improvement only, that it supposes the evil principle to be subordinate to the good. The supreme cause of events, Christians believe to be good or God, for the words are radically the same; the cause of evil they believe to be subordinate; yet, strange as it may seem, they suppose the subordinate evil principle to be the most prevalent.