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HOW DO YOU SAY ``daemon''?

Name: Anonymous 2013-03-17 1:04

dee-MOHN or DAY-mohn?

Name: Anonymous 2013-03-17 2:32

Two syllables, day-mon. This is the correct English pronunciation of the Latin word. The OS usage comes from Maxwell's daemon: http://www.takeourword.com/TOW146/page4.html

People who say "dee-mon" are probably 14-year-old Satanists in disguise.

If you want the etymology for it, "demon" is the modern spelling of what was essentially the same word. A lot of "ae" in Latin became "e" in English (prae- to pre-, encyclopaedia to encyclopedia). It was originally pronounced like "eye" and corresponds to αι in Greek. Phonological drift and Christianization caused the new spelling {demon) to imply something evil, so classicists in the 19th century resurrected the ancient Latin spelling with its original meaning: merely a spirit.

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