deamhan

Irish

Etymology

From Old Irish demon, borrowed from Latin daemon, from Ancient Greek δαίμων (daímōn, “god, goddess, divine power”).

Pronunciation

• (Munster) IPA^(key): /dʲəun̪ˠ/
• (Connacht) IPA^(key): /dʲəunˠ/, /dʲəun̪ˠ/
• (Ulster) IPA^(key): /dʲoːnˠ/, /dʲoːn̪ˠ/

Noun

deamhan m (genitive singular deamhain, nominative plural deamhain)

1. demon

   Ó thigh (an) deamhain go tigh (an) diabhail.

   Out of the frying-pan into the fire.

   (literally, “From the demon's house to the devil's house.”)

Declension

Declension of deamhan (first declension)

bare forms singular plural nominative deamhan deamhain vocative a dheamhain a dheamhana genitive deamhain deamhan dative deamhan deamhain forms with the definite article singular plural nominative an deamhan na deamhain genitive an deamhain na ndeamhan dative leis an deamhan don deamhan leis na deamhain

Derived terms

• deamhan coimhdeachta (“familiar spirit; evil genius”)
• deamhandíbirt (“exorcism”)
• deamhan fola (“vampire”)
• deamhanta (“demoniac(al); fiendish”, adjective)

Mutation

Mutated forms of deamhan

radical	lenition	eclipsis
deamhan	dheamhan	ndeamhan

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Modern Irish.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

Further reading

• Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977) “deamhan”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN
• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “demon”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language

Scottish Gaelic

Etymology

From Old Irish demon, borrowed from Latin daemon, from Ancient Greek δαίμων (daímōn, “god, goddess, divine power”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtʲãũ.an/

Noun

deamhan m (genitive singular deamhain, plural deamhanan)

1. demon, fiend

Mutation

Mutation of deamhan

radical	lenition
deamhan	dheamhan

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Scottish Gaelic.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.