Original Word: δεισιδαιμονία, ας, ἡ
Part of Speech: Noun, Feminine
Transliteration: deisidaimonia
Phonetic Spelling: (dice-ee-dahee-mon-ee'-ah)
Short Definition: religion in general, superstition
Definition: religion in general; in a bad sense: superstition.

Cognate: 1175 deisidaimonía (akin to 1174 /deisidaimonésteros, see there) – properly, dread of a pagan deity "inspiring" a "token show of respect" (religious gesture) – especially religious-superstition (Souter); a "respect of the divine" which is only driven by the dread of a deity.

STRONGS NT 1175: δεισιδαιμονία

δεισιδαιμονία, δεισιδαιμονίας, ἡ (δεισιδαίμων), fear of the gods;

1. in a good sense, reverence for the gods, piety, religion: Polybius 6, 56, 7; Josephus, Antiquities 10, 3, 2; καί θεοφιλής βίος, Diodorus 1, 70.

2. equivalent to ἡ δειλία πρός τό δαιμόνιον (Theophrastus, char. 16 (22) at the beginning (cf. Jebb, p. 263f)); superstition: (Polybius 12, 24, 5); Plutarch (Sol. 12, 4); Alex. 75, 1; de adulat. et am. 25, and in his Essay περί τῆς δεισιδαιμονίας; Antoninus 6, 30 θεοσεβής χωρίς δεισιδαιμονίας.

3. religion, in an objective sense; in which sense Josephus, Antiquities 19, 5, 3, says Claudius commanded the Jews μή τάς τῶν ἄλλων ἐθνῶν δεισιδαιμονίας ἐξουδενίζειν. Festus in the presence of Agrippa the Jewish king employs the word ambiguously and cautiously, in Acts 25:19, of the Jewish religion, viz. so as to leave his own judgment concerning its truth in suspense. Cf. Zezschwitz, Profangräcität u. Biblical Sprachgeist, p. 59; (K. F. Hermann, Lehrb. d. gottesdienstl. Alterthümer, § 8 note 6; Trench, § xlviii.; (cf. Kenrick, Biblical Essays, 1864, p. 108ff; Field, Otium Norv. iii., p. 80f)).

religion

From the same as deisidaimonesteros; religion -- superstition.

see GREEK deisidaimonesteros

δεισιδαιμονιας δεισιδαιμονίας deisidaimonias deisidaimoníasInterlinear Greek • Interlinear Hebrew • Strong's Numbers • Englishman's Greek Concordance • Englishman's Hebrew Concordance • Parallel Texts