Go ask LJ, demon edition

[stillsostrange]

Once again I call upon my beloved scholars and speakers of Greco-Latinate languages. I need at least two separate distinctions of what my characters call demons. One is what happens when spirits (or human ghosts, and I may need a separate word for that too) possess dead bodies, and the other is what happens when the living are possessed.

I'm tossing around the Keres as the root of the corpse-demons, but I may also stick with them being a sub-class of hungry spirits.

Any thoughts or suggestions?

Comments

[sovay]

One is what happens when spirits (or human ghosts, and I may need a separate word for that too) possess dead bodies, and the other is what happens when the living are possessed.

Latinately? I would use some variation on anima for the possession of the living, larva for possession of the dead, but that's completely off the top of my head.

[criada.livejournal.com]

Yeah, larva is creepy. I like anima, but I'd add to it (since a person already has an anima of their own). So, anima tenebrae or something that would actually have proper tenses and stuff.

[sovay]

I like anima, but I'd add to it (since a person already has an anima of their own).

I was thinking of anima in the old sense, of something that blows through you, but you are probably correct that it needs parsing.

So, anima tenebrae or something that would actually have proper tenses and stuff.

Spirit of the shadow? That totally has proper declension.

[criada.livejournal.com]

Ah, thank you. My Greek and Latin is limited to a vague, intuitive understanding of the root words, and my Latin Major roommate inevitably yells at me when I mess things up.

[criada.livejournal.com]

I don't know if I'd go with Keres, since that makes me think of crow-like battle spirits, hovering over a battlefield--very externally oriented, rather than actually entering someone. Although, Wikipedia lists, "tenebrae" (Darknesses) as an alternate term for them. That could be cool.
Also, if you want to go sideways from Greco-Latin, you could do something with the nefesh (http://www.aish.com/literacy/concepts/the_soul.asp), which is the Hebrew term for the more animalistic part of the soul that resides in the body.

[sovay]

I don't know if I'd go with Keres, since that makes me think of crow-like battle spirits, hovering over a battlefield--very externally oriented, rather than actually entering someone.

I definitely would not use κήρ / κῆρες for possessing spirits; they are the death-fates. (I always think of them like the Princesse in Jean Cocteau's Orphée, but I suppose they might be the Morrígan, too.) They may be a person's particular death, but not the kind that gets under their skin.

Also, if you want to go sideways from Greco-Latin, you could do something with the nefesh , which is the Hebrew term for the more animalistic part of the soul that resides in the body.

Or translate sideways: the root of dybbuk is דבק, to cling, to cleave. Call the possessing dead the κατέχοντες, those who hold fast, who occupy, who hang on. (Double-checking this theory with Liddell and Scott, I find the verb κατέχω is used for possession by a god; also for the fascination with which an actor or a poet holds their audience.)

[stillsostrange.livejournal.com]

I like katechontes. (I can muddle through Greek, but can't read Hebrew. I should probably get a grammar.) Larva is endearingly creepy, though--maybe I can find room for both.

[sovay]

I can muddle through Greek, but can't read Hebrew.

Sorry! דבק is daled-bet-qof. I do not read Hebrew, either; I know the alphabet, some prayers, a handful of non-ritual vocabulary and phrases, and as much grammar as corresponds to Akkadian, which is East rather than West Semitic and about two thousand years older. At least they both have triliteral roots.

Larva is endearingly creepy, though--maybe I can find room for both.

You did say Greco-Latinate. Mix and match. If you want, I can even get you Etruscan—a linguistic isolate, although there are loanwords. I believe the word for ghost or shade is hinthial. (That's not one of them.) Collectively the dead are mani, but that's cognate with the Latin Manes, the beloved and benevolent dead; unless there's a subspecies of helpful possessions, probably not the connotation you want.

[stillsostrange.livejournal.com]

Now I'm distracted by wondering what a demon's imago form might be.

Thanks!

[sovay]

Now I'm distracted by wondering what a demon's imago form might be.

Please tell me when you find out.

[criada.livejournal.com]

Hey, if you do want to throw the Etruscans into the mix, they've got some handsome demons. (http://www.mysteriousetruscans.com/tuchulcha.html)