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devā

deva

masc nom pl of deva (noun); masc instr sg of deva (noun); masc abl sg of deva (noun); masc voc sg of deva (noun); …

1. deity; god
2. king; lord
3. rain god; rain cloud; lit. god; i.e. Indra, god of the heavens
4. sky; heavens; lit. god; i.e. Indra, god of the heavens

Built from

• dev- — root · shine, radiance
  The root √div 'to shine' underlies deva; the concrete image of brightness in the sky became the seat of the gods. Cognates: English divine, Latin deus, Greek Zeus (all from the same Indo-European root).
• -a — ending · nominative/accusative masculine singular
  The thematic vowel -a marks this as a masculine noun of the first (a-)declension; in the plural nominative (devā), the ending lengthens to -ā.

Etymology. From √div 'to shine' (Sanskrit div-, cognate with English divine, Latin deus 'god', Greek Zeus). The root's concrete sense 'brightness, shining' (the sky's radiance) became the sense 'divine being' in Indo-European religion. Related to Vedic deva and English day, German Tag (all from the root meaning 'to shine').

Meanings from the Digital Pāḷi Dictionary; morphology and etymology by Claude.

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