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devo

deva

masc nom 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, be bright
  The root *div- meaning 'to shine' lies behind deva, giving deities their characteristic luminosity. Cognates include Latin dīvus 'divine', Sanskrit deva, and English divine (via Latin).
• -o — ending · nominative singular masculine
  The -o ending marks nominative singular masculine in Pali; here it reflects the nominative form of the a-stem noun deva.

Etymology. From *div- 'to shine, be bright': cognate with Latin dīvus 'divine', English divine, and Sanskrit deva. The root sense 'bright one' extended to celestial beings and then to kings and rulers. Related to dyaus 'sky' (Sanskrit, Latin deus from *deus < *dyeus).

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

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