Gods vs. Deities
what’s the difference?
Well, its been awhile since my first article. I was swamped this last month, and as someone who hasn’t gotten into the habit of writing regularly just yet, it was not factored into the (somewhat existent) time management. Hopefully, in the future, I’ll be more regular about it. New Year's Resolutions, people. Working on a bigger article right now about creation mythology, so this is a little something to pass the time!
Everyone knows the capital-G God, the one of Christian lore, which essentially half the world worships right now. However, the use of “God” here, and referring to the “gods” in other religions, can tend to create some confusion. The capital letter tends to imply greater importance (not the fault of anyone, just preconceived biases of how proper nouns work in English). So then, what should we call the powerful beings of the various myths around the world?
I do want to note, this is just my personal preference, and how I will refer to it in the future on this Substack (barring accidental slip-ups, of course). If anyone has other preferences, they are obviously entitled to them (go linguistic descriptivism!).
While I don’t always like using definitions, as the use of the word in context can differ from what the dictionary says, it works in this case. The dictionary definition of God has two major entries:
(in Christianity and other monotheistic religions) the creator and ruler of the universe and source of all moral authority; the supreme being.
in certain other religions) a superhuman being or spirit worshiped as having power over nature or human fortunes; a deity
Its got both definitions! The word “God” (note the capital) started off as a name for the Christian supreme being, and then was used with a lowercase in order to describe the similar beings in other religions. Its evolved past its original usage, but I still would like to differentiate between the two a little more clearly.
Then come in the word ”deity”. Here is the first definition:
a god or goddess (in a polytheistic religion).
Wait… its the same! A “deity” is essentially just another word for a (lowercase) “god”; a being with supernatural powers that people worship. You can also notice how in the second definition of “god” includes the word “deity”. Makes it a bit circular, no? The word “god” comes from the Old German “god” (quite straightforward with that one), while the deity comes from the Latin word “deus”… which translates to “god”. Again, just showing how the two words means the same.
So, a little short article talking about the difference between a deity and a god: nothing, except that the word “god” is also the name of a specific deity when capitalized. Therefore, to clear up confusion: “God” for the Christian one, and “deity” for any supreme/powerful being. Just as squares to rectangles.
As always, let me know if you have any questions or comments, or if you want me to explore a certain topic.