Deva (??? in
Devanagari script,
English pronunciation&_160;/'de?v?/) is the
Sanskrit word for "god,
deity". It can be variously interpreted as a God,
angel, spirit,
celestial being, deity or any supernatural being of high excellence, and is thus comparable to the Hebrew
Elohim. They are opposed to the usually demonic
Asuras.
[1]Indo-Iranian *devá- descends from the Proto-Indo-European (PIE) word, *deiwos, originally an adjective meaning "celestial" or "shining", which is a PIE (not synchronic Sanskrit) vrddhi derivative from the root *diw meaning "to shine", especially as the daylit sky. The feminine form of PIE *deiwos is PIE *deiwih2, which descends into Indic languages as devi, in that context meaning "goddess".
Also deriving from PIE *deiwos, and thus cognates of deva, are Lithuanian Dievas (Latvian Dievs, Prussian Deiwas), Germanic Tiwaz (seen in English "Tuesday") and Latin deus "god" and divus "divine", from which the English words "divine", "deity", French "dieu", Spanish "dios" and Italian "dio" are derived.
Related but distinct is the PIE proper name *Dyeus which while from the same root, may originally have referred to the sky, and hence to "Father Sky", the chief God of the Indo-European pantheon, continued in Sanskrit Dyaus.
