A div (earlier Persian dēv, Middle Persian dēw, Avestan daēva) is an evil spirit in Persian mythology that loves to cause harm and destruction. However, some divs may be benign, actually helping the protagonist. Usually, such a myth contains both benign and evil divs, the former helping the protagonist overcome the latter. Pahlavi is a term that refers: (1) to a script used in Iran derived from the Aramaic script, and (2) more broadly, to Middle Persian, the Middle Iranian language written in this script. ... Avestan is an Eastern Old Iranian language that was used to compose the sacred hymns and canon of the Zoroastrian Avesta. ... The beliefs and practices of the culturally and linguistically related group of ancient peoples who inhabited the Iranian Plateau and its borderlands, as well as areas of Central Asia from the Black Sea to Khotan (modern Ho-tien, China), form Persian mythology. ...

Etymology

Daēva is the Avestan form of the reconstructed Proto-Iranian word *daivah, an exact cognate of Proto-Indo-Aryan *daivas, Sanskrit devaḥ, meaning "god" or "deity".

Both *daivah and *daivas descend, via expected sound-changes, from Proto-Indo-European *deywos, an adjective meaning "celestial" or "shining", whose other descendants include Latin deus and Latvian dievs "god", and via the Proto-Germanic Teiwaz and Tîwaz, the Old Norse deity Tyr. Latin is an ancient Indo-European language originally spoken in Latium, the region immediately surrounding Rome. ... Map of the Pre-Roman Iron Age culture(s) associated with Proto-Germanic, ca 500 BC-50 BC. The area south of Scandinavia is the Jastorf culture Proto-Germanic, the proto-language believed by scholars to be the common ancestor of the Germanic languages, includes among its descendants Dutch, Yiddish... This article is about Tyr, the god. ... Old Norse or Danish tongue is the Germanic language once spoken by the inhabitants of the Nordic countries (for instance during the Viking Age). ... Týr, depicted here with both hands intact, is identified with Mars in this illustration from an 18th century Icelandic manuscript. ...

Cognate to the Sanskrit asura is the Avestan and later Persian ahura, which by the time of Zarathustra (Zoroaster) was the term for the "right" kind of divinity that opposed the daeva, the "wrong" kind of divinity. As such, by c. 1000 BCE, the Avestan terms were the moral opposites of their Sanskrit equivalents. Avestan is an Eastern Old Iranian language that was used to compose the sacred hymns and canon of the Zoroastrian Avesta. ... Ahura is the Avestan language designation for a class of divinity, adopted by Zarathustra (Zoroaster) from prehistoric proto-Indo-Iranian religion. ... Zoroaster; portrayed here in a popular Parsi Zoroastrian depiction. ... In Vedic Sanskrit, Rta literally means the course of things. ...

The process by which a general term for any divinity acquired the sense of "evil spirit" has occasioned much speculation; however, the semantic shift is prehistoric, and the only certainty is that words descended from *daivah have evil connotations in all Iranian languages.

Description

A div is usually pictured as a being with combined human and animal characteristics; they have two arms and legs like a human, but they may be dark blue, bright red, chalk-white or spotted; they are often hairy, and have a tufted tail like a lion; their faces are bestial, with sharp fangs, horns, and animal-like snouts, or in some cases the beak of a bird; for feet they might have clawed talons or hooves (though ordinary feet are more common); and though they are fond of gold ornaments, they wear very little in the way of clothing, and often display enormous genitalia. A sex organ, or primary sexual characteristic, narrowly defined, is any of those parts of the body (which are not always bodily organs according to the strict definition) which are involved in sexual reproduction and constitute the reproductive system in an complex organism; namely: Male: penis (notably the glans penis...

Word meaning

Div literally means "demon," seen in Dīv-e Sapīd ("White demon") from the story of Rostam and the White demon. Rostam Slaying the Dragon- A miniature Painting by Master Mahmoud Farshchian. ...

Divs are mentioned frequently in Persian epic Shahnameh, where the story of Rostam and the white demon comes from, they inhabit the province of Mazandaran in northern Iran. Shahnameh Scenes from the Shahnameh carved into reliefs at Tus, where Ferdowsi is buried. ... Mazandaran (Persian: مازندران) is a province in northern Iran, bordering the Caspian (Mazandaran) Sea in the north. ...

In popular culture

• In Final Fantasy X-2, Daeva is a demon-like enemy.
• The game Aveyond features a demon with powerful servants he refers to as Daevas.
• In Supernatural (TV series) Sam and Dean encounter a Daeva when Meg summons one to kill them both.
• In the Prince of Persia series, it is belived that Kaileena is Daeva because of her abilities to read the timeline of fate, turn people into monsters, etc.
• In The Redemption of Althalus (by David and Leigh Eddings), Daeva is an evil God, brother to Deiwos and Dweia.

Final Fantasy X-2 ) is a role-playing video game developed and published by Square Enix. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Supernatural is an American paranormal drama television series that debuted on September 13, 2005 on the WB, and is now part of The CWs lineup, where the second season premiered on September 28, 2006. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... The Redemption of Althalus is a stand-alone fantasy novel by David and Leigh Eddings. ... David Eddings (born July 7, 1931) is an American author who has written several best-selling series of epic fantasy novels. ...

See also

• Aesma Daeva
• Akvan