polydaemonism

American  

[pol-ee-dee-muh-niz-uhm] / ˌpɒl iˈdi məˌnɪz əm /

Or polydemonism

noun

1. the belief in many evil spirits.

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Other Word Forms

• polydaemonist noun
• polydaemonistic adjective

Etymology

Origin of polydaemonism

First recorded in 1705–15; poly- + daemon + -ism

Example Sentences

The beings worshipped in the period of polydaemonism are beings who have not yet come to possess personal names, and consequently cannot well have a personal history attached to them.

From The Idea of God in Early Religions by Jevons, F. B. (Frank Byron)

It is then as polydaemonism passes into polytheism, as the beings of the one come to acquire personal names and personal history, and so to become the gods of the other, that mythology arises.

From The Idea of God in Early Religions by Jevons, F. B. (Frank Byron)

At the time when polydaemonism has, as yet, not become polytheism, the personal beings, worshipped in this or that external form, have not as yet been anthropomorphised.

From The Idea of God in Early Religions by Jevons, F. B. (Frank Byron)

And the difference between the two stages of polydaemonism and polytheism is not merely limited to the fact that the beings worshipped have proper names in the later stage, and had none in the earlier.

From The Idea of God in Early Religions by Jevons, F. B. (Frank Byron)