Etymograph

English

deify

Deify comes from French déifier ‘to deify’, from Latin deus ‘god’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dyew- ‘sky, heaven’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dyew-1‘sky, heaven’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*deywós2‘god’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*deiwos2‘god, deity’reconstructed
  4. Old Latinc. 700–75 BCEdeivos2
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdeus3‘god’
  6. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdeificāre3
  7. Frenchc. 1600–presentdéifier3‘to deify’
  8. Englishearliest quotation 2025deify3

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Proto-Indo-European *deywós
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Latin deus
  3. 3 Wiktionary, English deify
  4. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 2025, Eva Corlett: “Those people who have sought to deify our wilderness…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dyew-Wiktionary, Proto-Indo-European *deywós‘sky, heaven’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*deywósWiktionary, Latin deus‘god’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*deiwosWiktionary, Latin deus‘god, deity’reconstructed
  4. Old Latinc. 700–75 BCEdeivosWiktionary, Latin deus
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdeusWiktionary, English deify‘god’
  6. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdeificāreWiktionary, English deify
  7. Frenchc. 1600–presentdéifierWiktionary, English deify‘to deify’
  8. Englishearliest quotation 2025deifyWiktionary, English deify. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 2025, Eva Corlett: “Those people who have sought to deify our wilderness…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *dyew- ‘sky, heaven’

die, journal, journey, diary, dial, meridian, dev, sojourn, jovial, diurnal, deism, 27 more

through Proto-Indo-European *deywós ‘god’

div, deva, 14 more

through Proto-Italic *deiwos ‘god, deity’

divinity, diva, divination, diviner, 10 more

through Old Latin deivos

divine, 8 more

through Latin deus ‘god’

joss, deity, deuce, deist, 8 more

Today it means

verb To make into a god.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “deify”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Proto-Indo-European *deywós, Latin deus. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *dyew- / deify

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