Masculine

Inherited from Old Spanish dios (cf. Ladino dio), from Latin deus (“god, deity”), from Old Latin deivos (“god, deity”), from Proto-Italic *deiwos (“god, deity”), from Proto-Indo-European *deywós (“god, deity”), from *dyew- (“sky, heaven”). The form is from the Ecclesiastical Latin nominative/vocative, not the usual derivation from accusative: felt as a proper name. It is also in names as Carlos—kingly name—, Marcos, from the gospel writer (much more given than Marco, used for Roman names), and in biblical names as Moisés, Isaías, Jesús. There are similar examples in Old French and Old Occitan where the word for God may appear in the nominative form regardless of its syntactic function, and in Middle French the forms Dieux and Dieu were used alongside each other.

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