"Demonized", not "demon-possessed"

 "Demonized", not "demon-possessed"


The New Testament was not originally written in English. The oldest manuscripts available are for example written in Koine Greek.

The Greek word that can be translated as "TO-BE-DEMONIZED" appears in the Bible 13 times, exclusively in the New Testament.

It appears in Matthew 4:24, Matthew 8:16, Matthew 8:28, Matthew 8:33, Matthew 9:32, Matthew 12:22, Matthew 15:22, Mark 1:32, Mark 5:15, Mark 5:16, Mark 5:18, Luke 8:26, John 10:21.


What is the word "TO-BE-DEMONIZED" in Koine Greek?

In Koine Greek, the word that can be translated as "TO-BE-DEMONIZED" is "δαιμονίζομαι", which may be transliterated as "daimonizomai". 

The etymology (that is, the origin, or the root word) for this word (daimonizomai, strong 1139 in Greek, verb) comes from the middle voice of the Greek word for "demon" (daimón, strong 1142 in Greek, noun).
That word simply comes from the middle voice of the Greek word for "demon", and that word is a verb in Greek, so it would make sense to translate it as "TO-BE" (as it usually happens to someone and it is a verb) and then to use the middle voice of the word "demon", by rendering it to something akin to: "DEMON-IZED". That Greek word could thus be reasonably translated as "TO-BE-DEMONIZED".


The term "to be demonized" instead of "demon possessed" may be preferred:

The Greek word "δαιμονίζομαι" which may be transliterated as "daimonizomai" may sometimes be read in English as "demon-possessed". 

However the words in Greek for "possessed" or "owned" or "controlled" do not appear to be directly and clearly indicated or attached to this Greek verb.

This Greek verb simply comes from the middle voice of the Greek noun for "DEMON" (daimón, strong 1142 in Greek), and there are no other Greek words in the Bible which do that, therefore the English verb "to-be-DEMONized" may be a reasonable English translation of the Greek verb "δαιμονίζομαι".


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