[‘ /Mythol./ (The name of) a powerful and terrible god or demon, associated with hell or the underworld.']
Pronunciation: Brit. /ˌdiːmə(ʊ)ˈɡɔːɡ(ə)n/, U.S. /ˌdimoʊˈɡɔrɡ(ə)n/, ˌdiməˈɡɔrɡ(ə)n
Forms: 15 *Daemogorgon*, 15 /Sc./ 16– *Demogorgon*. Also with lower-case initial.
Etymology: < post-classical Latin /Demogorgon/, scribal error (perhaps after ancient Greek /δῆμος/ people (see demos n.) and Γοργώ/ Gorgon n.) in scholia on Statius /Thebaid 4. 516 (4th cent. or later) for demiurgon, accusative of /demiurgos/ Demiurge n.
Post-classical Latin /Demogorgon/ is also mentioned by a scholiast on Lucan Pharsalia 6. 742, and in later texts, including the Repertorium of Conrad de Mure (1273) and the Genealogia Deorum of Boccaccio (14th cent.). The latter appears to be the source of the word in modern literature (Ariosto, Spenser, Milton, Shelley, etc.).
*1.* /Mythol./ (The name of) a powerful and terrible god or demon, associated with hell or the underworld.
1554 D. Lindsay /Dialog Experience & Courteour/ ii. sig. Giii, Demogorgon..Fore Grandschir, tyll the Goddis all.
1590 Spenser /Faerie Queene/ i. v. sig. E2v, O thou [Night] most auncient Grandmother of all..Which wast begot in Dæmogorgons hall.
1667 Milton /Paradise Lost/ ii. 965 And by them stood Orcus and Ades, and the dreaded name Of Demogorgon.
1681 Dryden /Spanish Fryar/ v. ii. 80 He’s the First-begotten of Beelzebub, with a Face as terrible as Demogorgon.
1777 J. Ogilvie /Rona/ iii. 78 Though plunged in tripple shades to man unknown, He shakes the base of Demogorgon’s throne.
1820 Shelley /Prometheus Unbound/ i. i. 29 All the powers of nameless worlds..And Demogorgon, a tremendous gloom.
1833 /Edinb. Rev./ July 339 Starting and trembling at the demogorgons and chimæras.
1850 T. Keightley /Fairy Mythol./ 452 According to Ariosto, Demogorgon has a splendid temple palace in the Himalaya mountains, whither every fifth year the Fates are all summoned to appear before him, and give an account of their actions.
1988 /Dragon Mag./ Jan. 76/2 The world of Karyx..has access to a veritable army of intangible spirits in a hierarchy ranging from lowly spirits to awesome elementals and demogorgons.
2007 /Weekly World News/ 12 Feb. 12/1 The spontaneous appearance of Demogorgon, Mephistopheles, Beelzebub and other fiends in bathrooms across America.
*2.* A person who or thing which is likened to Demogorgon, esp. in having absolute power or supremacy.
1683 J. Norris /Murnival of Knaves/ 16 Patron of all Dissenters, and The Demogorgon of Whigland.
1705 C. Purshall /Ess. Mechanism Macrocosm/ 85 The Saline, and Sulphurious Vapours, I take to be the True Demogorgon of the Philosophers, or Grandfather of all the Heathen Gods, i.e. Mettals.
1824 W. S. Landor /Imaginary Conversat./ II. ix. 156 Sir, how could you, a firebrand tost about by the rabble, a restless spirit, a demogorgon, find leisure for so much reading?
1835 /Parterre/ *2* 294/2 Dimly distinguishable, amidst this culinary chaos, the master cook, the demogorgon of the scene, commanded and countermanded.
1901 /Argosy/ Apr. 33 [They], young as they were, had survived all illusions and viewed the Demogorgon of weltschmerz face to face.
2008 A. E. Mullaney tr. T. Folengo /Baldo/ II. xxiii. 373 An abbot, a Demogorgon who loved broccoli, sardines, figs and split beans, came riding up on a mule.