The development of English orthography was dominated by Christian texts. Capitalized, "God" was first used to refer to the Judeo-Christian concept and may now signify any monotheistic conception of God, including the translations of the Arabic Allāh, Indic Ishvara and the African Masai Engai. The use of capitalization, as for a proper noun, has persisted to disambiguate the concept of a singular God, specifically the Christian God, from pagan deities for which lower case god has continued to be applied, mirroring the use of Latin deus. Pronouns referring to God are also often capitalized and are traditionally in the masculine gender, i.e. "He", "His" etc.
Sometimes, surface forms can be misleading. For example, the Latin and Greek words for "god" look related: deus and θεος (theos). But Greek [θ] generally corresponds to Latin [f], and in fact these words go back to different Indo-European roots. The root that gives the Greek word (PIE *dhes) also gives Latin festum (feast). The Latin word for god, deus, the word for the Christian God used by the Roman Catholic Church. The Latin word is also continued in English divine, deity, and the original Germanic word remains visible in Tuesday (originally "Day of Tiwaz").
The English word "deity" is from about 1300, and is from Old French deite, from Late Latin deitatem (nom. deitas) "divine nature," coined by Augustine from Latin deus "god," from PIE deiwos. The Proto-Indo-European word deiwos is from the same root as Dyēus, the reconstructed chief god of the Proto-Indo-European pantheon. Djeus, deiwos (the later formed by e-insertion of zero-grade diw-) means originally shine, usually sky, heaven, hence sky god.
The English word "divine" is from about 1305 and is from Old French devin, from Latin divinus "of a god," from divus "a god," related to deus "god, deity" The Latin words deus and dīvus, are descended from Proto-Indo-European deiwos. The Proto-Indo-European word deiwos is from the same root as Dyēus, the reconstructed chief god of the Proto-Indo-European pantheon. Djeus, deiwos (the later formed by e-insertion of zero-grade diw-) means originally shine, usually sky, heaven, hence sky god.
Dyeus was addressed as Dyeu Phter, literally "Sky Father" or "shining father", as reflected in Latin Jupiter, Greek Zeu pater, Sanskrit Dyau Pita. In his aspect as a Father God, his consort was Pltvi Mhter, "Earth Mother". The sky father is a recurring theme in pagan and neopagan mythology. The Earth Mother is a motif that appears in many mythologies.
As the pantheons of the individual Indo-European mythologies evolved, attributes of Dyeus were sometimes redistributed to other, newer gods. In Greek and Roman mythology, Dyeus remained the chief god, while in Vedic and Germanic mythology, the etymological continuants of Dyeus became pale, rather featureless gods, and his original attributes, and his dominance over other gods, were transferred to gods whose names cannot be reconstructed for Proto-Indo-European times, such as Odin, Thor or Indra.
