demiurge

Meanings

1. The (usually benevolent) being that created the universe out of primal matter.
2. A (usually jealous or outright malevolent) being who is inferior to the supreme being, and sometimes seen as the creator of evil.
3. Something (such as an idea, individual or institution) conceived as an autonomous creative force or decisive power.
4. The title of a magistrate in a number of states of Ancient Greece, and in the city states (poleis) of the Achaean League.

1. The subordinate being that fashions the perceptible world in the light of eternal ideas.
2. A prideful, inferior being that creates the material world; frequently identified with the creator God of the Hebrew Bible.

Etymology

From Ancient Greek δημιουργός (dēmiourgós, “one who works for the people; a skilled workman, a handicraftsman”) (whence Latin dēmiūrgus, French démiurge), from δήμιος (dḗmios, “belonging to the people, public”) (from δῆμος (dêmos, “the people”), from Proto-Indo-European *deh₂mos (“people”), from *deh₂- (“to divide”) + Ancient Greek -ιος (-ios), from Proto-Indo-European *-yós (suffix creating an adjective from a noun)) + Ancient Greek -ουργός (-ourgós, “worker”) (from ἔργον (érgon, “labour; task; work”), from Proto-Indo-European *wérǵom (“work”)). No relation with English demi- (as in demigod).