Asmodaíos

This name derives from the Avestan language “*aēšma-daēva” (Hebrew: ʾAšmədʾāy), composed of two elements: “aēšma” (wrath) plus “daēva” (a term for a particular sort of supernatural entity with disagreeable characteristics). In turn, the name means “the destroyer, the exterminator.” While the daēva Aēšma is thus Zoroastrianism’s demon of wrath and is also well attested as such, the compound aēšma-daēva is not attested in scripture. It is nonetheless likely that such a form did exist, and that the Book of Tobit’s “Asmodaios” (Ἀσμοδαῖος) and the Talmud’s “Ashmedai” reflect it. Asmodeus (is a king of demons mostly known from the deuterocanonical Book of Tobit, in which he is the primary antagonist.