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There are words that describe elevating a person into the divine: apotheosis, divinization, and deification as nouns, and deify as a verb. In some religions, it is possible for a human to undergo apotheosis (like Heracles in ancient Greek mythology); in Catholicism, the terms deification and divinization (but not apotheosis) denote believers acquiring salvation through becoming one with God.

Is there a single word that denotes the reverse, namely a noun for making a god into a demi-god, saint, or otherwise non-god entity? For example, pre-exile Israel had widespread polytheism, and books in the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament refer to the worship of multiple gods. 2 Kings 23:14 refers to removing items of worship for Asherah, a goddess who may have at one time been considered a wife to Yahweh (Wikipedia). In that case, human (non)believers choose to remove recognition of divine status. Alternatively, there are fictional mythologies where gods are cast down within the mythology, as may have happened with Aroden in the Golarion (Pathfinder) mythos. My target word would ideally refer to either situation:

Asherah underwent _____________ by the time of the Babylonian captivity. She was no longer recognized as a goddess within Judaism.

Many clerics speculate about the cause of Aroden's _____________ and eventual death.

I can think of one option. The OED attests undeify, but undeification is unattested in dictionaries I consulted and very rare (about 100 results on Google), so I'd prefer something more common if possible.

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    Reification is a wonderful term that applies here; reify means to re-make, differently. So when shine is made transitive, it's reified and becomes regular: He shined his shoes instead of *He shone his shoes. It's a general term and doesn't just apply to gods. Another term, which gods would not approve of, is repurposing; when Terry Pratchett invented the goddess Anoia, currently in charge of things getting stuck in drawers, he noted that she is always pictured smoking a cigarette because she used to be a volcano goddess, but she's been repurposed.
    – John Lawler
    Commented Mar 8, 2021 at 15:59
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    Saints can be demoted...could that also apply to gods?
    – Cascabel_StandWithUkraine_
    Commented Mar 8, 2021 at 16:04
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    @FeliniusRex ...a "restoration"? "Between the 10th century BC and the beginning of their exile in 586 BC, polytheism was normal throughout Israel;[25] it was only after the exile that worship of Yahweh alone became established, and possibly only as late as the time of the Maccabees (2nd century BC) that monotheism became universal among the Jews" But please don't drag me into a religious argument.
    – Cascabel_StandWithUkraine_
    Commented Mar 8, 2021 at 17:28
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    Reification and demotion are interesting terms here, even if they're more general than what I mean. If there isn't a god-specific term, I'd consider accepting one of those as an answer.
    – TaliesinMerlin
    Commented Mar 8, 2021 at 17:39
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    @Cascabel I am talking about the OT text. Polytheism was frequently, earnestly, and repeatedly condemned from Genesis onward. The Ten Commandments were issued before the entrance into Israel, and they specifically required monotheism. Also, the texts in question never sanctioned any adding-to, so there can be no taking away, because the "adding to" was always condemned as illegitimate. Elevation/demotion of gods require official approval, no? Lastly, if I somehow forced you to reply, I am more powerful than you can even imagine. :)
    – FeliniusRex - gone
    Commented Mar 8, 2021 at 18:55

4 Answers 4

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demotion

is a term which has seen use when describing vertical changes in corporate structure since at least the 1880s. It has also seen usage when discussing goddesses (such as Asherah) and their loss of goddess-hood.

The biblical passages that best illustrate the "demotion" of the goddess Asherah to solely an object can be seen in these passages in the book of Kings in which Asherah is referred to in the singular, together with parallel accounts in Chronicles...

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Congress Volume Cambridge (1995)

Eventually She was seen as a "pole" to be destroyed.

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From the book Mother Goddess and other Goddesses...

...it may be inaccurate for us to credit invading Israelites alone with the demotion and destruction of goddess religion in Canaan.

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More recently...

Many people were disappointed when some historically popular saints were "demoted" some 50 years ago. Saint Christopher, Valentine, and even Nicholas were demoted. It was suggested that at least one of them had never even existed.

Once a Saint, always a Saint--kind of, unless you are demoted.

from this clip at ABCNews

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    OK...now I am going to try to convert John Lawler's comment into an alternative answer. This is a very good question, and needs more attention.
    – Cascabel_StandWithUkraine_
    Commented Mar 9, 2021 at 20:40
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How about "relegate"?

to put someone or something into a lower or less important rank or position:

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/relegate

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  • relegate is a very good suggestion, but you need to flesh this out a bit.
    – Cascabel_StandWithUkraine_
    Commented Mar 12, 2021 at 22:22
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In a comment, John Lawler said...

Reification

...is a wonderful term that applies here; reify means to re-make, differently. So when shine is made transitive, it's reified and becomes regular: He shined his shoes instead of *He shone his shoes. It's a general term and doesn't just apply to gods.

Lexico defines reification as ...

(formal) (to) Make (something abstract) more concrete or real.

Another term, which gods would not approve of, is repurposing; when Terry Pratchett invented the goddess Anoia, currently in charge of things getting stuck in drawers, he noted that she is always pictured smoking a cigarette because she used to be a volcano goddess, but she's been...

repurposed.

Adapt for use in a different purpose.

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You can ‘renounce’ or ‘desanctify’ a former subject of worship.

Demotion is really about downgrading a service rank or a corporate position. It can be applied to a religious figure only as a metaphor.

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