† paredrusn.

Etymology: < post-classical Latin paredrus familiar spirit (4th cent.), also as adjective, sitting beside, of a familiar spirit (early 3rd cent. in Tertullian) < ancient Greek πάρεδρος sitting beside, a person who sits beside, an assessor, in Hellenistic Greek also familiar spirit (late 2nd or early 3rd cent. a.d., also frequently in papyri) < παρα- para- prefix¹ + ἕδρα seat, base (see -hedron comb. form). Compare Middle French, French parèdre (1586 in an isolated attestation in Middle French in sense ‘familiar spirit assisting a demon’; subsequently from 1765 in various other senses).In form in quot. a1641 after the Latin accusative plural. Attested earlier as an unassimilated Latin loan:1603 P. Holland in tr. Plutarch Morals Explan. Words Assistants he had twaine, named Paredri, who sat in commission with him.