Shall I say “protector Gods” or “protective Gods” when talking about those small figures that protect the house?
Answer
Either phrase is immediately understandable to a lay audience, and a quick survey of Google Books reveals that both are used in academic works to refer to the best-known of such deities in the Western tradition, the Roman lares and penates.
If you are writing in an academic context you would do well to survey whatever literature in your discipline deals with the particular deities you will be writing about. If this shows that one or the other term (or some entirely different term) is the established “term of art”, you should use that one. But aside from established local use there is no reason to prefer one over the other.
Attribution
Source : Link , Question Author : Mireia , Answer Author : StoneyB on hiatus
