inspiration

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /ˌɪn.spərˈeɪ.ʃən/, /ˌɪn.spɪˈreɪ.ʃən/, US /ˌɪn.spəˈreɪ.ʃən/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English inspiracioun, borrowed from Old French inspiracion (“inhaling, breathing in; inspiration”),^[2][3][4] from Late Latin īnspīrātiō, from īnspīrāre (“to blow into, breathe upon; to inspire”),^[2][4] from in- (“in”) and spīrāre (“to breathe”).^[2] It is related to inspire and spirit.^[2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The immediate influence of God or a god, especially that under which the holy books were written: 1303 in the OED, about 1300 in Etymonline.^[5][2]

Semantic evolution

The sense seems to have gone from “breathe into” to “fill with life or influence”, and so to rouse or guide, especially by divine influence, recalling Genesis, where God breathed into man the breath of life.^[2] The literal action of breathing in is from 1564, the 1560s in Etymonline.^[5][2] The breathing of an idea or purpose into the mind in general is from 1651,^[5] and a person who inspires others is attested by 1867.^[2] A sudden good idea is a later sense.^[6][7]

Timeline

• 1303 – divine influence.^[5]
• 1564 – breathing in.^[5]
• 1651 – an idea put into the mind.^[5]
• 1867 – one who inspires.^[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. Something that fills a person with the wish or ability to do something creative.
2. A person or thing that inspires others.
3. A sudden good idea.
4. Divine guidance or influence on a person's mind.
5. The act of breathing in; inhalation.

Word family

• inspirational
• inspirationally
• reinspiration

Related words

• inspire
• spirit
• respiration
• aspiration
• expire

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
7. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins