Etymologically
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soul

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /səʊl/, US /soʊl/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English soule, inherited from Old English sāwol (“spiritual and emotional part of a person; life, living being”),[2][3] from Proto-Germanic *saiwalō,[2][3][4] the source also of Old Saxon sēola, Dutch ziel, Old High German sēla (German Seele), Old Norse sála and Gothic saiwala.[2][3] Its origin is uncertain, and no cognates are found outside Germanic.[2][3] Following Kluge, Barnhart and Etymonline report that it may have meant “coming from or belonging to the sea”, the supposed resting place of the soul before birth and after death, from the source of sea;[3][2] Klein explains it as “from the lake”.[2] Hoad compares Greek aiólos “quick-moving”.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The spiritual and emotional part of a person, animate existence: about 725, in Beowulf.[3] The OED's earliest example, the principle of life, is from about 825.[5]

Semantic evolution

The disembodied spirit of a dead person is from 971 in Old English,[3] and a person, individual, as in every living soul, from about 1000 in Barnhart[3] and the early 14th century in Etymonline.[2] The vital principle of something is from the 14th century, and the essential part from the 16th.[4] Soul food meant spiritual sustenance about 1200.[2] In 1946 soul was jazz slang for an instinctive quality felt by Black Americans as their own;[2][5] it gave soul brother and soul food (1957), soul sister (1967)[2] and soul music by 1961.[2] Soul-searching is from 1871.[2] Etymonline remarks that distinguishing the soul from the spirit is best left to theologians.[2]

Timeline

  • c. 725 – the soul.[3]
  • 971 – a spirit of the dead.[3]
  • c. 1000 – a person.[3]
  • 16th century – the essential part.[4]
  • 1871 – soul-searching.[2]
  • 1946 – Black American culture.[2][5]
  • 1961 – soul music.[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. The spiritual part of a person, thought of as immortal and separate from the body.
  2. The source of thought, feeling and action in a person.
  3. A person: not a soul was there.
  4. Deep feeling or emotional force, as in art.
  5. The essential part of something.
  6. The culture and sense of identity of Black Americans; soul music.

Adjective

  1. Of or typical of Black American culture: soul food.

Word family

  • soullike
  • insoul
  • oversoul
  • soca
  • soulless
  • ensoul
  • souled
  • soulful

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 j k l m n o p Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press