spiritual

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /ˈspɪr.ɪ.tʃu.əl/, /ˈspɪr.ɪ.tju.əl/, US /ˈspɪr.ɪ.tʃu.əl/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English spirituel, borrowed from Old French spirituel and directly from Medieval Latin spīrituālis,^[2][3] from Latin spīrituālis (“of breath, of the spirit”), from spīritus (“breath, spirit”).^[2][4][5] See spirit.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of the spirit, immaterial, especially in religion, and of the church: about 1300 in Etymonline.^[2] The OED's first quotation for the sacred or ecclesiastical sense is from 1338.^[6]

Semantic evolution

Concerning the spirit or higher moral qualities is from 1377,^[6] and originating with God from the late 14th century.^[2] Devotional songs are called spiritual from 1382.^[6] The noun was a cleric in the mid-15th century and a spiritual person in the 1530s;^[2] the African American religious song is from 1866.^[2] A spiritual home, with no religious meaning, is from 1932.^[6] Old English had godcundlic for “spiritual”.^[2] In Hampshire dialect spiritual meant angry.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 1300 – of the spirit; of the church.^[2]
• late 14th century – coming from God.^[2]
• 1382 – of sacred songs.^[6]
• 1866 – an African American religious song.^[2]
• 1932 – spiritual home.^[6]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Of or relating to the human spirit or soul, not to physical things.
2. Of or relating to religion or the church; sacred.
3. Having a deep interest in spiritual things rather than material ones.

Noun

1. A religious song of African American origin.

Word family

• spiritually
• spiritualness
• antispiritual
• antispiritualism
• spiritualism
• spiritualist
• spirituality
• nonspiritual

Related words

• spiritous
• spirituous
• spirit
• inspire
• respiration

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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)