Etymologically
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spiritual

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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
  • 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)