espíritu

Forms

espíritu m (plural espíritus)^[1] Old Spanish texts spell the word spiritu, spritu, espiritu, spirito, espirito and esprito.^[2] Wiktionary also lists the older forms espirto and espirtu.^[1]

Etymology

It is a learned borrowing borrowed from Latin spiritus (“breath, air; spirit”).^[3][4][1] Vox dates the borrowing to the 13th century.^[5] The Breve diccionario dates it to 1220–1250 and treats it under espirar, with aspirar, respirar, suspirar and inspirar, all from compounds of the same Latin verb.^[3]

The same Latin word is Portuguese espírito, Catalan esperit, French esprit and Italian spirito, and Welsh borrowed it as ysbryd.^[6] Wiktionary compares the English word spirit.^[1]

The noun is formed from Latin spīrō (“to breathe”) + -tus.^[7][1] De Vaan finds no direct cognates for the verb and thinks it was possibly formed in imitation of the sound of breathing.^[8] Kroonen links it with Proto-Germanic *fīsaną (“to blow; to fart”) under a root Proto-Indo-European *(s)peys- (“to blow, breathe”), which de Vaan does not accept.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Latin charters of the early 13th century have the formula Spiritus Sanctus, which is Latin, not Spanish.^[9] The first Spanish record in the CDH is La fazienda de Ultra Mar of about 1200, known from a 13th-century copy, where Pharaoh's people are said to have “the spirit of God” in Joseph: „que spiritu de Dios es en el”.^[9] The Breve diccionario dates the word to 1220–1250.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Latin spiritus first meant “breath, a breathing”; the Spanish word took the abstract senses, as French and the other languages did, by naming the immaterial with the least palpable thing of the physical world, the air.^[7][10] Alfonso X's prose already uses it for an immaterial being, for the soul, for a gift of God, and for the vigour or spirits that a stone strengthens.^[11]

Autoridades defined it as a living, incorporeal substance such as an angel or the soul, and as a supernatural gift of God, as in espíritu de profecía.^[12] The Academy's 1817 edition also gives the sense “demon”, mostly in the plural, and the 1843 edition the plural senses “fine vapours given off by a liquid” and “the purest parts extracted from bodies by chemistry”.^[13][14] The Portuguese cognate kept the chemists' sense in espírito-de-vinho, and Spanish has espíritu de vino.^[15][1]

In the 19th century Baralt condemned uses such as espíritu fuerte “free-thinker” and obra de espíritu “work of wit” as French.^[16] The current dictionary also has the senses “essence, character of something”, as in the spirit of a law or of an age, and “liveliness, wit”.^[4] In Bolivia espíritu names a feast in honour of the Holy Spirit.^[17]

Timeline

• c. 1200 – La fazienda de Ultra Mar (in a 13th-century copy) has the spelling spiritu.^[9]
• 1220–1250 – the date the Breve diccionario gives for the word.^[3]
• 1270–1284 – Alfonso X's prose uses espirito for the breath of life God gave to man.^[11]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija gives Latin spiritus for espiritu o soplo.^[18]
• 1515 – the first record from the Americas, in the phrase Espíritu Santo (Tierra Firme).^[19]
• 1726–1739 – Autoridades says the word is taken from Latin spiritus.^[12]
• 1843 – the Academy's dictionary adds the chemical senses.^[14]
• 1899 – the Academy gives the etymology “Del lat. spiritus”.^[20]

Meanings

Noun

1. An immaterial being endowed with reason; a spirit, such as an angel.^[4][1]
2. The rational soul; the mind, the part of a person that thinks and feels: Tiene un espíritu inquieto.^[4][21][1]
3. The soul of a dead person thought to communicate with the living.^[21][5]
4. The essence or inner character of something: el espíritu del Renacimiento.^[4]
5. Natural vigour that strengthens the body; courage, spirit, energy.^[4]
6. Liveliness, wit.^[4]
7. (chiefly in the plural) A devil or demon.^[4][21]
8. A fine vapour given off by wine and spirits; the purest part extracted from a substance by chemical means.^[4]
9. (grammar) The sign marking aspiration or its absence in Greek: espíritu áspero “rough breathing”.^[4]
10. (religion) A supernatural gift of God: espíritu de profecía.^[4]
11. (Bolivia) A feast in honour of the Holy Spirit.^[17]

Word family

• espiritual
• espiritualidad
• espiritismo
• espiritista
• espirituoso

Related words

• aspirar
• espirar
• respirar
• inspirar
• suspirar
• conspirar
• expirar
• Latin spiritus
• Portuguese espírito

Usage notes

Set phrases include Espíritu Santo “Holy Spirit”, pobre de espíritu “poor in spirit” and espíritu de contradicción “contrariness”.^[4][1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. espíritu
3. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. espirar
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. espíritu
5. ^ a b Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. espíritu
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. spiritus
7. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. spīritus
8. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill, p. s.v. spīrō
9. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. espíritu
10. ^ Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. espíritu
11. ^ a b Kasten, Lloyd A.; Nitti, John J.; Gago Jover, Francisco (2002–), Diccionario de la prosa castellana del Rey Alfonso X, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (electronic edition 2024), p. s.v. espíritu
12. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 3, 608
13. ^ Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 389
14. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 320
15. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. espírito
16. ^ Baralt, Rafael María (1855), Diccionario de galicismos, Madrid: Imprenta de J. Cruzado, p. 280
17. ^ a b Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. espíritu
18. ^ Lleal, Coloma (dir.), DICCA-XV: Diccionario del castellano del siglo XV en la Corona de Aragón, Barcelona: Universitat de Barcelona, Grup d'Estudis d'Història de la Llengua (GHCL), https://ghcl.ub.edu/diccaxv, p. s.v. espíritu
19. ^ Boyd-Bowman, Peter (2003), Léxico hispanoamericano 1493–1993, ed. Ray Harris-Northall and John J. Nitti, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies, p. s.v. espíritu
20. ^ Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 426
21. ^ a b c Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. espíritu