πνεῦμα

Forms

πνεῦμα (pneûma) n (genitive πνεύματος); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is a noun of result from Ancient Greek πνέω (pnéō, “to blow, breathe”) with the suffix -μα (-ma).^[1][2] Wiktionary reconstructs *pnéumə and Proto-Indo-European *pnéwmn̥, from the root *pnew-.^[1] Beekes regards the verb's Indo-European origin as uncertain: outside Greek he can compare only some Germanic words such as Old Norse fnýsa (“to sniff”) and Old English fnēosan (“to sneeze”), and the whole group may be of imitative origin.^[3] Etymonline also calls the root imitative.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The CGL's earliest author for it is Archilochus, of the blast of winds.^[5][6] LSJ's first citation is the philosopher Anaximenes, for whom “breath and air” surround the whole world.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In tragedy it is wind and breeze, often figuratively a favouring wind of fortune or a blast of frenzy, and breath: the breath that fills a trumpet or a flute, or the breath of life.^[2][5] The Hippocratic writers use it for breathing and for the air thought to fill the veins, and later writers for flatulence; grammarians call the two breathings of Greek vowels πνεύματα.^[2][1] Menander speaks of man's spirit, “whether it is a divine pneuma or mind”, and later Greek uses it for divine inspiration.^[2]

The Septuagint uses it chiefly to render Hebrew rûaḥ: wind, breath, the breath of life (πνεῦμα ζωῆς in Genesis) and the spirit of God.^[7][2] In the New Testament it is the human spirit, set against the flesh and the soul, independent spirits, both angels and evil spirits, and above all the Holy Spirit.^[8][2][5] Medieval vernacular Greek used it for wind, breath, gas in the body and the immaterial part of man, with popular forms such as πνέμα.^[9]

Modern Greek πνεύμα (pnévma) is a learned form (the popular one is πνέμα); its sense “mind, intellect, wit” follows French esprit, and one of its senses follows English spirit.^[10] English pneuma was taken from it in the late 19th century.^[4]

Timeline

• 7th century BC – Archilochus uses it of the blasts of winds.^[5][6][11]
• 6th century BC – Anaximenes speaks of breath and air surrounding the world.^[2][11]
• 6th–5th century BC – Aeschylus uses it of winds, breath and a blast of frenzy.^[2][5][11]
• 5th century BC – The Hippocratic writers use it for breathing and for air in the veins.^[2][11]
• 3rd–2nd century BC – The Septuagint uses it for the breath of life and the spirit of God.^[7][2]
• 1st century AD – The New Testament uses it for the human spirit, spirits and the Holy Spirit.^[8][2]
• Late 19th century – English borrows pneuma.^[4]
• Modern Greek – The learned πνεύμα (pnévma) means spirit, mind and wit.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A blast of air, wind, breeze; figuratively a favouring wind, a blast of passion.^[2][5]
2. Breath, breathing, respiration; the breath of a wind instrument.^[2][5]
3. (medicine) Air thought to fill the veins; in the plural, flatulence.^[2]
4. The breath of life, life; a living being.^[2][5]
5. An exhalation, odour.^[2][5]
6. (grammar) A breathing, rough or smooth.^[2]
7. Divine inspiration.^[2]
8. (Septuagint, New Testament) The spirit of God, the Holy Spirit.^[2][8][7]
9. (New Testament) The spirit of a human being, opposed to the flesh.^[2][8]
10. (New Testament) A spiritual being: an angel, an evil spirit.^[2][8][5]
11. (rhetoric) A period spoken in one breath.^[2]

Word family

• πνευμάτιον (pneumátion)
• πνευματώδης (pneumatṓdēs)
• πνευματικός (pneumatikós)

Related words

• πνοή (pnoḗ)
• ψυχή (psūkhḗ)
• English pneuma
• English pneumatic

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
6. ^ a b Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
7. ^ a b c Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
8. ^ a b c d e Bauer, Walter; Danker, Frederick W., et al. (2000), A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed., Chicago: University of Chicago Press
9. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
10. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
11. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge