anima

Forms

anima f (plural anime)^[1] Old Italian forms include alma, arma, anema, annima and alima.^[2][3] Alma and arma survive as poetic forms.^[4][5]

Etymology

DELI and Nocentini treat it as a learned word, borrowed from Latin anima (“breath; life; soul”).^[6][7][8] The LEI notes that the Latin word lives on in every Romance language and that popular and learned forms are hard to tell apart: Old Italian alma, Old Italian arma and Old Italian anema are popular, and the form with /i/ kept may be learned.^[9] Alma is now a poetic doublet.^[7][1] The Romance outcomes include French âme, Old Occitan anma, Spanish alma, Portuguese alma and Romanian inimă (“heart”).^[9][5]

The noun belongs with Latin animus (“mind, spirit”), from Proto-Italic *anamo- (“breath, spirit”) and Proto-Indo-European *h₂enh₁mos (“breath”).^[10][1] Related words are Ancient Greek ἄνεμος (ánemos, “wind”), Oscan anams (“courage, breath”) and Old Irish anim (“soul”).^[10][6] Nocentini adds Sanskrit अनिति (ániti, “breathes”).^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The oldest record is a document of 1151 from Osimo, in the Marche, with per alima sua (for his soul).^[9][2] DELI's first record of anima is Fiori e vita di filosofi (1270–1275), for the spiritual and immortal part of man.^[6][8]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian took over the Aristotelian division of the soul into anima vegetativa, sensitiva and razionale.^[2] The Tesoro translation calls the soul “la più nobile parte dell'uomo” (the noblest part of man), giving him life, knowledge and memory.^[11] By the end of the 13th century the word could mean a person, in Brunetto Latini, and about 1340 the translation of Palladius used it for the inner part of a thing.^[6]

That last sense gave many technical uses: the core of a rope or cable, the bore of a gun barrel, the sound post of a violin and the core of a casting mould.^[8][12][1] Animella, the sweetbread, is a diminutive in this sense, and Romanian inimă “heart” shows a similar shift.^[7] Dialects use the word for a fruit stone, as in Old Bergamasque, and in insect names such as anima bianca for the dragonfly.^[5][13] Count nouns such as un paese di mille anime use it for the inhabitants of a place.^[8][12]

Timeline

• 1151 – Alima in a document from Osimo.^[9]
• About 1274 – GRADIT's date for anima.^[8]
• 1270–1275 – Fiori e vita di filosofi uses it for the immortal soul.^[6]
• Before 1294 – Brunetto Latini uses it for a living being.^[6]
• About 1340 – The translation of Palladius uses it for the inner part of a thing.^[6]
• 15th century – Animella is first recorded.^[7]
• 1905 – Animismo, from English animism.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. The soul, the immaterial principle of life and consciousness, in many religions immortal and separable from the body: Pregava per la salvezza della propria anima.^{[8][14][12][15]}
2. Conscience; the inner self as the seat of feelings: Mi sono sentito toccare l'anima da quella musica.^[8][16]
3. A person seen in terms of moral or spiritual qualities: È un'anima generosa.^[8][12]
4. A person, an inhabitant: un villaggio di trecento anime, non c'era anima viva.^[8][12][15]
5. The soul of a dead person: le anime del purgatorio.^[8][2]
6. A term of endearment: anima mia.^[8][4]
7. The person or thing that gives life to something; its essential element: Marta è l'anima del gruppo.^[8][12]
8. Feeling, passion put into an activity: Canta con tutta l'anima.^[8][14]
9. The inner part or core of an object, (technical) the bore of a gun, the core of a cable, the sound post of a violin, the core of a mould.^[8][12][1]
10. (psychology) In Jung's theory, the inner personality, the feminine side of a man.^[8]

Word family

• animella
• animare
• animato
• animazione
• animatore
• rianimare
• animismo
• esanime
• esanimare

Related words

• alma
• animale
• animula
• Latin anima
• Latin animus

Usage notes

Fixed phrases include anima gemella (soulmate), anima e corpo (wholeheartedly), buon'anima (of a dear one who has died), rendere l'anima a Dio (to die) and the vulgar rompere l'anima (to pester).^[8][15][16] All'anima! is a colloquial exclamation of surprise.^[14][15]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it
4. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
5. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
6. ^ a b c d e f g Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
7. ^ a b c d e f Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
9. ^ a b c d Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 2, 1284
10. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
11. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
12. ^ a b c d e f g Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
13. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 207
14. ^ a b c Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
15. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
16. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana