Etymologically
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anima

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈa.nɪ.ma][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈaː.ni.ma][1]

Forms

anima f (genitive animae); first declension[1]

Etymology

It belongs with animus “mind, spirit”, inherited from Proto-Italic *anamo- (“breath, spirit”), inherited from Proto-Indo-European *h₂enh₁-mo- (“breath”).[2][3][4] Cognate with Oscan anamúm (“breath, courage”), Old Irish anim (“soul”) and Ancient Greek ἄνεμος (ánemos, “wind”).[2] Köbler connects the root Proto-Indo-European *h₂enh₁- (“to breathe”).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan finds it first in Naevius,[2] where a character has only a tiny bit of breath left.[3] Köbler dates Naevius c. 235–200 BC.[5]

Semantic evolution

Its first sense was the air breathed, the breath, and so breathing as the sign of life, animam agere was to be at one's last gasp.[3] From this it meant life itself, a single person's life and a vital spot, animal life, the vital principle and the soul as opposed to the body, and the disembodied spirit or ghost of the dead.[3] As the thing a person values most, it became a term of endearment, “my life, my darling”.[3] Döderlein distinguishes anima, the soul as the principle of animal life that ends with the breath, from animus, the principle of moral personality.[6]

In Christian Latin it was the soul, and in medieval documents the plural animae counted persons.[1][7] The DÉRom reconstructs Proto-Romance */ˈanima/ with the senses soul, heart and stomach.[8] It gave French âme, Spanish alma, Italian anima and Romanian inimă (“heart”).[1][8] Jung used English anima from 1923 for the inner part of the personality.[9]

Timeline

  • c. 235–200 BC – Naevius uses it of breath.[3][5]
  • 220–130 BC – Pacuvius says the earth gives the body and the ether the soul.[3][5]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero speaks of calling up the souls of the dead.[3][5]
  • Middle Ages – animae is used to count persons.[7]
  • 1923 – Jung's term anima is recorded in English.[9]

Meanings

Noun

  1. breath, air breathed, animam agere, to breathe one's last.[3]
  2. Breath as the sign of life; life; consciousness.[3]
  3. Animal life; the vital principle (also of plants).[3]
  4. The soul as opposed to the body.[3]
  5. A disembodied spirit, ghost.[3]
  6. (as an endearment) Life, darling.[3]
  7. (Medieval Latin, plural) Persons, people.[7]

Word family

  • animadvertō
  • animal
  • animālis
  • animō
  • animula
  • exanimis
  • inanimis
  • inanimus
  • sēmianimis
  • animātiō
  • animātus
  • animus
  • English animal
  • English animate
  • English anima

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  5. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
  7. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  8. ^ a b Buchi, Éva; Schweickard, Wolfgang, eds. (2008–), Dictionnaire Étymologique Roman (DÉRom), Nancy: ATILF, http://www.atilf.fr/DERom
  9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com