animans

Forms

animans ^[1]

Etymology

It is the present participle of animō “to give life to”, from anima (“breath, life”), used as an adjective and noun.^[2][1] De Vaan traces ⟨animus⟩ to Proto-Italic *anamo- (“breath, spirit”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂enh₁-mo- (“breath”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler's earliest source is the Rhetorica ad Herennium, and the OLD cites Lucretius and Cicero.^[4][2] Köbler dates the Rhetorica 86/82 BC.^[4]

Semantic evolution

As an adjective it meant having life, living, animate, as in Cicero's De natura deorum.^[2][5] As a noun, of all three genders, it meant a living creature, an animal, as in Cicero; an animate being other than man; and in Seneca a living organism, apparently including plants.^[2][5]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant living, alive, and as a noun a living creature.^[6]

Timeline

• 86/82 BC – The Rhetorica ad Herennium uses it.^[4]
• 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it.^[2][4]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of living creatures.^[2][4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Living, animate.^[2]

Noun

1. A living creature, an animal.^[2]
2. A living organism.^[2]

Related words

• animō
• anima
• animal
• animātus

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
6. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson