Etymologically
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animo

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Pronunciation

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

Forms

animō (present infinitive animāre, perfect active animāvī, supine animātum); first conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is from anima “breath, life” with the verbal suffix -ō.[2][1] Lewis and Short and Gaffiot relate it also to animus “mind, spirit”.[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's first citation is Pacuvius, of giving life.[2] Köbler dates Pacuvius 220–130 BC.[5]

Semantic evolution

It meant to give life to, quicken, as in Cicero, and in Ovid to turn ships into nymphs; it also meant to revive or refresh.[2][4] It meant to endow with a certain temperament, and to rouse, animate, as in Titinius.[2] In art it meant to make lifelike, in Statius to fill stones with movement, and in Apuleius to fill with breath, blow on two pipes at once.[2][3]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant to quicken, animate, endow.[6] It survives in Italian animare.[1] English animate was borrowed from its participle in the 1530s, first meaning “to fill with courage”.[7]

Timeline

  • 220–130 BC – Pacuvius uses it of giving life.[2][5]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of animating.[4][5]
  • c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius uses it of blowing pipes.[3][5]
  • 1530s – English animate is recorded.[7]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To give life to, animate; to revive.[2]
  2. To endow with a temperament; to rouse.[2]
  3. To make lifelike (in art).[2]
  4. To fill with breath, blow.[2]

Word family

  • animabilis
  • animātiō
  • animator
  • animatrix
  • animātus
  • animax
  • exanimō
  • inanimans
  • inanimātus
  • redanimo
  • ūnanimans
  • animāns

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com