exspiratio

Forms

exspīrātiō f (genitive exspīrātiōnis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin exspīrō (“to breathe out; to die”) + -tiō.^[2][3] The verb is ex- and spīrō (“to breathe”), which de Vaan calls possibly an imitation of the sound of breathing, without direct cognates.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cicero uses it in the plural for exhalations of the earth, by which the air is nourished (terrae exspirationibus).^[5][3][6]

Semantic evolution

Caelius Aurelianus uses it of vapours rising from the bowels,^[3] and Christian writers use it for breathing out the soul: Tertullian contrasts the soul drawn in with the infant's first breath and led out with the last, and Jerome writes usque ad exspirationem animae.^[3] In Medieval Latin it is breathing out in physiology, from Alfanus in the 11th century,^[7] and also a breath or blowing and inspiration;^[7] British sources add evaporation and the expiry of a term.^[8] English borrowed it early in the 15th century as expiracioun, “vapour, breath”.^[9]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero speaks of the exhalations of the earth.^[5][6]
• c. 160–220 AD – Tertullian uses it for breathing one's last.^[3][6]
• mid-11th century – Alfanus uses it for breathing out.^[7][6]
• early 15th century – English borrows it as expiracioun.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. An exhalation, a breathing out; a vapour.^[2][5][3]
2. The breathing out of the soul, death.^[3]
3. (Medieval Latin) A breath of wind; inspiration.^[7]
4. (Medieval Latin) Evaporation; the expiry of a term.^[8]

Related words

• English expiration

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b c d Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
8. ^ a b Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com