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inanimus

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word inanimus

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
220–130 BC, Pacuvius
Ultimate origin
Latin (anima)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin anima
French âme
Latin inanimus
Latin exanimis

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ɪˈna.nɪ.mʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [iˈnaː.ni.mus][1]

Forms

inanimus (feminine inanima, neuter inanimum); first/second-declension adjective[1] Also inanimis, in Apuleius.[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin in- + anima (“breath, soul”) + -us.[2][1][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Pacuvius has it first, of a slow-footed four-footed creature, disembowelled and lifeless.[2]

Semantic evolution

Its usual sense is “inanimate”, not having breath or life, and Cicero uses it in philosophy:[2][4] what is inanimate is moved by an outside push, while a living being moves by an inner motion of its own,[4][2] and the chief difference between them is that the inanimate does nothing.[4] Among things useful to men he counts lifeless ones such as gold, silver and what grows from the earth.[2] The Rhetorica ad Herennium sets animate and inanimate things side by side,[4] Livy has animals and lifeless things stiff with frost, and Pliny the Elder shapeless, lifeless flesh.[2] The neuter is a noun, “an inanimate thing”.[2][5] Apuleius uses it of a person lying lifeless and of food without meat.[2]

Timeline

  • 220–130 BC – Pacuvius, “lifeless”.[2][3]
  • 86/82 BC – The Rhetorica ad Herennium, of inanimate things.[4][3]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero, in philosophy.[2][4][3]
  • c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius, of meatless food.[2][3]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Deprived of breath, lifeless.[2][4][1]
  2. Not endowed with life, inanimate;[2][4][1] (neuter as noun) an inanimate thing.[2][4][1]
  3. Of food, without meat.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
Cite this entry

“Inanimus.” Etymologically, 20 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/inanimus. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·