Etymologically
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inanimus

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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