inhalatio

Forms

inhālātiō f (genitive inhālātiōnis); third declension^[1][2]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin inhālō (“to breathe upon”) + -tiō.^[3][1][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The only ancient source is Cassiodorus' De anima, where it means roughly a breath or waft: the bitter smell of evils, he writes, lingers unless it is seasoned with the sweetest inhalationes.^[3][1][2]

Semantic evolution

British Medieval Latin used it for a vapour or scent, figuratively, in the Ramsey chronicle, and for inspiration, the breathing of the divine spirit, in John Colet's commentary on First Corinthians.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 485–580 – Cassiodorus uses it in the De anima.^[3][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A breath, exhalation, waft (of scent).^[3][2][5]
2. (Medieval Latin) Inspiration by the divine spirit.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
2. ^ a b c Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
3. ^ a b c d Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c 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