inspiratio

Forms

īnspīrātiō f (genitive īnspīrātiōnis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin īnspīrō (“to breathe into”) + -tiō.^[1][2][3] The verb is in- with spīrō (“to breathe”),^[4] which de Vaan takes to be possibly an onomatopoeic imitation of the sound of breathing, with no direct cognates.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL finds it from Tertullian and the Old Latin Bible onwards, and never in the poets.^[2] Tertullian speaks of dīvīna īnspīrātiō, “divine inspiration”,^[5][3] and the Old Latin Genesis has God breathe into Adam's face īnspīrātiōnem vītae, “the breath of life”, where the Vulgate has spīrāculum.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It meant both the act of breathing in or into and the breath itself, and also inspiration.^[2][3] Chalcidius uses it of the soul breathed into man by God,^[3][2] Caelius Aurelianus of breathing in,^[3] and Solinus speaks of a litterāria īnspīrātiō, a literary inspiration.^[5][3] In Medieval Latin it meant breath, inspiration and influence, revelation, and the last breath of the dying;^[6] it was also a medical word for inhaling.^[7] English inspiration, from about 1300, came from it through Old French and first meant the influence of God under which the holy books were written.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 160–220 AD – Tertullian speaks of divine inspiration.^[5][3][9]
• first half of the 3rd century AD – Solinus uses it of literary inspiration.^[5][3][9]
• c. 300 AD – Chalcidius uses it of the breath of life given by God.^[3][2][9]
• 5th century AD – Caelius Aurelianus uses it of breathing in.^[3][9]
• c. 1300 – English borrows it, through Old French, as inspiration.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A breathing in, inhalation; a breathing or blowing into.^{[3][10][2][7]}
2. Breath, the breath of life.^[3][2][6]
3. (Late Latin) Inspiration, especially divine inspiration.^[5][3][11]
4. (Medieval Latin) Influence; revelation.^[6]
5. (Medieval Latin) The last breath.^[6]

Related words

• English inspiration

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
4. ^ a b 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 d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
7. ^ a b Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
10. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
11. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson