Etymologically
Log in

inspiratio

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 24 October 2026 at 18:46. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

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]

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