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inspiro

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ĩːˈspiː.roː][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [inˈspiː.ro][1]

Forms

īnspīrō (present infinitive īnspīrāre, perfect active īnspīrāvī, supine īnspīrātum); first conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is from in- “in, into” and spīrō “to breathe”.[2][1][3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest citation is from Lucretius, of breathing deeply.[2] Köbler dates Lucretius 96–55 BC.[5]

Semantic evolution

Lewis and Short call it poetic and post-Augustan.[6] It meant to breathe deeply, as in Lucretius, and in Ovid to blow on or into, in Gellius to give an aspirated sound and to blow a note, and in Columella and Pliny the Elder to blow into.[2][6][7] In Virgil it meant to blow in, and to breathe a feeling into someone, inspire.[2] In Apuleius it meant to inspire supernaturally, and in Seneca to animate one's material.[2]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant to breathe into.[8] It survives in Italian ispirare and French inspirer, and Old French enspirer gave English inspire in the mid-14th century, “to fill the mind with grace”.[1][4] Late Latin īnspīrātiō gave English inspiration.[1][4]

Timeline

  • 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it of breathing deeply.[2][5]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of inspiring a feeling.[2][5]
  • c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius uses it of supernatural inspiration.[2][5]
  • mid-14th century – English inspire is recorded.[4]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To breathe deeply.[2]
  2. To blow on or into; to aspirate.[2]
  3. To blow in.[2]
  4. To inspire (a feeling); to inspire supernaturally.[2]
  5. To animate.[2]

Word family

  • inspiramentum
  • īnspīrātiō
  • inspirator

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  8. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson