pneumaticus

Forms

pneumaticus (feminine pneumatica, neuter pneumaticum); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek πνευματικός (pneumatikós, “of wind or air”),^[2][3][4][5] from πνεῦμα (pneûma, “wind, breath”).^[5][6] Köbler traces the Greek word to Proto-Indo-European *pneu- (“to breathe”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Vitruvius (c. 84–c. 25 BC), who says that Ctesibius discovered the force of natural air and pneumaticas res, devices worked by air.^[4][3][5]

Semantic evolution

In Latin it stayed a technical word for machines worked by air or wind pressure.^[2][4] Vitruvius also says that the Greeks call one kind of machine pneumaticon,^[4] and Pliny the Elder praises Ctesibius for his pneumatica ratio and water organs, and mentions organa pneumatica, pumps.^[4][7][8] The Greek word was used mainly of the spirit,^[6] but the medieval British record has it only in a gloss of the Catholicon Anglicum, where it renders the breath or spirit.^[9] English pneumatic was taken from the Latin word in the 1650s.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius writes of the pneumaticae res of Ctesibius.^[4][3][5]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder mentions organa pneumatica.^[3][4][5]
• 1650s – English borrows it as pneumatic.^[6]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Concerned with air pressure; worked by air or wind, pneumatic.^[2][3][4]
2. (Medieval Latin) Concerned with breathing.^[9]

Related words

• English pneumatic

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
8. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
9. ^ a b 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