Etymologically
Log in

psyche

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 15 October 2026 at 22:44. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈpsyː.kʰeː][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈpsiː.ke][1]

Forms

psȳchē f (genitive psȳchēs); first declension[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek ψυχή (psukhḗ, “breath, soul”).[2][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Apuleius, in the Metamorphoses, tells the story of Psyche, a maiden loved by Cupid and made immortal by Jupiter.[3][4] Köbler dates Apuleius c. 125–175 AD.[5]

Semantic evolution

The TLL notes that as a common noun it is found only in Greek letters, as in Cicero's letters to Atticus, and in Latin only as a proper name, which also appears in an inscription at Pompeii.[6] The OLD calls Psyche an allegorical figure of the soul, above all in Apuleius' tale.[2]

In medieval Latin it meant the soul, as Roger Bacon explains in his Greek grammar.[7] Wiktionary gives the senses mind and spirit.[1] English psyche is recorded in the 1640s as the animating spirit or mind.[8]

Timeline

  • c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius tells the tale of Psyche.[3][5]
  • 1640s – Borrowed into English as psyche.[8]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (capitalized) Psyche, a personification of the soul loved by Cupid.[2][3]
  2. (Medieval Latin) The soul; mind, spirit.[7][1]

Word family

  • psȳchicus

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f 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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  5. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  7. ^ 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
  8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com