Etymologically
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respiratio

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [rɛs.piːˈraː.ti.oː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [res.piˈrat.t͡si.o][1]

Forms

respīrātiō f (genitive respīrātiōnis); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin respīrō (“to breathe out, recover one's breath”) + -tiō, a noun of action.[2][1] The verb is formed from re- and spīrō (“to breathe”).[3] De Vaan takes the simple verb to be possibly an imitation of the sound of breathing, with no direct cognates; the Balto-Slavic words for squeaking that have been compared with it are similar in shape but differ in meaning, and may have arisen within Balto-Slavic.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Cicero (81–43 BC),[4] who in his Timaeus uses it of breathing: the world had no air around its outer edges and so needed no respiratio.[2][5]

Semantic evolution

In Classical Latin it meant breathing,[2][5] and also the recovering of breath after it had been held: Seneca hears the hissing gasps of those who let out a breath they had kept in.[2] From this came a pause for breath during exertion: in Livy soldiers fight sine respiratione, without a pause.[2][5][6] Cicero applies it to the pauses of a speaker, where one stops to draw breath,[5][6] and Quintilian uses it in his rules on delivery.[5] By transfer it was the exhalation of vapour from water.[2][5] Tertullian uses it of the bones of the dead coming back to life.[7]

In medieval Latin it was a medical and natural-philosophical word for breathing and the movement of air, and grammarians used it for the rough and smooth breathings of Greek.[8] In music it was the place in a chant where the singer takes breath, a caesura, a sense found from Guido's Micrologus on.[9] A Portuguese law uses it for a breathing space, relief after a victory over the Moors.[10] English took it over as respiration,[11] and Italian has respirazione from it.[7]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of breathing, of the exhalation of water and of pauses in speaking.[2][5][4]
  • 59 BC–AD 17 – Livy uses sine respiratione of fighting without a pause.[2][4]
  • 4 BC–AD 65 – Seneca uses it of recovering one's breath.[2][4]
  • c. 160–220 – Tertullian uses it of the dead coming back to life.[7][4]
  • 11th century – Guido's Micrologus uses it of a pause for breath in singing.[9]
  • late 14th century – English borrows it as respiration.[11]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The recovering of one's breath after it has been held.[2][6]
  2. A pause for breath during exertion or in speaking; a respite.[2][5] sine respīrātiōne: without a pause.[2][5][6]
  3. Breathing, respiration.[2][5]
  4. (transferred) Emission of vapour, exhalation.[2][5][6]
  5. (Late Latin) A coming back to life, of the bones of the dead.[7]
  6. (Medieval Latin) Relief, a breathing space.[10]
  7. (Medieval Latin, grammar) A breathing (rough or smooth) in Greek.[8]
  8. (Medieval Latin, music) A pause for breath in singing; a caesura.[9]

Usage notes

The rare fourth-declension noun respīrātus has the same meaning.[2][5]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ 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
  4. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d e Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  7. ^ a b c d Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  8. ^ 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
  9. ^ a b c Lexicon musicum Latinum medii aevi (1992–), Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften; online ed. Wörterbuchnetz
  10. ^ a b du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre
  11. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com