respiratus

Forms

respīrātus m (genitive respīrātūs); fourth declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin respīrō (“to breathe out, recover one's breath”) + -tus, a noun of action of the fourth declension.^[1] The verb is formed from re- and spīrō (“to breathe”).^[2] 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.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The dictionaries cite it first from Cicero's De natura deorum (2.136), of the lungs expanding in breathing,^[3][4][5] but the reading there is doubtful: other editors print intrante spiritu instead.^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

It remained a rare word beside respīrātiō.^[3] The one certain Classical passage is in Apuleius, who has small openings left around the nostrils respiratui, for breathing.^[4][6][7] In medieval Latin it survives mainly in word lists: Osbern of Gloucester's Derivationes derives it from respīrō and gives respīrātiō beside it.^[8] Köbler also records it in Fleta.^[9]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero may use it of the lungs in breathing (doubtful reading).^[3][4][9]
• c. 125–175 – Apuleius uses it of breathing through openings near the nose.^[4][6][9]
• c. 1290 – Fleta has the word.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. Breathing, the drawing of breath.^[1][3][10]

Related words

• respīrātiō

Usage notes

Lewis & Short know it only from the passages of Cicero and Apuleius.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
5. ^ Lewis, Charlton T. (1890), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: American Book Company
6. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
7. ^ VoLat: Vocabolario della Lingua Latina (2018), Milan: Hoepli
8. ^ 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 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.