spiro

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈspiː.roː]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈspiː.ro]^[1]

Forms

spīrō (present infinitive spīrāre, perfect active spīrāvī, supine spīrātum); first conjugation^[1]

Etymology

The origin is uncertain.^[2][1] De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic *spīr/s- and suggests it may imitate the sound of breathing; it has no direct cognates, and Balto-Slavic words for squeaking look alike but differ in meaning.^[2] Kroonen links it with Proto-Germanic *fīsaną (“to blow; to break wind”), from a root Proto-Indo-European *(s)peys- (“to blow, breathe”),^[1] and the OLD likewise starts from *speis-, comparing Old Norse fīsa.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Plautus onwards,^[2] whose lover is “testing whether her lips were breathing”.^[3]

Semantic evolution

It meant to breathe and so to be alive, as when Cicero speaks of a man “while he still breathed”.^[3] With an object it meant to breathe out, as fire-breathing monsters do in Lucretius, and to give off a smell, as Virgil's strongly smelling savory.^[3] Winds were said to breathe, that is, to blow.^[3]

Figuratively it meant to breathe or express a spirit, as when Horace says the Roman poet “has a tragic spirit”.^[3] The phrase dum spiro spero means “while I breathe, I hope”.^[1] From it came spiritus, the source of English spirit, and its compounds gave inspire and transpire.^[2][4]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it for breathing.^[3][5]
• 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it of the Chimaera breathing flames.^[3][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it for being alive.^[3][5]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it for winds and smells.^[3][5]
• mid-13th century – English spirit comes from its noun spiritus.^[4]
• 1590s – English transpire comes through French.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. To breathe.^[3][6]
2. To be alive, live.^[3][1]
3. To breathe out, exhale.^[3][1]
4. To give off (a smell, vapour).^[3]
5. (of winds) To blow.^[3][1]
6. (figurative) To breathe, express (a spirit); to be inspired.^[3][1]

Word family

• aspīrō
• cōnspīrō
• exspīrō
• īnspīrō
• interspirō
• perspīrō
• prospīrō
• respīrō
• spīrābilis
• spīrāculum
• spīrāmen
• spīrāmentum

Related words

• spīritālis
• spīritālitās
• spīritāliter
• spiritus
• English spirit
• English inspire
• English transpire

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d 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 g h i j k l m n o p Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c 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. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press