alma

Forms

alma f (plural almas)^[1] Houaiss records the spellings aalma in the 14th century and allma in the 15th.^[2] Feijó (1734) warns against writing a alma as aialma.^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin anima (“breath, air; the principle of life; the soul”), written Old Galician-Portuguese alma in the oldest texts.^{[2][4][5][6][1]} After the unstressed middle vowel was lost, the two nasals of the group /nm/ were dissimilated, /n/ becoming /l/.^[7] Nascentes in his short dictionary and Houaiss after him pass through an intermediate Old Spanish álima, a vulgarism of Old Spanish;^[6][2][8] Corominas records it as an old and American vulgar form.^[6][2][8]

The same Latin word is Galician alma, Spanish alma, Catalan arma, French âme, Italian anima and Romanian inimă (“heart”).^[9][10][1]

The Latin noun belongs with animus (“mind, spirit”), from Proto-Italic *anamos and Proto-Indo-European *h₂enh₁mos (“breath”), from a root meaning “to breathe”; the same word is Ancient Greek ἄνεμος (ánemos, “wind”).^[11][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The testament of King Afonso II of 1214, one of the oldest dated Portuguese texts, speaks of a saude de mia alma “the salvation of my soul” and of giving por mia alma “for my soul”.^[12] Machado's first quotation is of 1324, nom esguardando Deos nem sas almas “heeding neither God nor their souls”; he rejects a Latin record of 1047 that an earlier dictionary had connected with the word.^[5]

Semantic evolution

In the medieval texts the word is above all the immortal soul whose salvation is at stake: the cantigas d'amigo use it for salvation, and the Crónica Troiana for the souls of the dead.^[12] Bluteau in 1712 discusses it at length as the substantial form and principle of life, and Morais in 1789 already records almas do outro mundo “ghosts” and the figurative “soul” of a painting, its idea and design.^[13][14]

From the inner life the word passed to the person (uma cidade de cem mil almas), to the leader or moving spirit of an enterprise, and to the feeling that a singer or an actor puts into a performance.^[2][15] In technical language it names inner parts: the bore of a gun barrel, and the sound post of a violin.^[16]

Timeline

• 1214 – a saude de mia alma in the testament of Afonso II.^[12]
• 1324 – sas almas in a document quoted by Machado.^[5]
• 14th century – the spelling aalma.^[2]
• c. 1400 – the word in the Compostela fragment of the Flos Sanctorum (copied 1380–1425).^[17]
• 1569 – Cardoso renders alma with Latin anima and animus.^[18]
• 1611 – Barbosa lists alminha and almas do purgatorio.^[19]
• 1789 – Morais records almas do outro mundo “ghosts”.^[14]

Meanings

Noun

1. The principle of life in people and animals.^[2][20][21]
2. (religion) The soul, the immortal part of a human being, judged after death.^[2][21][1]
3. (philosophy) The whole of a person's mental life (thought, feeling, sensibility), seen as more or less independent of the body; the psyche.^[2][20]
4. A person's feelings, character and moral nature.^[2][21]
5. The essential or animating part of something; the leader or moving spirit of a group or enterprise.^[2]
6. Feeling, fervour put into an action: tocar com alma.^[2]
7. A person, an inhabitant: uma vila de duas mil almas.^[2][15]
8. The spirit of a dead person; a ghost.^[2][21]
9. The inner part of certain objects: the bore of a gun; the sound post of a violin.^[16]

Word family

• alminha
• almejar
• desalmado

Related words

• ânimo
• animar
• Latin anima
• Galician alma

Usage notes

Alma do outro mundo is a ghost, and nem viva alma “not a living soul” means nobody at all.^[15]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. alma
3. ^ Feijó, João de Morais Madureira (1734), Orthographia, ou Arte de escrever, e pronunciar com acerto a lingua portugueza, Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. alma
4. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. alma
5. ^ a b c Machado, José Pedro (1987), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., 5 vols., Lisboa: Livros Horizonte, p. s.v. alma
6. ^ a b c Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. alma
7. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. 20
8. ^ a b Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 1, 179
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 475
10. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. anima
11. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
12. ^ a b c Instituto da Lingua Galega, Dicionario de dicionarios do galego medieval (DDGM), ed. Ernesto González Seoane, Santiago de Compostela: Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, https://ilg.usc.gal/ddgm, p. s.v. alma
13. ^ Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. alma
14. ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1789), Diccionario da lingua portugueza composto pelo padre D. Rafael Bluteau, reformado, e accrescentado, 2 vols., Lisboa: Simão Thaddeo Ferreira, p. 1, 62
15. ^ a b c Aulete, Francisco Júlio Caldas, Dicionário contemporâneo da língua portuguesa (1st ed. 1881), online as Aulete Digital, Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, https://aulete.com.br, p. s.v. alma
16. ^ a b Figueiredo, Cândido de (1899), Novo diccionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Tavares Cardoso & Irmão, p. 61
17. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. alma
18. ^ Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. alma
19. ^ Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. alma
20. ^ a b Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. alma
21. ^ a b c d Academia das Ciências de Lisboa, Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, revised online edition (2023–) of the Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa Contemporânea (2001), https://dicionario.acad-ciencias.pt, p. s.v. alma