âme French · revision 16484

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=c. 880, Séquence de sainte Eulalie (anima)|origins=la anima}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /am/^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA: /ɑm/^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA: /aːm/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''âme''' ''f'' (plural âmes)^(Wiktionary)

+ Old French [[m|fro|anima]] (10th century), [[m|fro|aneme]] (11th century), [[m|fro|anme]] (''Chanson de Roland''), then ''ame''; also ''alme'', ''aume'' and ''arme'', the last dropped because it clashed with [[arme]].^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(GLLF 1989)

+ The circumflex dates from 1752.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|fro|anme]], [[inh|la|anima|t=breath, air; life; soul]].^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(GLLF 1989)^(FEW|24, 581b) Rey traces it to an Indo-European root also seen in [[sa|अनिति|tr=aniti|t=he breathes]] and [[grc|ἄνεμος|tr=ánemos|t=wind]].^(DHLF 1992)^(Littré 1873) Latin distinguished “animus”, the higher principle opposed to the body, from “anima”, which rendered [[grc|ψυχή|tr=psukhḗ]], “anima” alone passed into Church Latin and the Romance languages.^(DHLF 1992) Bloch and Wartburg note that its religious and philosophical use kept it under the influence of written Latin.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ Cognate with [[ro|inimă]], [[it|anima]], [[oc|amo]], [[ca|ànima]], [[es|alma]] and [[pt|alma]].^(Petit Robert 2007)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ As ''anima'' it is in the ''Sequence of Saint Eulalia'' (about 880) and the ''Life of Saint Leger''; its first senses are religious: the immaterial, immortal part of a person, and the soul parted from the body at death.^(GLLF 1989)^(Petit Robert 2007)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ French took over the Latin senses and developed them in philosophy and science, with the scholastic distinctions between the sensitive, rational and vegetative soul (13th century).^(DHLF 1992)^(Littré 1873) From the 13th century, and again from the 16th, it meant a living person, especially after a population figure (''une ville de dix mille âmes''); in the 16th century the moral conscience (''force d'âme'') and the mainspring of a thing; from d'Aubigné, the person who leads a group (''l'âme du complot'').^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ Concrete technical senses are the bore of a gun and the soundpost of a violin.^(Wiktionary) Many phrases keep the religious sense: ''rendre l'âme'' “to die”, ''âme en peine'', ''âme damnée'', ''vendre son âme au diable''.^(Wiktionary)^(Petit Robert 2007) Revolutionary pamphlets of 1790 have ''foutre l'âme à l'envers'' “to kill”.^(BHVF)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 880 – ''Anima'', ''Sequence of Saint Eulalia''.^(GLLF 1989)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ * c. 1050 – ''Aneme'', ''Life of Saint Alexis''.^(GLLF 1989)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+ * c. 1100 – ''Anme'', ''Chanson de Roland''.^(DHLF 1992)^(Littré 1873)

+ * 13th century – The form ''ame'', “a living person”.^(GLLF 1989)^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 16th century – ''Force d'âme''.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1752 – The spelling ''âme''.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # ''(religion, philosophy)'' The [[m|en|soul]], the spiritual principle of a person, thought of as immortal: ''prier pour l'âme de quelqu'un''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # The seat of thought and feeling; heart, mind: ''état d'âme'', ''la mort dans l'âme''.^(Wiktionary)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ # A person: ''pas âme qui vive'', ''une ville de dix mille âmes''.^(Wiktionary)^(DHLF 1992)

+ # The moving spirit of a group or enterprise: ''l'âme du complot''.^(DHLF 1992)^(GLLF 1989)

+ # ''(weaponry)'' The [[m|en|bore]] of a gun.^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(music)'' The [[m|en|soundpost]] of a violin.^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''Âme sœur'': a [[m|en|soulmate]].^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[animal]]

+ * [[animer]]

+ * [[magnanime]]

+ * [[unanime]]

+ * [[la|anima]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}