Spirit

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For other uses, see Spirit (disambiguation).
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The English word "spirit" comes from the Latin "spiritus" (breath).

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[edit] Etymology

The English word "spirit" comes from the Latin spiritus, meaning "breath" (compare spiritus asper), but also "soul, courage, vigor", ultimately from a PIE root *(s)peis- (to blow). In the Vulgate, the Latin word translates Greek (πνευμα), pneuma (Hebrew (רוח) ruah), as opposed to anima, translating psykhē. The word was loaned into Middle English via Old French The distinction between soul and spirit became current in Judeo-Christian terminology (e.g. Greek. psykhe vs. pneuma, Latin anima vs. spiritus, Hebrew ruach vs. neshama or nephesh; in Hebrew neshama from the root NSHM or breath.)

[edit] Metaphysical and metaphorical uses

The word is used in two related contexts, one metaphysical and the other metaphorical.

Its metaphysical context has attained a number of meanings:

  1. An incorporeal but ubiquitous, non-quantifiable substance or energy present individually in all living things. Unlike the concept of souls, which are by definition eternal and usually believed to preexist the body, a spirit develops and grows as an integral aspect of the living being. This concept of the individual spirit is common among traditional peoples. It is therefore important to note the distinction between this concept of spirit and that of the pre-existing or eternal soul because belief in souls is specific and far less common, particularly in traditional societies. This is more properly termed life ("bios" in Greek) ether than spirit ("pneuma" in Greek.)
  2. A daemon sprite, or especially ghost. A ghost is usually conceived as a wandering spirit from a being no longer living, having survived the death of the body yet maintaining the mind and consciousness.
  3. In religion and spirituality, the respiration of the human being has for obvious reasons been strongly linked with the very occurrence of life. A similar significance has been attributed to human blood. Spirit in this sense denotes that which separates a living body from a corpse and usually implies <a href="/wiki/Intellig