English
psychology
Psychology comes from Renaissance Latin psychologia, from Ancient Greek ψυχή ‘soul’, and ultimately from ψῡ́χω ‘to blow’.
- Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEψῡ́χω‘to blow’
- Ancient Greek, derivedc. 800–300 BCEψυχήpsukhḗ‘soul’
- Renaissance Latinc. 1300–1500psychologia
- Frenchc. 1600–presentpsychologie
- Englishearliest quotation 1969psychology
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEψῡ́χω‘to blow’
- Ancient Greek, derivedc. 800–300 BCEψυχήpsukhḗ‘soul’
- Renaissance Latinc. 1300–1500psychologia
- Frenchc. 1600–presentpsychologie
- Englishearliest quotation 1969psychology
Earliest quotation: 1969, Victor Alba, The Latin Americans: “In the United States, the psychology of a laborer,…”
first attested first attested in the 1570s (as stated in the etymology)
The story
The Latin term is believed by some to have been coined in a lost treatise by Croatian humanist Marko Marulić (1450–1524), but this is disputed by other scholars.disputed Scholars disagree here; the competing view is quoted as the source gives it. It is first attested in the 1570s, at which time it was apparently already current, and may be a Hellenization of the established expression dē animā (‘on the soul’) in titles.
Linked words
through Ancient Greek ψῡ́χω ‘to blow’
Today it means
noun The study of the human mind.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Ancient Greek ψῡ́χω / psychology