English
spirituelle
Spirituelle comes from Latin spīritus ‘air, breath, breathing’, and goes back to spīrō.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEspīrō‘to breathe, draw breath, respire’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEspīritus‘air, breath, breathing’
- Late Latinmodernspīrituālis
- Frenchc. 1600–presentspirituelle
- Englishearliest quotation 1831same form
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEspīrō‘to breathe, draw breath, respire’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEspīritus‘air, breath, breathing’
- Late Latinmodernspīrituālis
- Frenchc. 1600–presentspirituelle
- Englishearliest quotation 1831same form
Earliest quotation: 1831, Letitia Elizabeth Landon, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley: “Laughter may be generally classed under three heads,—forced, silly,…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *(s)peys- ‘to breathe’
through Latin spīrō ‘to breathe, draw breath, respire’
conspiracy, respiratory, expire, aspire, aspiration, spire, aspirant, 50 more
through Latin spīritus ‘air, breath, breathing’
Today it means
adj Showing great grace and delicacy.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin spīrō / spirituelle