“spirit” in Latin

Anything eminently refined, inflammable liquor raised by distillation, perhaps *spiritus (technical term): *liquor acrior (Georges): liquor tenuissimus, nobilissimus, efficacissimus (Bau; Plaut. says, flos vini). Hence

Essential quality, flos: medulla. The spirit of Luther’s works, flores e Lutheri scriptis decerpti (after Plin., 14, 1, extr.).

Figuratively, Liveliness, vivacity (of style), spiritus sanguis (freshness): to borrow from poets the art of giving a subject spirit and life, a poetis in rebus spiritum petere (Quint., 10, 1, 27): in Archilochus we find great spirit and life, in Archilocho plurimum sanguinis atque nervorum (Quint., 10, 1, 60).

The soul, powers of the human mind, animus (the vital power, the sensitive and appetitive nature, τὸ ἐπιθυμητικός, ὁ θυμός; then the whole spiritual nature of man; opposed to corpus): mens (the intellect, ὁ νοῦς): anima (in the best writers, denotes the principle of life = spiritus, πνεῦμα; it is only in later prose writers that it obtains the meaning of animus): spiritus (almost = anima, the breath of life; then, also, those properties of the mind which answer to our “high spirit,” energy, inspiration, etc.): ingenium (intellectual powers, talent, especially the creative or inventive faculty). (The words are found in this connection and order.) animus et mens: A great or lofty spirit, animus magnus, excelsus, altus; ingenium magnum, excelsum: a man of great spirit, animus magnus; vir magni ingenii: noble or choice spirits, clarissima ingenia: an inferior spirit, ingenium parvum, pusillum; homo parvi ingenii (of a person): a philosophical spirit, subtilitas (in disputando); vir subtilis, sagax (of the parson): to have great spirit, magno ingenio esse; ingenio abundare: to show spirit, signa dare ingenii.

The prevailing opinion or constitution of mind, also that which principally guides the actions, animus: mens: studium alicujus rei (inclination to anything). A servile spirit, animus servilis: a spirit of contradiction, *obloquendi studium: a spirit of novelty, rerum novarum or novandarum studium: a spirit of private gain, *privatae utilitatis studium: a warlike spirit, gloriae bellicae studium; studium bellicum.

Peculiar manner of thinking and acting, ingenium (peculiar turn or constitution of mind): natura (natural quality or stale): proprietas (property): ratio (peculiar manner and way): mens (the peculiar mode of thinking; hence, also, the sense attached by a writer to his words; opposed to verba; Vid: Paullus, Dig., 19, 4, 19): voluntas, or (ad Her., 2, 10) scriptoris voluntas (that which a writer means to say, that which he had in his mind when he wrote; opposed to scriptum, verba, or litterae = literal meaning, the letter; Vid: Cic., Caecin., 23, 65; De Invent., 1, 4, 19); also, voluntatis conjectura (opposed to verborum proprietas): sententia (idea contained in what is said, etc; opposed to verbum ac littera; Vid: Cic., Caecin. 27, 77): id quod ex verbis intelligi potest (opposed to the words themselves): ☞ Genius, in this sense, is not Latin. Whether the spirit should be followed or the letter, verbis standum sit an voluntate (Quint.): to follow the spirit against the letter, a voluntate et contra scriptum judicare de re (ad Herenn.): the letter against the spirit, verba et litteras sequi, negligere voluntatem: to obey the letter, not the spirit, of a law, command, etc., ad verba alicui obedire, non ad id, quod ex verbis intelligi potest, obtemperare: to preserve the spirit of an author without tying one’s self down to a strictly literal translation, non verbum pro verbo reddere, sed genus omne verborum vimque servare. The spirit of eloquence among the Greeks in each successive age, can be learnt from their writings, ex Graecorum scriptis cujuscumque aetatis quae dicendi ratio voluntasque fuerit, intelligi potest: to comprehend the spirit of a writer, mentem (☞ not genium) scriptoris assequi; ad voluntatem scriptoris accedere: the spirit of Laelius seems also, to breathe in his writings, videtur Laelii mens etiam spirare in scriptis: the spirit of the Greek language, *Graecae linguae natura: spirit of the age [Vid: AGE].

A simple incorporeal being, with the power of thought and will, perhaps spiritus (Sen., Ep., 41, in., sacer intra nos spiritus sedet): anima quae relicto corpore errare solet (after death, according to Plin., 7, 52, 53). The Holy Spirit, Spiritus Sacer; Deus (e.g., Deus tecum est, intus est, with Sen., loc. cit.): God is a Spirit, Deus est mens soluta quaedam et libera, segregata ab omni concretione mortali (with Cic., Tusc., 1, 27, 66): an evil spirit, daemon (Lactantius, 2, 14, sqq.): the spirits of the dead, lemures (general term); manes (souls of the dead regarded with awe, as being no longer connected with matter, but like shades) lares (good spirits, worshipped as domestic gods); larvae, maniae (bad spirits, supposed to wander about at night as ghosts); pii (the pure spirits; Vid: Cic., Phil., 14, 12, 32); umbrae, especially with infernae (shades of the departed in the lower regions): the world of spirits, *quidquid sine corpore viget (everything incorporeal): coelestia, -ium, neuter (in heaven): piorum sedes et locus (habitation of the pious, blessed). To enter the world of (happy) spirits, piorum sedem et locum consequi.