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> Hindus considered breath and spirit the same thing It's funny, because I just realised that πνεύμα(pneuma)/spirit in Greek has the same root as πνεύμων(pneum
by tzot 6y ago
> Hindus considered breath and spirit the same thing
It's funny, because I just realised that πνεύμα(pneuma)/spirit in Greek has the same root as πνεύμων(pneumon)/lung: the verb πνέω(pnéo), which means I breathe.
This is not Mr Portokalos talking from My Big Fat Greek Wedding, people: πνέω is traced to the older Indo-European stem pnew- , and the whole point of my comment is that there is a lot of heritage in language through the eons from older cultures and civilizations.
Trivia: the suffix -μα (like in the words pragma, dogma, trauma etc) generally means “the result or the carrier of the verb's actions”, so like pragma (“thing”, what is/has been made/done), dogma (what one believes in; the firmness of the belief is irrelevant to the ancient word), trauma (“wound”; the result of being wounded), pneuma would be what is being breathed; and there's another connection to old roots: alcohol is «οινόπνευμα» (spirit/fumes of the wine), and alcoholic drinks are called “spirits”.
Fun stuff :)
- sajforbes 6y agoThe English words "respire" and "spirit" have the same root, too.
- asveikau 6y agoLatin spirare and spiritus respectively. Afaik spiritus came from the verb and literally meant breath in addition to the figurative meaning.
- r0rshrk 6y agoAtmen in German (breath) and Atman in Sanskrit (breath, spirit) have the same origin.
- baxtr 6y agoFascinating. Indo-European languages share many word roots. Word that remain similar tend to be numbers and family members (mum, dad, brother etc)
- thiagocsf 6y agoIn Portuguese the root “pneu” by itself means “tire” (as in a car tire). Fun stuff indeed!
- dredmorbius 6y agoA tyre (or tire is) a wheel dressing, the word being a truncation of attire. This can be any final dressing of a wheel. An inflatable rubber pneumatic tire is a subclass of tire, and truncation or abbreviation to pnue is as good as any. Locomotive wheels on trains have steel tyres. https://www.etymonline.com/word/tire https://www.etymonline.com/word/tire
- piva00 6y agoThat's because it is a contraction of "pneumático" which links to the same root as the rest of Indo-European pnew- etymology.