"spirit" in seven languages
Meaningspirit
Spanish
espíritu
/esˈpiɾitu/
masc.learned
French
esprit
/ɛspʁi/
masc.learned
Also 'mind' and 'wit': avoir de l'esprit 'to be witty'.
Italian
spirito
/ˈspirito/
masc.learned
lo spirito
Portuguese
espírito
/isˈpiɾitu/
masc.learned
Romanian
spirit
/spiˈrit/
neut.learned
In church language Romanian says duh, a Slavic word: Sfântul Duh 'the Holy Spirit'.
Catalan
esperit
/əsˈpɛɾit/
masc.learned
English
spirit
/ˈspɪɹɪt/
from Latin/French · Anglo-French spirit / Latin spiritus
English → ItalianspiritspiritoCognateSame source — inherited, learned or borrowed. You can recognize it.What English and Italian share
The Latin ancestor
SPĪRITUM‘breath’
All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.
The story
Spirit was breath (SPĪRĀRE 'to breathe'). A church word in all three: Spanish keeps the Latin -u ending (espíritu), and French esprit keeps the s that inherited words lost (école, étoile).
English relatives: inspire, respiration, conspire, spirited
Sound laws at work
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In a sentence
- esEse no es el espíritu de la ley.
- frCe n'est pas l'esprit de la loi.
- itNon è lo spirito della legge.
- ptEsse não é o espírito da lei.
- roAcesta nu este spiritul legii.
- caAquest no és l'esperit de la llei.
- enThat is not the spirit of the law.
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