was thinking the other day about how "qi" / "ki" / "prana" all mean both "breath" and "life / spirit / soul" and how i didn't know a similar word in english
but there *is* a similar word in latin and it's "anima"
en.wiktionary.org/wiki/anima#Lat
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"anima" as in "animal" (something with life) but also as in "animated" (endowed with life). i got here from feeling weird about the etymology of "creature" - it literally means "a created thing" so implies the existence of a creator, and i was wondering about other synonyms
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oh, there also is a similar word in english itself and it’s “spirit,” idk why i didn’t check this
en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/spirit
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the etymology of “soul” made me laugh like a crazy person for a solid minute it was just so funny to me that it was all just words that mean “soul”
en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/soul
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was reminded that “ruach” in hebrew also means both “breath” and “soul”. great word, 10/10 word overall
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ayyy and even "atman," they don't stop comin'
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Replying to @QiaochuYuan
See also: "atman" in Sanskrit, very similar
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jeez i missed this earlier but even "pneuma," why are there multiple terms like this in the same language 🧐 (hmm wait okay maybe it's because apparently the root of "psyche" means "blow" but not "breath"?)
twitter.com/acidshill/stat
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Replying to @QiaochuYuan
pneuma as well
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Etymology is so cool. There's a certain kind of human authenticity to you get to appreciate by looking at the patterns and associations people have made through words.
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what about Being
seems neutral in that sense
in German it's Wesen [that which is present], also Lebewesen [living presence] and Geschöpf [well, literally creature]
