pneuma
1
9.9
- noun
- /ˈnjuːmə/
- Literature
:
pneuma
- In ancient philosophy, pneuma is considered the vital force that animates the body and gives it life.
Examples
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The words spirit and spiritual come from the Latin spiritus and are related to the Greek pneuma, the Sanskrit prana, and the Hebrew ruach.
Academic text (1994) -
In fact, the word pneuma was used to describe the essence that goes through all living things that allows them to move.
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But it is not the pneuma that is first, but the psychic and then the pneuma.
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The world is formed and shaped by a cosmic pneuma or ether.
Academic text (2009) -
In response to his critics, he points repeatedly to the Neoplatonic idea of the universal pneuma and the existence of an undivided whole of space and time.
Academic text (2009) -
In the kind of asceticism that Shenoute practiced, the human body was seen to house both the flesh (sarx) and the spirit (pneuma).
Academic text (2004) -
It is the thing by which the breath—the pneuma—of responsibility is drawn and through which the self is made into an offering.
Academic text (1991) -
The ancient Chinese referred to it as chi, the Japanese as ki, Pythagoras as pneuma, ancient Hindus as prana, and Christians as the Christ light energy.
Academic text (2005) -
The concept of pneuma represents the breath of life that connects all living beings in the universe.
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According to early medical texts, maintaining a balanced pneuma was essential for good health and well-being.
Synonyms
1
9.7
The soul or life force of a person
A life force once believed to control the body's health
A Latin word for breath or spirit
How Vital
Surface Forms
Etymology
Pneuma originally meant 'breath', so ancient doctors and philosophers used it for the life force or soul that moves the body. Think of it as an inner 'breath' or air, which is why English words like pneumatic ('filled with air') and pneumonia ('a lung illness') come from the same root.