smooth breathing

English

Etymology

Calque of Latin spīritus lēnis, from Ancient Greek ψιλὸν πνεῦμα (psilòn pneûma).

Noun

smooth breathing (plural smooth breathings)

1. (phonetics) The lack of aspiration on a vowel or semivowel in Ancient Greek.
2. (orthography) A diacritic (’/◌̓) in Ancient, Medieval and Modern Greek used to indicate this lack of aspiration (or its historical presence), e.g. ἀ, ῤ.

   Synonyms: spiritus lenis, psili, psilon pneuma

   Coordinate terms: rough breathing, spiritus asper

Translations

diacritic in Greek

• Finnish: heikko henkäys, spiritus lenis
• French: esprit doux (fr) m
• German: Spiritus lenis (de) m
• Greek: ψιλή (el) f (psilí)

  Ancient Greek: ψιλὸν πνεῦμα n (psilòn pneûma)

• Italian: spirito dolce m
• Latin: spīritus lēnis m
• Polish: przydech słaby m
• Portuguese: espírito brando (pt) m
• Russian: то́нкое придыха́ние n (tónkoje pridyxánije), зва́тельце (ru) n (zvátelʹce)
• Sicilian: spìritu duci m

Further reading

• smooth breathing on Wikipedia.Wikipedia