suspirium

Latin

Etymology

From suspīrō (“to sigh”) + -ium.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [sʊsˈpiː.ri.ũː]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [susˈpiː.ri.um]

Noun

suspīrium n (genitive suspīriī or suspīrī); second declension

1. a deep breath
2. a gasp, a pant
   • 587 CE, Gregory of Tours, Liber in gloria martyrum, 70:

     Nec mora, corripitur pervasor a febre, decumbit lectulo, exhorret cibum, fastidit et potum, profert aestuans iuge suspirium.

     Immediately the man who had invaded [the church property] was struck with a fever. He lay on his bed, refused food and drink, and in his fever, writhing, unceasingly brought forth a spasmodic pant.

3. a sigh

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

	singular	plural
nominative	suspīrium	suspīria
genitive	suspīriī suspīrī1	suspīriōrum
dative	suspīriō	suspīriīs
accusative	suspīrium	suspīria
ablative	suspīriō	suspīriīs
vocative	suspīrium	suspīria

¹Found in older Latin (until the Augustan Age).

Derived terms

• suspīriōsus

Descendants

• Aromanian: suschir
• Catalan: sospir
• French: soupir
• Friulian: suspîr
• Italian: sospiro
• Occitan: sospir
• Portuguese: suspiro
• Romanian: suspin
• Romansh: suspir, suspeir
• Spanish: suspiro
• Venetan: sospiro

Further reading

• “suspirium”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “suspirium”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• "suspirium", in Charles du Fresne du Cange, Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• “suspirium”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.