πνεῦμα

See also: πνεύμα

Ancient Greek

Etymology

From Proto-Indo-European *pnéwmn̥, equivalent to πνευ- (pneu-), the root of πνέω (pnéō, “I blow”), +‎ -μα (-ma, result noun suffix).

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /pnêu̯.ma/ → /ˈpneβ.ma/ → /ˈpnev.ma/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /pnêu̯.ma/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈpnew.ma/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈpneβ.ma/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈpnev.ma/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈpnev.ma/

Noun

πνεῦμα • (pneûma) n (genitive πνεύματος); third declension

1. air
2. wind
3. breath
4. (phonology) breathing
5. life
6. spirit, soul
7. spiritual being: spirit, angel
8. inspiration (often divine inspiration), genius

Inflection

Third declension of τὸ πνεῦμᾰ; τοῦ πνεύμᾰτος (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	τὸ πνεῦμᾰ tò pneûma	τὼ πνεύμᾰτε tṑ pneúmate	τᾰ̀ πνεύμᾰτᾰ tà pneúmata
Genitive	τοῦ πνεύμᾰτος toû pneúmatos	τοῖν πνευμᾰ́τοιν toîn pneumátoin	τῶν πνευμᾰ́των tôn pneumátōn
Dative	τῷ πνεύμᾰτῐ tôi pneúmati	τοῖν πνευμᾰ́τοιν toîn pneumátoin	τοῖς πνεύμᾰσῐ / πνεύμᾰσῐν toîs pneúmasi(n)
Accusative	τὸ πνεῦμᾰ tò pneûma	τὼ πνεύμᾰτε tṑ pneúmate	τᾰ̀ πνεύμᾰτᾰ tà pneúmata
Vocative	πνεῦμᾰ pneûma	πνεύμᾰτε pneúmate	πνεύμᾰτᾰ pneúmata
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Synonyms

• ψυχή (psukhḗ)

Derived terms

• πνεῦμᾰτικός (pneûmatikós)
• πνευμάτιον (pneumátion)
• πνευμάτιος (pneumátios)
• πνευματόω (pneumatóō)
• πνευματώδης (pneumatṓdēs)

Descendants

• Coptic: ⲡⲛⲉⲩⲙⲁ (pneuma)
• Greek: πνεύμα (pnévma)
• Latin: pneuma

Further reading

• “πνεῦμα”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “πνεῦμα”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• πνεῦμα in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• Bauer, Walter et al. (2001) A Greek–English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, Third edition, Chicago: University of Chicago Press
• G4151 in Strong, James (1979) Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible
• πνεῦμα in Trapp, Erich, et al. (1994–2007) Lexikon zur byzantinischen Gräzität besonders des 9.-12. Jahrhunderts [the Lexicon of Byzantine Hellenism, Particularly the 9th–12th Centuries], Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften
• Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎^[1], London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
  • air idem, page 21.
  • blast idem, page 82.
  • breath idem, page 96.
  • breeze idem, page 97.
  • current idem, page 190.
  • draught idem, page 250.
  • exhalation idem, page 291.
  • gust idem, page 379.
  • wind idem, page 980.