_Spirit._
Is not this word a striking proof of the imperfection of languages; of
the chaos in which they still are, and the chance which has directed
almost all our conceptions? It pleased the Greeks, as well as other
nations, to give the name of wind, breath--"_pneuma_"--to that which
they vaguely understand by respiration, life, soul. So that, among the
ancients, soul and wind were, in one sense, the same thing; and if we
were to say that man is a pneumatic machine, we should only translate
the language of the Greeks. The Latins imitated them, and used the word
"_spiritus_," spirit, breath. "_Anima_" and "_spiritus_" were the same
thing.
The "_rouhak_" of the Phœnicians, and, as it is said, of the
Chaldæans likewise, signified breath and wind. When the Bible was
translated into Latin, the words, breath, spirit, wind, soul, were
always used differently. "_Spiritus Dei ferebatur super aquas_"--the
breath of God--the spirit of God--was borne on the waters.
"_Spiritus vitæ_"--the breath of life--the soul of life. "_Inspiravit in
faciem ejus spiraculum_" or "_spiritum vitæ_"--And he breathed upon his
face the breath of life; and, according to the Hebrew, he breathed into
his nostrils the breath, the spirit, of life.
"_Hæc quum dixisset, insufflavit et dixit eis, accipite spiritum
sanctum_"--Having spoken these words, he breathed on them, and said:
Receive ye the holy breath--the holy spirit.
"_Spiritus ubi vult spirat, et vocem ejus audis; sed nescis unde
veniat_"--The spirit, the wind, breathes where it will, and thou hearest
its voice (sound); but thou knowest not whence it comes.
The distance is somewhat considerable between this and our pamphlets of
the Quay des Augustins and the Pont-neuf, entitled, "Spirit of
Marivaux," "Spirit of Desfontaines," etc.
What we commonly understand in French by "_esprit_," "_bel-esprit_,"
"_trait d'esprit_," are--ingenious thoughts. No other nation has made
the same use of the word "_spiritus_." The Latins said "_ingenium_"; the
Greeks, "_eupheuia_"; or they employed adjectives. The Spaniards say
"_agudo_," "_agudeza_." The Italians commonly use the term "_ingegno_."
The English make use of the words "wit," "witty," the etymology of which
is good; for "witty" formerly signified "wise." The Germans say
"_verständig_"; and when they mean to express ingenious, lively,
agreeable thoughts, they say "rich in sensations"--"_sinnreich_." Hence
it is that the English, who have retained many of the expressions of the
ancient Germanic and French tongue, say, "sensible man." Thus almost all
the words that express ideas of the understanding are metaphors.
"_Ingegno_," "_ingenium_," comes from "that which generates";
"_agudeza_," from "that which is pointed"; "_sinnreich_," from
"sensations"; "spirit," from "wind"; and "wit," from "wisdom."
In every language, the word that answers to spirit in general is of
several kinds; and when you are told that such a one is a "man of
spirit," you have a right to ask: Of what spirit?
Girard, in his useful book of definitions, entitled "French Synonymes,"
thus concludes: "In our intercourse with women, it is necessary to have
wit, or a jargon which has the appearance of it. (This is not doing them
honor; they deserve better.) Understanding is in demand with politicians
and courtiers." It seems to me that understanding is necessary
everywhere, and that it is very extraordinary to hear of understanding
in demand.
"Genius is proper with people of project and expense." Either I am
mistaken, or the genius of Corneille was made for all spectators--the
genius of Bossuet for all auditors--yet more than for people of
expense.
The wind, which answers to "_Spiritus_,"--spirit, wind,
breath--necessarily giving to all nations the idea of air, they all
supposed that our faculty of thinking and acting--that which animates
us--is air; whence our "souls are a subtile air." Hence, manes, spirits,
ghosts, shades, are composed of air.
Hence we used to say, not long ago, "A 'spirit' has appeared to him; he
has a 'familiar spirit;' that castle is haunted by 'spirits;'" and the
populace say so still.
The word "_spiritus_" has hardly ever been used in this sense, except in
the translations of the Hebrew books into bad Latin.
"_Manes_," "_umbra_," "_simulacra_," are the expressions of Cicero and
Virgil. The Germans say, "_geist_"; the English, "ghost"; the Spaniards,
"_duende_," "_trasgo_"; the Italians appear to have no term signifying
ghost. The French alone have made use of the word "spirit" (esprit). The
words for all nations should be, "phantom," "imagination," "reverie,"
"folly," "knavery."