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Section 4.9. Body, Spirit, and Mind
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SECTION . Body, Spirit, and Mind For the Romans, there was an essential series of contrasts or oppositions between body, spirit, and mind. The first portion of the presentation will consider these contrasts, following which there will be a detailed inventory of the physical parts of the body, public and private. Body The neuter noun corpus (genit. corporis) referred not only to the living organism but also to the inanimate body (i.e., corpse). It could also be used to designate any material object, e.g., the trunk of a tree. As the body is composed of “parts”, corpus was often applied to other entities made up of parts, as in corpus juris (“body of law”). corpus cuerpo body, corps, corpse, corpus cuerpo diplomático diplomatic corps cuerpo a cuerpo hand-to-hand (combat) cuerpo legal corpus juris (body of law) cuerpo de leyes cuerpo extraño foreign body (medical, e.g., in the eye) cuerpo de bomberos fire brigade (or department) tomar cuerpo (to) take shape, (to) grow corporalis corporal corporal (adj.), body or bodily (adj.) incorporal incorporeal, intangible corporeus corpóreo corporeal (of a material nature; tangible) incorpóreo incorporeal (having no material body) corpulentus corpulento corpulent corpulencia corpulence corpusculum corpúsculo corpuscle corsé corset corpusculum was the Latin diminutive of corpus and was thus “small body” or “small particle”. Corset comes from French, formed as a diminutive of corps (Old French cors). T4311.indb 377 T4311.indb 377 8/31/07 6:44:30 AM 8/31/07 6:44:30 AM SELEC TED TOPICS corporatio(n) corporación corporation (gen. of public nature) incorporación incorporation (into), joining a group incorporare incorporar (to) incorporate (unite, embody), (to) join, (to) raise to a sitting position corporare was “to give a body to”, “to take form”, while incorporare implied uniting something with something else already in existence to give them a single “corporate” form. The notion of a corporation as a “body of people given a legal existence distinct from the individuals who compose it” is a fifteenthcentury English innovation, imported by Spanish in the nineteenth century. A money-making corporation is generally a sociedad anónima rather than a corporaci ón, and “to incorporate (a company)” is conveyed by various expressions, including constituir una sociedad anónima. Spirit Latin had two closely related words representing the spirit of life as opposed to its physical manifestation in a body: animus thinking element, reason, mind, spirit anima breath, air (and by extension), soul, spirit animus was the superior principle to which anima was subordinated; not surprisingly , animus was masculine and anima feminine. An effort was generally made to distinguish the two words, but over time the subordinated element, anima, encroached on the domain of animus and came to be used frequently in its place. anima is the origin of the Romance soul: anima alma soul (It. anima, Fr. âme) ánima soul (esp. one in purgatory) desalmado soulless, cruel, inhuman while animus survives in English and Spanish as the “actuating feeling” or “animating spirit”: animus ánimo animus (disposition), spirit(s), energy Given the mentality of the times. T4311.indb 378 T4311.indb 378 8/31/07 6:44:30 AM 8/31/07 6:44:30 AM [34.204.3.195] Project MUSE (2024-03-28 19:59 GMT) BODY, SPIRIT, AND MIND In English, animus has acquired the negative connotation of “animosity shown in speech or action”, as a result of contamination by animosity. This in turn initially had the positive meaning of “spiritedness”, “ardor” (i.e., possessing lots of animus), before acquiring the definition (notably in the Vulgate Bible) of “bitter hostility or open enmity”. Both definitions passed into English and Spanish , though only the negative definition is employed today. animositas animosidad animosity Jungian psychology restored the masculine-feminine distinction between English animus and anima: animus the masculine inner personality, as present in women anima the feminine inner personality, as present in men The verb animare was associated with both anima and animus and meant “to give life to”, to animate. An animal was a living thing that had been given anima, the “breath of life”. animare animar (to) animate, (to) cheer up animatus animado (p.p.) animate, lively inanimatus inanimado inanimate animatio(n) animación animation dis animus desánimo discouragement, downheartedness dis animare desanimar (to) dishearten, (to) discourage desanimado (p.p.) discouraged, dispirited animal animal animal animalia alimaña beast, vermin (“animals”) Spanish took the plural of animal, animalia, and converted it into a feminine singular meaning...