mid-13c., "life, the animating or vital principle in man and animals," from Anglo-French spirit, Old French espirit "spirit, soul" (12c., Modern French esprit) and directly from Latin spiritus "a breathing (of respiration, also of the wind), breath;" also "breath of a god," hence "inspiration; breath of life," hence life itself.

The Latin word also could mean "disposition, character; high spirit, vigor, courage; pride, arrogance." It is a derivative of spirare "to breathe," and formerly was said to be perhaps from a PIE *(s)peis- "to blow" (source also of Old Church Slavonic pisto "to play on the flute"). But de Vaan says the Latin verb is "Possibly an onomatopoeic formation imitating the sound of breathing. There are no direct cognates." Compare conspire, expire, inspire.

In English it is attested from late 14c. as "divine substance, divine mind, God;" also "Christ" or His divine nature; also "the Holy Ghost; divine power." Also by late 14c. as "the soul as the seat of morality in man," and "extension of divine power to man; inspiration, a charismatic state; charismatic power," especially in reference to prophecy.

The meaning "supernatural immaterial creature; angel, demon; an apparition, invisible corporeal being of an airy nature" is attested from mid-14c. The word is attested by late 14c. as "ghost, disembodied soul of a person" (compare ghost (n.)). Spirit-rapping, colloquial for spiritualism in the supernatural sense, is from 1852. Spirit-world "world of disembodied spirits" is by 1829.

It is attested from late 14c. as "essential nature, essential quality." The non-theological sense of "essential principle of something" (as in Spirit of St. Louis) is attested from 1680s and was common after 1800. The Spirit of '76 in reference to the qualities that sparked and sustained the American Revolution of 1776 is attested by 1797 in William Cobbett's "Porcupine's Gazette and Daily Advertiser."

It also is attested from mid-14c. in English as "character, disposition; way of thinking and feeling, state of mind; source of a human desire;" in Middle English freedom of spirit meant "freedom of choice." It is attested from 1580s in the metaphoric sense of "animation, vitality," and by c. 1600 as "frame of mind with which something is done," also "mettle, vigor of mind, courage."

From late 14c. in alchemy as "volatile substance; distillate" (and from c. 1500 as "substance capable of uniting the fixed and the volatile elements of the philosopher's stone"). Hence spirits "volatile substance;" the sense of which narrowed to "strong alcoholic liquor" by 1670s. This also is the sense in spirit level (1768), so called for the liquid in the clear tube.

According to Barnhart and OED (1989), the earliest use of the word in English mainly is from passages in the Vulgate, where the Latin word translates Greek pneuma and Hebrew ruah. A distinction between soul and spirit (as "seat of emotions") became current in Christian terminology (such as Greek psykhē and pneuma, Latin anima and spiritus) but "is without significance for earlier periods" [Buck]. Latin spiritus, usually in classical Latin "breath," replaced animus in the sense "spirit" in the imperial period and appears in Christian writings as the usual equivalent of Greek pneuma.

in brief, conceive light invisible, and that is a spirit. [T. Browne, " Religio Medici"]

1590s, "to make more active or energetic" (of blood, strong drink, etc.), from spirit (n.). By c. 1600 as "animate (a person), inspire with courage." The meaning "carry off or away secretly" (as though by supernatural agency) is by 1660s and was used especially in reference to kidnappings for the American colonies. To spirit up "raise the spirits of" is from 1712. Related: Spirited; spiriting.

"having a spirit (of a specified type);" see spirit (n.), also compare spirited.

"lively, energetic, animated," of persons, 1590s, past-participle adjective from spirit (v.) in its older sense. Milton ("So talk'd the spirited sly snake") uses it to mean "possessed by a spirit." Related: Spiritedly; spiritedness.

1590s, "liveliness, wit, vivacity," from French esprit "spirit, mind," from Old French espirit "spirit, soul" (12c.), from Latin spiritus "spirit" (see spirit (n.)). For initial e-, see e-.

Esprit de corps, recorded from 1780 in English, preserves the usual French sense. French also has the excellent phrase esprit de l'escalier, literally "spirit of the staircase," defined in OED as, "a retort or remark that occurs to a person after the opportunity to make it has passed." It also has esprit fort, a "strong-minded" person, one independent of current prejudices, especially a freethinker in religion.

1590s, "full of spirit or vigor, brisk, lively," from spright, an early 16c. variant of spirit (n.) and also of its doublet sprite, + -ly (1). So, in the manner of a sprite, or with much spirit. The form spritely also is attested from 1590s. "Sprightly is the common spelling, the literal meaning and therefore the proper form of the word being lost from view" [Century Dictionary]. Related: Sprightliness.

c. 1300, "of or concerning the spirit, immaterial" (especially in religious aspects), also "of or concerning the church," from Old French spirituel, esperituel (12c.) or directly from a Medieval Latin ecclesiastical use of Latin spiritualis "pertaining to spirit; of or pertaining to breath, breathing, wind, or air," from spiritus "of breathing; of the spirit" (see spirit (n.)).

The sense of "originating with God" is from late 14c. Related: Spiritually. An Old English word for "spiritual" was godcundlic. Spirital "pertaining to the spiritual realm" (from Latin spiritalis) also was in use from late 14c. to about 1700. Spirituose, a coinage of the 17c., was rare and now is obsolete.

In avibus intellige studia spiritualia, in animalibus exercitia corporalia [Richard of St. Victor (1110-1173): "Watch birds to understand how spiritual things move, animals to understand physical motion." - E.P.]

1590s, "spirited, animated, lively" (senses now rare or obsolete), from Latin spiritus (see spirit (n.)) + -ous, or else from French spiritueux (16c.), from Vulgar Latin *spirituosus, from Latin spiritus. Also formerly "spiritual" (1630s), also obsolete, and in 17c. often "of the nature of spirit."

The meaning "containing much alcohol" is attested from 1680s. Related: Spiritously; spiritousness; spirituosity, which is attested from 1660s as "spiritual character or quality."

c. 1300, sprit, formerly also spright, a doublet of spirit (n.) in any of its then-current senses, from Old French esprit "spirit," from Latin spiritus (spirit (n.) retains the Latin form). So in Middle English and after sprite could mean "breath; the principle of life; the Holy Ghost; mind, intellect; character; mood; reason; human will," etc. Hakluyt has a well-sprighted man for one mentally gifted.

It is attested by mid-14c. specifically as "immaterial being; angel, demon, elf, fairy; apparition, ghost," also of persons felt to resemble such. Also compare sprightly.

1640s, "animating spirit, the human spirit or mind," from Latin psyche, from Greek psykhē "the soul, mind, spirit; life, one's life, the invisible animating principle or entity which occupies and directs the physical body; understanding, the mind (as the seat of thought), faculty of reason," also "ghost, spirit of a dead person;" probably akin to psykhein "to blow, breathe," also "to cool, to make dry."

These are sometimes traced to a PIE root *bhes- "to blow, to breathe" (source also of Sanskrit bhas-), "Probably imitative" [Watkins]. Beekes finds this tempting but not convincing and doubts the existence of the PIE verb based on scant evidence.

Personified by the Greeks as Psykhē, the beloved of Eros, often represented as a fair young girl; the butterfly was her symbol.  Also in ancient Greek, "departed soul, spirit, ghost," seen as a winged creature and often represented symbolically as a butterfly or moth.

The word had extensive sense development in Platonic philosophy and Jewish-influenced theological writing of St. Paul (compare spirit (n.)). Thus in Biblical use the Greek word was "the soul as the seat of feelings, desires, affections, etc.," also "the soul regarded as a moral being designed for everlasting life," and "the soul as an essence which differs from the body and is not dissolved by death." In English, the meaning "human soul" is from 1650s; the psychological sense of "mind" is attested by 1910.

In the Jewish-Alexandrine Pauline, and Neo-Platonist psychology, the psyche is in general treated as the animating principle in close relation to the body, whereas the pneuma (as representing the divine breath breathed into man), the nous, and the Logos (q.v.) stand for higher entities. They are the more universal, the more divine, the ethically purer. By this more explicit separation of the intellectual and ethical activities from the physiological the conception of the mental or psychical (in the modern sense) was at length reached. ["Dictionary of Philosophy and Psychology," J.M. Baldwin, ed., London, 1902]