Where does “vitalism” come from?
Vitalism derives from English vital combined with the suffix -ισμός from Ancient Greek, itself from Latin vitalis meaning of life, from Latin vivo meaning to live, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European gʷeih₃w-.
vitalism (English): The doctrine that life involves some immaterial...
Definitions
- The doctrine that life involves some immaterial...
Ancestry of “vitalism”, step by step
vitalism traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via English vital
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | vital | Relating to, or characteristic of life; Necessary... |
| 2 | Middle French | vitalité | — |
| 3 | Latin | vitalitas | life, vitality |
| 4 | Latin | vītālis | of or pertaining to life; vital, life-giving |
| 5 | Latin | vīta | life |
| 6 | Latin | vīvō | to live |
| 7 | Proto-Italic | gʷīwō | live, be alive |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | gʷíh₃weti | to live, to be alive |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | gʷih₃wós | alive, living |
| 10 | Proto-Indo-European | gʷeih₃w- | to live |
via French vitalisme
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | French | vitalisme | vitalism |
| 2 | French | -ïsme | -ism, variant of -isme following vowels |
| 3 | Latin | -isma | Alternative form of -ismus; -ism |
| 4 | Latin | -ismus | -ism |
| 5 | Ancient Greek | -ισμός | Forms abstract nouns |
| 6 | Ancient Greek | -μός | Forms abstract nouns |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | -mós | Creates action/result nouns from verb stems |