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Origin and history of spirituality

spirituality(n.)

late 14c., spiritualite, "immateriality" (of angels), also "the clergy," also "ecclesiastical property; things pertaining to the Church," from Anglo-French spiritualite, Old French espiritualite, and directly from Late Latin spiritualitatem (nominative spiritualitas), from Latin spiritualis (see spiritual (adj.)).

The meaning "quality of being spiritual, spiritual tendency" is from c. 1500; the seldom-used sense of "fact or condition of being a spirit" is from 1680s.

Also in early use was spiritualty (late 14c.). English is blessed with multiple variants of many words but has made scant use of most. For every pair historic/historical; realty/reality, or luxuriant/luxurious there is a spiritualty/spirituality or a specialty/speciality, with distinct forms suitable to senses requiring differentiation. But with hundreds of years gone by there is little progress in sorting them.

also from late 14c.

Entries linking to spirituality

spiritual(adj.)

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 Spirituose, a coinage of the 17c., was rare and now is obsolete.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.]
spiritualty(n.)

c. 1400, spiritualte, "spirituality, quality of being spiritual" (senses now obsolete); also "the whole clergy of a national church, an ecclesiastical body," from Old French espiritualte, espirituaute, variants of spiritualite, from Late Latin spiritualitatem (see spirituality).

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    benefice
    c. 1300, "a church living, church office endowed with a revenue," from Old French benefice (13c.) and directly from Latin beneficium "a favor, service, generosity, kindness, benefit," from beneficus "generous, kind, benevolent, obliging," from bene- "good, well" (see bene-) + -fi
    property
    c. 1300, properte, "nature, quality, distinctive character always present in an individual or class," later "possession, land or goods owned, things subject to ownership" (early 14c., but this sense is rare before 17c.), from an Anglo-French modification of Old French proprete, "
    historic
    1660s, "of or belonging to history," probably a back-formation from historical, perhaps influenced by French historique. Meaning "what is noted or celebrated in history" is from 1794. Though both historic and historical have been used in both senses by respected authors, now the
    historical
    early 15c., "of or pertaining to history, conveying information from the past," with -al (1) + Latin historicus "of history, historical," from Greek historikos "historical; of or for inquiry," from historia (see history). For sense differentiation, see historic. Meaning "narrated
    realty
    1660s, "real estate, real property," from earlier meaning "a real possession" (1540s), earlier still "reality" (mid-15c.), from Old French realite, realte, from Medieval Latin realitatem (nominative realitas), from Late Latin realis "actual" (see real (adj.)). The notion behind t
    reality
    1540s, "quality of being real, objective reality," from French réalité and directly from Medieval Latin realitatem (nominative realitas), from Late Latin realis (see real (adj.)). Also compare realty, which was the older form of the word in the sense of "reality" (mid-15c.). Mean
    luxurious
    c. 1300, "lascivious, lecherous, unchaste," from Old French luxurios "lustful, lascivious" (Modern French luxurieux), from Latin luxuriosus "immoderate, excessive; voluptuous; profuse," from luxuria "excess, profusion; extravagant living" (see luxury). Meaning "given to luxury, v
    specialty
    c. 1300, "particular affection; special attachment or favor, partiality," from Old French especialte, the more vernacular form of specialite (see speciality). Compare personalty/personality; realty/reality. It is attested by early 15c. as "unusual or extraordinary thing, peculiar
    speciality
    early 15c., "a distinctive quality or thing;" mid-15c. as "quality of being special," from Old French specialte, especialte "nature, special quality, particularity; special point, distinction," and directly from Latin specialitatem (nominative specialitas) "peculiarity, particula
    church
    Old English cirice, circe "place of assemblage set aside for Christian worship; the body of Christian believers, Christians collectively; ecclesiastical authority or power," from Proto-Germanic *kirika (source also of Old Saxon kirika, Old Norse kirkja, Old Frisian zerke, Middle

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