Etymology

animism

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Today it means: A belief that spirits inhabit some or all classes of natural objects or phenomena. Full definition →

Latin anima ← German Animismus
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The story

  1. German · borrowed fromAnimismus
  2. Latin · derived fromanima“life", "breath", "soul”
  3. English todayanimism

From anima + -ism, from Latin anima (“life", "breath", "soul”). Dated sense from German Animismus, coined c. 1720 by physicist/chemist Georg Ernst Stahl (1660-1734) See anima mundi.

Words from the same roots

Latinanima all →

anima

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.