Etymology

inspire

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Today it means: To infuse into the mind; to communicate to the spirit; to convey, as by a divine or supernatural influence; to disclose preternaturally; to produce in, as by inspiration. Full definition →

Middle English enspiren ← Old French enspirer ← Latin īnspīrō
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*h₁én
  2. Proto-Italic*en
  3. Proto-Italic*en-
  4. Latinin-
  5. Proto-Indo-European*(s)peys-der.?
  6. Latinspīrō
  7. Latinīnspīrō
  8. Old Frenchespirer
  9. Old Frenchenspirer
  10. Middle Englishenspiren
  11. English todayinspire

From Middle English inspiren, enspiren, from Old French inspirer, variant of espirer, from Latin īnspīrāre (“inspire”), itself a loan-translation of Biblical Ancient Greek πνέω (pnéō, “breathe”), from in + spīrō (“breathe”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)peys- (“to blow, breathe”). Displaced native Old English onbryrdan (literally “to prick in”).

Words from the same roots

Proto-Indo-European*(s)peys- all →

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Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.