soul

Meanings

Noun

• The spirit or essence of a person usually thought to consist of one's thoughts and personality. Often believed to live on after the person's death.
• The spirit or essence of anything.
• Life, energy, vigor.
• Soul music.
• A person, especially as one among many.
• An individual life.
• A kind of submanifold involved in the soul theorem of Riemannian geometry.

Verb

• To endow with a soul; to furnish with a soul or mind.
• To beg on All Soul's Day.
• To afford suitable sustenance.

Origin

• From Middle English soule, sowle, saule, sawle, from Old English sāwol, from Proto-West Germanic *saiwalu, from Proto-Germanic *saiwalō.
• Cognate with Scots saul, sowel, North Frisian siel, sial, Saterland Frisian Seele, West Frisian siel, Dutch ziel ("soul"), German Seele ("soul") Scandinavian homonyms seem to have been borrowed from Old Saxon *siala. Modern Danish sjæl, Swedish själ, Norwegian sjel. Icelandic sál may have come from Old English sāwol.
• Borrowed from French souler ("to satiate").