From Greek 'aura' (breeze, breath) — the medical sense of a pre-seizure warning preserves the original meaning of a subtle emanation.
Definition
A distinctive atmosphere or quality surrounding a person, place, or thing.
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Greek1400swell-attested
From Latin 'aura' (a breath of air, a breeze, the wind), borrowed from Greek 'aura' (a breeze, breath of air, the cool morning wind), connected to PIE *h2ews- (to shine, to be bright — the root of dawn and the east) or alternatively to a root for breath or breeze cognate with Greek 'aer' (air). The Greek 'aura' carried the sense of the imperceptible made perceptible: the invisible movement of air as it brushes against the skin. In classical Latin it described the currents of air surrounding moving objects, the breeze
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TheNewAge sense of a visible energy field around a person extends the metaphor of invisible emanation.
beings. The same PIE root *h2ews- gave 'aurora' (the dawn, the aurora borealis — literally the rosy shine of morning), the Latin goddess Aurora, and Greek Eos (goddess of dawn). Through the same root, English 'east' (the direction of dawn) is a distant cousin of 'aura.' The word connects the most intimate bodily experience — the faint breeze on the skin — to the grandest celestial display. Key roots: aura (Greek: "From Latin 'aura,' from Greek 'aura' mea").