From Latin 'inspirare' (to breathe into) — the original meaning of breathing life shifted to creative or divine impulse.
To fill someone with the urge or ability to do or feel something creative or extraordinary; to create a feeling in a person; to breathe in (archaic/technical).
From Old French 'enspirer,' from Latin 'inspīrāre' (to breathe into, to blow upon, to inspire), from 'in-' (into) + 'spīrāre' (to breathe), from PIE *speys- (to blow). The original sense was literal — to breathe life or spirit into someone. God 'inspired' Adam by breathing the breath of life into him. The metaphorical extension to 'filling with creative or emotional impulse' developed from the theological
In medical terminology, 'inspire' retains its literal meaning: to inspire is to breathe in (inhale), and an inspiration is an inhalation. The dual survival of the word — as a clinical term for inhaling and as an everyday term for creative motivation — preserves the full arc of the Latin original, from physical breath to divine influence. The Muses of Greek mythology were said to 'breathe into' the poet, a concept perfectly