Greeks used 'psyche' for breath, soul, and butterfly — the soul as a winged creature departing at death.
The human soul, mind, or spirit; the totality of the human mind, both conscious and unconscious.
From Latin 'psychē,' from Greek 'psȳchḗ' (breath, life, soul, mind), from 'psȳ́chein' (to blow, to breathe). The semantic progression from 'breath' to 'soul' reflects the ancient equation of breath with life — when breathing stops, life departs. The PIE root is *bʰes- (to blow, to breathe
The Greek word for 'butterfly' was also 'psȳchḗ' — the same word as 'soul.' Ancient Greeks depicted the soul as a butterfly leaving the body at death, and artistic representations of the goddess Psyche show her with butterfly wings. This poetic equation of butterfly and soul — both fragile, both transforming, both taking flight — is preserved in modern entomology
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