'Supernatural' was coined by medieval theologians — Latin for 'above nature.' Distinguishing divine from natural.
Attributed to some force beyond scientific understanding or the laws of nature; of or relating to a power above natural forces.
From Medieval Latin 'supernātūrālis' (above or beyond nature), composed of Latin 'super-' (above, beyond, exceeding) and 'nātūrālis' (of nature, innate), from 'nātūra' (birth, the natural order, the character of things), from 'nāscī' (to be born), from PIE *ǵenh₁- (to give birth, to beget, to produce). The concept 'above nature' was originally a scholastic theological distinction: the supernatural was that which exceeded the capacity of created nature, accessible only through divine act. The PIE root *ǵenh₁- is among the most generative in the entire family: it underlies
The word 'supernatural' was coined by medieval theologians who needed a term to distinguish God's actions from the operations of the natural world He had created. Thomas Aquinas used the Latin 'supernaturalis' to describe divine grace — something that exceeded what nature could produce on its own. The word began as a precise theological category and only later became associated with ghosts