SUFLARE · DUH · SUFLET
Why do we need two breaths?
Suflet is Latin breath — *suflitus, says DEX, with a single f; duh is Slavic breath — duhŭ, same DEX. One for everyday people, one for the Holy Spirit. And the great division is written in dictionaries, not in heaven.
- 2 bellows
- Latin *suflitus vs Slavic duhŭ
- 1 f
- DEX writes suflitus single-f, MDA2 double
- 1929
- Șăineanu joins the pair: “suflare (cf. duh)”
The page's machine
The bellows, mouth by mouth
Seven mouths of air, two bellows. Tap each piece: see which language blows it and which dictionary holds it. The RO/LA/SL tags name the language; where the mouth is disputed, the tag says so.
suflet today's Romanian RO
DEX '09: “– Lat. *suflitus (< suflare)” — asterisk + single f. Plural suflete, stress on the u. (DEX)
*suflitus Latin LA
DEX's asterisked form: reconstructed, single-f. The star says the form is reconstructed, not attested.
sufflare Latin LA
MDA2: “ml sufflitus (< sufflare)” — here the f is double, as with the classics. Same blowing, two spellings. (MDA2)
sufflo to inflate LA
L&S: “to blow forth from below; to blow up, puff out, inflate” — to swell from within. The Latin dictionary lists it in the 1st person.
duh today's Romanian RO
DEX '09: “– Din sl. duhŭ” — Old Slavic, Romanian spelling. Plural duhuri. (DEX)
duchŭ Old Slavic SL
DER: “Sl. duchŭ” — with Bulg. duh “spirit” and Slovene duh “smell”. Breath, blowing, soul. (DER)
duxŭ Common Slavic SL
“gust (of wind); breath; soul; spirit” — wind, breath, soul, spirit, in a single word. (dictionary)
Scriban does NOT enter the bellows: “d. a sufla… cu sufixu -et” — the home-made derivation sits in the hypothesis stamp, not on the Latin pipe.
Who blows where
Division: the day's soul, glory's Spirit
The two breaths divided the work: one for everyday people, one for holy things — with the fossils in plain sight.
Suflet: everyday people
DEX: “Totalitatea proceselor afective…; psihic” — no register label. Suflet belongs to everyone. (DEX)
Duh: the holiness pole
DEX: “(În superstiții) Ființă supranaturală… Sfântul Duh = una dintre cele trei ipostaze…” — the sacred takes its own label. (DEX)
Fossils: Într-un duh, a-și da duhul
“(Înv.) Respirație, suflare, răsuflare” — the old blowing lives only in set phrases: “Într-un duh = foarte repede. A-și da duhul = a muri.” (DEX)
Duh's kin: duhoare & co.
DER: duhăi/duhni, duhoare, duhnet… — from duh come both smell and heavy breathing. The Slavic family, inventoried. (DER)
Suflet's holes: no DER, no years
DER is missing from the suflet page (menu only); COD. VOR. and PSALT. HUR. come yearless; derivatives missing — only regional sufleț (E: sufla). (DEX)
The same blowing, other tongues
Cousins: anima, soul, ghost
From Rome to England, the soul was always breath — and the English name their hole.
Anima: she who blows
L&S: “that which blows or breathes… air, a current of air, a breeze, wind” — the Latin soul is breath too.
Spiritus: the gentle blowing
L&S: “a breathing or gentle blowing of air, a breath, breeze” — from spiro, “to breathe, blow”.
Soul: of uncertain origin
Etymonline: “from Proto-Germanic *saiwalō…, a word of uncertain origin” — the English admit their hole. Dictionary honesty.
Ghost: the holy brother
“from Old English gast 'breath; good or bad spirit…'” — and: “used to render Latin spiritus… in Holy Ghost”. The mirror of Sfântul Duh.
Who heard the blowing
Four witnesses
From DEX to Vasmer and Șăineanu: four dictionaries each hearing one breath.
DEX: suflet
“SUFLET, suflete, s. n. … – Lat. *suflitus (< suflare).”
The Explanatory Dictionary, s.v. suflet
The Latin sheet: asterisk, single f, suflare in brackets. Identical in '98.
DEX: duh
“DUH, duhuri, s. n. … – Din sl. duhŭ.”
The Explanatory Dictionary, s.v. duh
The Slavic sheet: from Old Slavic, Romanian spelling. Identical in '98.
Vasmer (mirror)
“ст.-слав. доухъ πνοή, πνεῦμα, ψυχή (Супр.)…”
Vasmer prin gufo.me, s.v. дух
Old Slavic with three Greek senses: breath, spirit, soul. The main source was down (500).
Șăineanu, 1929
“[Lit. suflare, de unde spirit (cf. duh)…]”
Șăineanu, 6th ed., s.v. suflet
The pair in a single line: the Latin blowing cites its Slavic duh.
Where we stand
What we know and what we reconstruct
Four drawers for the whole page: the pair, the stars, why it holds, and what stays open.
What we know
Suflet ← *suflitus (DEX) / sufflitus (MDA2); duh ← duhŭ/duchŭ (DEX/DER); the day-soul vs Holy-Spirit split sits in the senses.
What we reconstruct
The asterisk of *suflitus and *duxŭ “gust of wind; breath; soul; spirit” — starred forms, not documented ones.
Why it holds
DEX (both sheets) + DER + MDA2 + L&S + Vasmer tell the same wind; Șăineanu joins the pair in one line.
What stays open
f or ff?; the COD. VOR./PSALT. HUR. years; дочхъ vs доухъ; the empty DER-suflet.
Three stops
Three dates
The whole road on one rail: the pair named, the Slavic sheet, the seals.
Șăineanu
1929
6th ed.: suflet “Lit. suflare… (cf. duh)” — the pair named in a single dictionary line.
stop 1 of 3
DER
1958
Ciorănescu starts the dictionary: duh “Sl. duchŭ… cf. bg. duh, slov. duh”. The Slavic sheet, with references.
stop 2 of 3
DEX '09
2009
Both seals: “Lat. *suflitus (< suflare)” and “Din sl. duhŭ” — the bellows side by side.
stop 3 of 3
1955–57 DLRLC · 1998 DEX '98 · 2010 MDA2 · 2021 DOOM 3.
The road of the soul
sufflare
to blow, in Latin
duhŭ
the blowing, in Slavic
suflet
the soul, with us
Where the bellows tangle
Three question marks, no winner
The pair is solid — the spellings are not. The page's verdict: DISPUTED
f or ff?
DEX: *suflitus, single-f. MDA2: sufflitus (< sufflare), double-f. Two dictionaries, two spellings — this page does not choose.
дочхъ or доухъ?
MDA2 prints “vsl дочхъ”; Vasmer prints “доухъ”. One letter apart — this page shows both forms, choosing neither.
Where is DER-suflet?
On the duh page, DER gives everything; on the suflet page, DER appears in the menu only, with no definition shown. The hole stays visible.
No disputed breath gets a single truth on this page: mechanisms stand with their source beside them, and the alternatives stay on the table.
What is NOT disputed: the Latin suflet, the Slavic duh, the split in the senses — every source agrees on those.
Test yourself
Which is older?
Six landmarks from the page, shuffled. Put them from oldest to newest.
Move each card to its position, 1 to 6. Keys 1–6 move the chosen card; cards drag with a finger too.
- 1958
DER begins: Sl. duchŭ
Position - 1929
Șăineanu: “suflare (cf. duh)”
Position - 2009
DEX '09: both seals
Position - 1939
Scriban: “cu sufixu -et”
Position - 1998
DEX '98: *suflitus + duhŭ
Position - 1955–57
DLRLC: no etymology
Position
Score: 0 of 6
The right order, oldest first:
- 1929 — Șăineanu: “suflare (cf. duh)”
- 1939 — Scriban: “cu sufixu -et”
- 1955–57 — DLRLC: no etymology
- 1958 — DER begins: Sl. duchŭ
- 1998 — DEX '98: *suflitus + duhŭ
- 2009 — DEX '09: both seals
The settled row: every landmark in its place.
Sources
The bellows first, then the division and cousins; neighbours last. Every risky claim points at its source.
The Latin sheet
- DEX '09: *suflitus (dictionary)
- MDA2: sufflitus (dictionary)
- L&S: sufflo, to inflate (dictionary)
- L&S: spiro, to breathe (dictionary)
The Slavic sheet
- DEX '09: duhŭ (dictionary)
- DER: duchŭ + the kin (dictionary)
- Vasmer: доухъ (mirror)
- *duxŭ: wind, breath, soul (dictionary)
Division and cousins
- Duhul Sfânt, the hypostasis (dictionary)
- L&S: anima, she who blows (dictionary)
- L&S: spiritus (dictionary)
- soul, uncertain origin (dictionary)
- ghost = spiritus (dictionary)
Catalogue neighbours
- articolul-de-la-coada: the tail machine
- verbul-a-fi: the melt machine
- dusmanul-gand-rau: the word autopsy
- gagiu: the two-dock trial
- bogatul: the Slavic scales
- oastea: the Latin flip
Type: Fraunces and Source Serif 4, under the SIL Open Font Licence.