Climate, Weather and Health
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Meteorology Beyond Borders
πνεῦμα
see also:
ἄνεμος, wind
wind
Aristotle METE
πνεῦμα
DEF: as exhalation III 1.371a5, cf. IV 9.387a29; II 4.360a13;
• analogy II 8.366b17, b22, 368a9, b23;
• and air II 4.361a26, 8.366b7, 367a24, a34, 367b17, b31;
• and cloud II 9.369a35-36, III 1.370b17;
• and drought II 8.366b7;
• and earthquake II 8.366a8-9, 367a5;
• and eclipse II 8.367b24;
• and halo III 3.373a24;
• and mountains I 3.341a1;
• and place II 8.366b1;
• and sea II 8.368b1, 369a1;
• and season II 4.360b1, 8.366b4;
• and sun II 5.361b14, 6.364b17, 8.365b27;
• and thunderbolt III 1.371b8;
• and ἄνεμος II 4.361a28; and rain II 4.360b29;
• as lightning II 9.369b4;
• as smoke III 1.371a33;
• cause of I 1.338b26; II 1.353b8;
• causing motion [= earthquake] II 8.366a4, 367b24, 368a2, a28, b1, b11, b23;
• causing noise II 8.368a15, III 1.371b13;
• causing thunder and lightning III 1.370b2-3;
• change of II 8.367a28-29;
• cold / warm II 6.364a23;
• coloured II 9.369b7;
• contrary II 6.363b9-10, I 7.344b36, II 8.368a35, b5;
• dense / rare III 1.370b32, 371a16;
• [directions]
- north II 4.361a5; 5.363a2;
- south II 4.361a5;
- west DEF: II 6.363b11;
•
• downburst III 1.371a4-5;
• excess of I 7.344b31, II 4.361a21;
• foreshadowed by I 7.344b20, III 3.372b20;
• most important and defined II 6.364a5;
• motion of II 8.366a1, III 1.371a13;
• names of II 6.363b11; 364a23;
• nature of II 8.366a1;
• ordering of II 5.362b32-33;
• origin of II 4.361a26, 6.364b17, 8.366a21;
• power of II 8.366b22;
• shape of III 1.370b22;
• strong / weak II 4.361b8, 8.366a31, 367a30, b11;
• underground II 8.367a12;
• whirlwind III 1.371a3;
• without contrary II 6.363b28;
Lucretius DRN
ventus, -i
Seneca NQ
ventus, -i
DEF: as air in motion VI 685;
o and cloud VI 125 (nubes-is), 444 (nubes-is), 260 (nimbus-i);
o and fire VI 300, 310;
o and seeds of heat VI 274;
o and storm VI 124 (procella-ae), 269 (tempestas-atis);
o and thunder VI 98;
o causing shower VI 293;
o cold / warm VI 310, 319;
o eddy of VI 444;
o force of VI 128, 281, 295, 300, 310, 319, 431, 510, 560, 582, 592;
o making sound VI 115;
o sign of VI 222;
o underground VI 557; whirling VI 153;
DEF: as flowing air V 1.1.1;
o and place I 2.5.6-7;
o ceasing I 1.13.4;
o favourable I pr.13.5;
o foreshadowed by I 1.12.5;
o origin of I 1.12.5;
o weak / strong I 2.6.2
References for Greek and Latin
for ventus (Lucretius)
Durant, N. The Importance of Wind and Air in Book 6 of Lucretius' De Rerum Natura (Bachelor thesis, Wesleyan University 2012).
and for ventus (Seneca)
Williams, G., 2012, The Cosmic Viewpoint: A Study of Seneca’s Natural Questions, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 171–212.
and for ἄνεμος (Aristotle)
Wilson, M. 2013, Structure and Method in Aristotle's Meteorologica. A More Disorderly Nature, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 196–216
Modern Description
written by Susanne M Hoffmann
The Greek term "pneuma" has different meanings for different scholars at different times. Sometimes it is used for "air" which is the gas of the Earth's atmosphere. Sometimes it is used for "wind" with the motion of air. Sometimes, in particular in scholarly texts about optics, the term is even used for a mixture of air and light (or: illuminated air = the blue sky of the day). The term is not always clearly translatable into a modern term.
Further Remarks