Soul Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ==Etymology== The Modern English noun ''[[:wikt:soul|soul]]'' is derived from [[Old English]] ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest attestations reported in the ''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]'' are from the 8th century. In [[King Alfred]]'s translation of ''[[De Consolatione Philosophiae]]'', it is used to refer to the immaterial, spiritual, or thinking aspect of a person, as contrasted with the person's physical body; in the [[Vespasian Psalter]] 77.50, it means "life" or "animate existence". The Old English word is cognate with other historical [[Germanic languages|Germanic]] terms for the same idea, including [[Old Frisian]] ''sēle, sēl'' (which could also mean "salvation", or "solemn oath"), [[Gothic language|Gothic]] ''saiwala'', [[Old High German]] ''sēula, sēla'', [[Old Saxon]] ''sēola'', and [[Old Norse]] ''sāla''. Present-day cognates include Dutch ''ziel'' and German ''Seele''.<ref name="oed">{{cite web |title=soul, n. |url=https://www.oed.com/view/Entry/185083?rskey=HutjgX&result=1 |website=OED Online |publisher=Oxford University Press |access-date=23 June 2022}}</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page