adspiratio

aspīrātĭo ( adsp- ), ōnis, f. [id.].

I.

In gen.

A.

Lit., a blowing or breathing to or upon: animantes adspiratione aëris sustinentur, by the blowing or breathing of the air (not by respiration, as it is commonly rendered), Cic. N. D. 2, 33, 83:

ventorum,

Lact. 7, 3 fin. —

B.

Trop.:

superni numinis,

favor, Amm. 15, 2.—Hence,

II.

Esp.

A.

Evaporation, exhalation:

quae omnia fiunt et ex caeli varietate et ex disparili adspiratione terrarum,

Cic. Div. 1, 36, 79; 1, 57, 130.—

B.

In gram., the enunciation of a word with an h sound, a breathing, aspiration:

ita majores locutos esse, ut nusquam nisi in vocali aspiratione uterentur,

Cic. Or. 48, 160:

per aspirationem apud nos potest quaeri, an in scripto sit vitium, si h littera est, non nota,

Quint. 1, 5, 19; 1, 4, 9 Spald.; 1, 6, 21; 6, 3, 55 al.; cf. Apul. de Nota Aspirat. Osann.—Hence meton., the aspirate, i.e. the letter H itself, Prisc. p. 547; 1038 al.; Phoc. Aspir. p. 1721 sq. P.