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Prior to the sixth century A.D., the Greeks used several terms for that which, in their view, animated the body. If we believe Homer, this is thumos, “passion, will, spirit” and psuchè, “life, breath,” which escapes from the mouth of the dying person—the shadow image leaving the lifeless man (Iliad XXII, 466 and 475), breath image, or bodily substance. In Homer the concept of the soul is connected to more ancient beliefs and is in sharp contrast to them. This great poet also used the terms phrén/phrènes, “diaphragm, will, thought”; êtor, “lung”; and kér, “heart, feelings.” Empedocles, who died around 490 B.C., used prapidès, “diaphragm,” a word that designates, without clearly distinguishing between them, both an organ of the body and a psychic activity.
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Claude Lecouteux (Witches, Werewolves, and Fairies: Shapeshifters and Astral Doubles in the Middle Ages)