Kilo Lingo

#708 of 5,000 Core 1000

Translation

breeze, air; breath

Examples

leni movetur.

The ship is moved by a gentle breeze.

frigida .

A cold breeze came down from the mountain.

.

The boy was born into the light of day.

abierunt.

His words vanished into thin air.

.

The shout rose up into the open air.

Aura, aurae is first declension feminine, borrowed early from Greek aura, "breeze". Prose uses it for a light current of air, where ventus is the wind proper and aer the substance you breathe.

The poets stretch it much further. The plural aurae is the open air, and since the open air is where the living are, ad auras venire means to be born or to come up into the light, and superas ad auras is Virgil's way of saying "back to the world above". That usage is why Latin verse can talk about the dead leaving the aurae without meaning anything meteorological. Do not confuse it with aurum, "gold": the two are unrelated despite sharing four letters. English took aura from medieval medicine, where it was the faint breath of sensation before a fit, and only later made it something you allegedly radiate.

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Latin · Free printables

aura: worksheet, infographic and listicle

Free printable study downloads for the Latin word "aura" (breeze, air; breath): a worksheet with the answer key built in, an infographic, and a sentence listicle. Open any one to view, print or save.

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This word is part of lesson 15.