Corporeal

[Dr. Goodword]

• corporeal •

Pronunciation: • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Adjective

Meaning: 1. Bodily, pertaining to a tangible physical animal body as opposed to the soul or spirit. 2. Material, related to the physical world.

Notes: This word has the opposite meaning of spiritual. Be careful not to confuse it with corporal [kor-pêr-rêl], which also means "bodily", but does not imply you are distinguishing the bodily from the spiritual. 'Corporeal matters' are usually related to the flesh, but the term can be stretched to include the material evidence of any idea, as "A novel is the corporeal relic of the author's mind."

In Play: The original sense of the word seemed more at home in a Church setting: "Transubstantiation makes the body and blood of Christ corporeal in the Roman Catholic communion." But secular applications do arise: "The corporeal flaws seem to mount with age no matter how much you exercise."

Word History: This Good Word is based on Latin corporeus "corporeal" with the addition of the adjective suffix -al. Corporeus comes from corp(o)r- "body". The underlying PIE root kwrep- "body, form, appearance" gave us the words, borrowed from Latin, corpuscle, corpse, corpus, and, oddly enough, leprechaun. The Irish word is lucorpan, from Old Irish lu- "small" + corp-an "body" from the same Latin root, a testament to how Church Latin was interwoven with Irish Gaelic over the centuries. Midriff was created in Old English from mid "middle" + hrif "belly", the Old Germanic version of PIE kwrep-.

[Slava]

"corporeal relic of the author's mind" - Ouch. I don't think that would qualify as a rave review.

[George Kovac]

Notes: This word has the opposite meaning of spiritual. Be careful not to confuse it with corporal [kor-pêr-rêl], which also means "bodily", but does not imply you are distinguishing the bodily from the spiritual.

Sorry to cavil, but I respectfully disagree. The devil is in the details.

As traditionally spelled by the Roman Catholic Church, “corporal” is used precisely to contrast with things spiritual. Catholics are encouraged to practice acts of charity called the “Works of Mercy.” The Works of Mercy are separated into two categories: “Spiritual Works of Mercy” and “Corporal Works of Mercy.” No “e” in corporal. The Corporal Works of Mercy deal with comforting the body (e.g., feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless). The Spiritual Works of Mercy deal with comforting the spirit (e.g., counselling the doubtful, offering patience or forgiveness).

Perhaps it is a bit devilish (or at least unchristian of me) to argue that corporal and corporeal are the same thing in this context. What difference does one vowel make? In the history of the Catholic Church, a lot. At the Council of Nicaea, Constantine’s bishops argued bitterly over the choice between two Greek words whose spelling varied only by the inclusion of a single extra vowel. The two Greek words in question meant “the same as” and “similar to,” which subtlety was a big deal when arguing spiritual matters in the fourth century. Some modern cynics think there is not an iota’s worth of difference between the two concepts. Same for corporal/corporeal.

[LukeJavan8]

And in the Catholic Church the "corporal" is the square
piece of cloth placed on the altar upon which the
bread and wine to be consecrated are placed during
the Eucharist or the Mass.