animae

Animae is the Latin plural of anima, a word meaning soul, spirit, or life principle. In Latin, anima is a feminine noun of the first declension, and animæ (often written animæ) serves as the nominative plural. The plural form is used in philosophical, theological, and literary contexts to refer to multiple souls or to personified or collective life-spans.

In classical and medieval Latin, animæ can denote the souls of individuals, the spirits of beings, or the animating force by which living things are sustained. The term appears in scholarly, exegetical, and poetic texts where discussion centers on life, fate, or afterlife, as well as in phrases describing groups of souls or the afterlife in religious literature.

In modern scholarship, animæ is typically encountered when Latin quotations are used within discussions of ancient philosophy, theology, or Jungian psychology. In Jungian theory, anima refers to the inner feminine aspect of the male psyche; when Latin sources are cited, the plural animæ may appear in quoted passages, but the concept is usually treated in English as anima rather than as a distinct modern term.

The term should not be confused with anime, the Japanese animation genre, which is unrelated to the Latin word anima or its plural animæ.

See also: anima, animus, Jungian archetypes.