Nafs نفس - Ego

A student in arabic ask me the used and meaning of the particle ف so I explained it grammaticaly, but also etymologically : distanciation, gap. For more detail about the meaning of the hebrew-arabic letters, here.

Etymologically, this graphem represented a Mouth. This is a clue of the antic meaning of this phonem, preserved till today.

Any etymon in نفس and its meaning?

The point, naked meaning, letter by letter :

ن = Unity, Globality, from a generic
ف = distanciation, gap
س = ongoing, wearing down

نفس is related to breath machine, while روح (air) it's about what coming in. Arabic is a refined language!

*inner vs outer = distanciation. In french souffle (with unknow origin, but see again SF in souffle).

أَفْسَأُ i. q. أَبْزَخُ [i. e. Having a protuberant breast, or chest, and hollow back;, &c.]: or having a protuberant breast, or chest, and the lower part of the belly prominent: (M, Ḳ:) fem. فَسَآءُ: (M:) and (M, in the Ḳ “or”) he who, when he walks, is as though his posteriors were in pain (in the M تَوْجَعُ; in some copies of the Ḳ تَوَجَّعُ [as though for تَتَوَجَّعُ], and in some يرجع); as alsoمَفْسُوْءٌ↓: (M, Ḳ:) or he who, when he sits, cannot rise but with an effort: (O, Ḳ:) or whose spine enters into [or turns inwards between] his haunches. (Ḳ.)

والله أعلم