The Koine Greek

The Koine Greek Septuagint uses ψυχή (psyche) to translate Hebrew נפש (nephesh), meaning “life, vital breath”, and specifically refers to a mortal, physical life, but in English it is variously translated as “soul, self, life, creature, person, appetite, mind, living being, desire, emotion, passion”;[citation needed] an example can be found in Genesis 1:21:

Hebrew – וַיִּבְרָא אֱלֹהִים, אֶת-הַתַּנִּינִם הַגְּדֹלִים; וְאֵת כָּל-נֶפֶשׁ הַחַיָּה הָרֹמֶשֶׂת[citation needed]
Septuagint – καὶ ἐποίησεν ὁ θεὸς τὰ κήτη τὰ μεγάλα καὶ πᾶσαν ψυχὴν ζῴων ἑρπετῶν.
Vulgate – Creavitque Deus cete grandia, et omnem animam viventem atque motabilem.
Authorized King James Version – “And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth.”
The Koine Greek word ψυχή (psychē), “life, spirit, consciousness”, is derived from a verb meaning “to cool, to blow”, and hence refers to the breath, as opposed to σῶμα (soma), meaning “body”.[citation needed] Psychē occurs juxtaposed to σῶμα, as seen in Matthew 10:28:

Greek – καὶ μὴ φοβεῖσθε ἀπὸ τῶν ἀποκτεννόντων τὸ σῶμα, τὴν δὲ ψυχὴν μὴ δυναμένων ἀποκτεῖναι· φοβεῖσθε δὲ μᾶλλον τὸν δυνάμενον καὶ ψυχὴν καὶ σῶμα ἀπολέσαι ἐν γεέννῃ.
Vulgate – et nolite timere eos qui occidunt corpus animam autem non-possunt occidere sed potius eum timete qui potest et animam et corpus perdere in gehennam.
Authorized King James Version (KJV) – “And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”
Paul the Apostle used ψυχή (psychē) and πνεῦμα (pneuma) specifically to distinguish between the Jewish notions of נפש (nephesh) and רוח ruah (spirit)[citation needed] (also in the Septuagint, e.g. Genesis 1:2 רוּחַ אֱלֹהִים = πνεῦμα θεοῦ = spiritus Dei = “the Spirit of God”).