In terminology, living , from the proto-German liben, from proto-Indo-European leib- ‘to remain, continue’ (Ѻ), as contrasted with non-living, is an adjective of the defunct theory scientific term “life” (see: defunct theory of life), according to theory of life, as in “having life”, “condition of being alive”, depending.
Discussion
In 1966, English geneticist Francis Crick, in his Molecules and Men lectures on the demise of vitalism, opening to the following position: [1]
“It is notoriously difficult to define the word ‘living’. In many cases we all know whether something is alive or dead. You are ‘alive’ cats and dogs alive; whereas a rock or a pane of glass is dead. But the word ‘dead’ is a bad one, because it implies that the object was once alive and is now dead. It is interesting that there is no simple word for something that is not alive and never has been. In the old game, the question was ‘Animal, Vegetable, or Mineral?’ and the word ‘mineral’ does not service for the sense we want.”