The term "Negro spiritual" first appears in…

The term "Negro spiritual" first appears in print in the 1860s, where slaves are described as using spirituals for religious songs sung sitting or standing in place, and spiritual shouts for more dance-like music (Negro Spirituals by Thomas Wentworth Higginson, The Atlantic, June 1867. Accessed 11/15/2012)

Blending the Colonial singing tradition with the rhythm of work songs, Negro spirituals have emerged from slave culture.

The term spiritual is derived from spiritual song.

The King James Bible's translation of Ephesians 5:19 is: "Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord."

The term "spiritual song" is often used in the black and white Christian community through the nineteenth century (and indeed much earlier), and "spiritual" is used as a noun to mean, according to the context, "spiritual person" or "spiritual thing", but not specifically with regard to song.