lethargic

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English litargik,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Medieval Latin litargicus and Old French litargique,^[2][4] later reshaped after Latin lēthargicus,^[4][5][6] from Ancient Greek ληθαργικός (lēthargikós, “drowsy”),^[5][3][6][7] from λήθαργος (lḗthargos, “forgetful; inactive”),^[5][3][6][7] the source too of lethargy.^[5][3] Etymonline and Klein take this adjective as formed from λήθη (lḗthē, “forgetfulness”) and ἀργός (argós, “idle”),^[3][8] and the OED calls it a derivative or compound of the stem of λανθάνω (lanthánō, “to escape notice”).^[5] Merriam-Webster Unabridged prefers a route through Middle French lethargique.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Affected with morbid drowsiness: before 1398, in Trevisa's translation of Bartholomaeus Anglicus, as litargyk, of a man who has þe slepyng euel.^[5][2]

Semantic evolution

The word began as a medical term for people with the disease of lethargy, and it served as a noun for such a patient as well, recorded in Trevisa and used until about the mid 18th century.^[2][6][5] In 1595 it was used of the state itself, in a letter of James VI to Elizabeth I,^[5][3] and in 1612, in Donne's Second Anniversary, it was transferred to anything inert, dull or sluggish, which is now its everyday sense.^[5] From 1718, in Pope's translation of the Iliad, it could also mean "causing lethargy".^[5][6] In the 17th century English also had a verb lethargize and a noun letharge, a lethargic patient.^[3] The form with -th- dates from the 1590s in lethargy.^[3]

Timeline

• before 1398 – affected with morbid drowsiness; noun, a person so affected.^[5][2]
• 1595 – of or belonging to a state of lethargy.^[5][3]
• 1612 – inert, dull, sluggish, apathetic.^[5]
• 1718 – causing lethargy.^[5][6]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Slow, sluggish and lacking energy; apathetic: The heat left the whole team lethargic.^[9][5][6]
2. Of or relating to lethargy; affected with morbid drowsiness.^[9][5][6]
3. Causing lethargy.^[5][6]

Noun

1. (obsolete) A person affected with lethargy.^[5][6][2]

Word family

• lethargically

Related words

• lethargy
• Lethe
• argon

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster