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frénétique

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Etymology and origin of the French word frénétique

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
c. 1200 Dialogues de saint Grégoire More words from the 12th century
Borrowed from
Latin phreneticus
Ultimate origin
Ancient Greek φρενῖτις
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Ancient Greek φρήν (phrḗn)
Ancient Greek φρενῖτις (phrenîtis)
Ancient Greek φρενιτικός (phrenitikós)
Latin phrenēticus
Italian farnetico
English frenetic
French frénétique
The word's journey

Pronunciation

  • /fʁe.ne.tik/[1]

Forms

frénétique (plural frénétiques)[1] Old French frenetike.[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin phrenēticus (“delirious, frenzied”),[3][4][5] an alteration of Ancient Greek φρενιτικός (phrenītikós), from φρενῖτις (phrenîtis, “inflammation of the brain, frenzy”).[2][6] Old French also had fernicle (“violent, bold”) (Anglo-Norman, about 1185), from a syncopated form *frenicus.[3][5]

Cognate with Italian frenetico, Spanish frenético and Occitan frenetic.[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found about 1200 as frenetike, in the Dialogues of Saint Gregory, meaning “seized with furious delirium”.[3][2] Beaumanoir uses frenetiques of madmen in the 13th century.[7][2]

Semantic evolution

The word followed frénésie.[5] The medical sense, “affected with frenzy or delirium”, is now dated.[3][8] From 1544 (Maurice Scève) it described a person driven by excessive passion, and then anything carried to frenzy: wild applause, a frantic rhythm.[3][2][8]

In the 20th century, literary history applied it to the writers and works that pushed some tendencies of Romanticism, horror and the macabre to their extreme.[5][8] The adverb frénétiquement dates from 1615.[5]

Timeline

  • c. 1200 – Frenetike “delirious, raving” in the Dialogues of Saint Gregory.[3][2]
  • c. 1283 – Beaumanoir uses the form frenetique.[2][7]
  • 1544 – Maurice Scève uses it for a person moved by excessive passion.[3][5]
  • 1615 – The adverb frénétiquement is recorded.[5]
  • 1764 – Voltaire uses it of something carried to frenzy.[2]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. frantic, frenzied: carried to frenzy, violently excited, as in Le public a applaudi de manière frénétique.[8][1][9]
  2. (literary history) Of the Romantic writers who exaggerated horror, the fantastic and the macabre.[8][5]
  3. (medicine, dated) Affected with frenzy or furious delirium; as a noun, such a person.[8][3][7]

References

  1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
  4. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  6. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  7. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  8. ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  9. ^ Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Frénétique.” Etymologically, 14 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/fr%C3%A9n%C3%A9tique. Accessed 15 Nov. 2026.

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