hydrophobique

Forms

hydrophobique (plural hydrophobiques)^[1] Old French ydroforbique (1314).^[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin hydrophobicus (“of hydrophobia”),^[2][3] which is from Ancient Greek ὑδροφοβικός (hudrophobikós).^[1][2] The Late Latin adjective was formed beside the noun hydrophobia,^[3] from which French hydrophobie was borrowed in the same text of 1314.^[2] Wiktionary analyses the French adjective instead as formed from that noun with the suffix -ique.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded in 1314 as ydroforbique in the surgical treatise of Henri de Mondeville, meaning “having a morbid fear of water”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

From the medical sense of “suffering from hydrophobia” the adjective came to mean, more broadly, “relating to hydrophobia”, the sense Littré gives: les accidents hydrophobiques are the symptoms of the disease.^[4][2] In 20th-century medicine it qualified forms of other diseases that resemble rabies, such as a tétanos hydrophobique.^[2] Stendhal used it figuratively in 1832 for an almost physical horror (une horreur presque hydrophobique) at the sight of coarse people.^[2] The Grand Robert also records it as a noun.^[3]

Timeline

• 1314 – Ydroforbique “afraid of water” appears in Henri de Mondeville's Chirurgie.^[2]
• 1832 – Stendhal uses it figuratively in the Souvenirs d'égotisme.^[2]
• 1873 – Littré defines it as “relating to hydrophobia”.^[4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Relating to hydrophobie or rabies; suffering from it.^[2][4][1]
2. (figurative) Showing an intense, almost physical aversion.^[2]

Related words

• hydrophobie
• Late Latin hydrophobicus
• English hydrophobic

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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
3. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette