manie

Forms

manie f (plural manies)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin mania (“madness”), a medical word, which is from Ancient Greek μανία (manía, “madness, frenzy, inspired passion”).^[2][3][4][1] The Greek noun shares its stem with the verb μαίνομαι (maínomai, “to rage, to be mad”), related to Sanskrit मन्यते (mányate, “thinks”) and to Latin mēns (“mind”);^[3][5] Rey notes that it must have narrowed from “to think” to frenzy and madness.^[3][5]

Littré rejects an old link with Mānia, the mother of the Lares.^[5] Cognate with Occitan mania, Spanish manía and Italian mania.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLFi's first record is the Somme Maître Gautier (1398, in a 15th-century manuscript), meaning “madness, derangement, fury”.^[2][3] The Anglo-Norman Dictionary already has manie “mania, madness” in the second quarter of the 13th century.^[6]

Semantic evolution

Supplanted by folie in ordinary use, manie “madness” survived as a medical term for a mental syndrome (about 1550).^[3][7] In the 17th century, through the sense “mind possessed by a fixed idea” (1628), it came to mean an excessive passion for something (1660, Molière's Précieuses ridicules).^[3][2] The Greek sense “creative frenzy, inspired enthusiasm” (1656) died out in the 18th century.^[3] The weakened sense “odd, compulsive habit” emerged in the 18th century (1750–55).^[3][2]

From the 18th century manie also serves as the second part of compounds such as anglomanie (1754), which gave agent nouns in -mane such as anglomane (1765).^[8][3]

Timeline

• 1398 – The Somme Maître Gautier uses it for madness.^[2]
• c. 1550 – It is a medical term for a mental disorder.^[3]
• 1628 – It means a mind possessed by a fixed idea.^[3][9]
• 1656 – It is used for creative frenzy, a sense lost in the 18th century.^[3]
• 1660 – Molière uses it for an excessive liking.^[2][3]
• 1754 – Anglomanie starts the compounds in -manie.^[8]
• 1755 – Mlle de Staal uses it for an odd habit.^[2][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. (psychiatry) mania, a mental state of euphoric excitement, agitation and racing thoughts;^[9][2][10] (dated) madness.^[9][2][10]
2. An obsession, a fixed idea: la manie de la persécution.^[9][11]
3. An excessive, unreasonable liking for something: Mon frère a la manie des listes.^[9][10]
4. An odd or irritating habit, a quirk: avoir ses petites manies.^[10][1]

Related words

• maniaque
• monomanie
• mental
• Ancient Greek μανία (manía)

Usage notes

Littré has a separate manie, the name of a female spirit, from Latin Mānia, related to mânes.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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 d e f g h i j k l m Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c d e f Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
6. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
7. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
8. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
9. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ a b c d Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
11. ^ Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)