rage

Forms

rage f (plural rages)^[1] Old French rage, Burgundian raige; the disease is first named rabe (1288).^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French rage, inherited from Vulgar Latin *rabia, an altered form of Latin rabiēs (“rabies, madness, fury”).^[3][4][5] The Classical noun of the fifth declension passed into the first declension in popular Latin, and the popular form is recorded in glosses.^[5][4] The Classical noun is derived from rabiō (“to be mad, rave”), whose vowel points to a popular origin;^[4] Rey thinks it has been plausibly compared with Sanskrit words meaning “impetuosity, violence”, which rules out a link with the Greek word for “violent”, and holds that the existence of the verb excludes a borrowing from a Mediterranean name of the disease.^[4] Littré already linked the Latin word with a Sanskrit root meaning “to act violently, desire”.^[2]

Cognate with Italian rabbia, Occitan rabia, Catalan ràbia, Spanish rabia and Portuguese raiva.^[6][5][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in the Chanson de Roland (about 1100) in the sense of a violent fit of anger: Al cors vus est entrée mortel rage “a deadly rage has entered your body”.^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

The figurative sense of a fit of aggressive fury came first, with de rage from about 1155 and en rage (compare enrager).^[4][7] Weakened, the word came to mean an overwhelming passion or a frantic desire to do something (about 1130–1160);^[4][3] from this sense come faire rage, said of things from the late 12th century and once of people (1379), and the old phrase à la rage “excessively” (1718).^[4] It was used metaphorically of the wind from the early 13th century.^[3] A sense of violent physical pain was lost except in rage de dents “raging toothache” (1549, Estienne).^[4][3]

The medical sense, the infectious disease transmitted by animal bites, is recorded from 1288, first in the form rabe, which Rey takes as a semantic reborrowing from Latin;^[4][3] rage itself is used of it from about 1360–1370.^[4][3] It gave proverbs such as qui veut noyer son chien l'accuse de la rage.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 1100 – Rage “violent fit of anger” appears in the Chanson de Roland.^[3]
• c. 1130 – Used of a violent passion in the Eneas.^[7][4]
• c. 1155 – Wace has de rage.^[7][4]
• early 13th century – Used of violent pain and, metaphorically, of the wind.^[3]
• 1288 – Avoir rabe “to be rabid” in Renart le Nouvel.^[3][7]
• c. 1360–1370 – Rage names the disease in Baudouin de Sebourc.^[3][7]
• 1549 – Estienne records rage de dens “toothache”.^[3]
• 1671 – Faire rage in La Fontaine.^[3]
• 1718 – The Académie records à la rage.^[7][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. Violent anger or fury that makes one aggressive: fou de rage, vert de rage.^[8][3]
2. A violent desire or passion for something: la rage de vivre.^[8]
3. (familiar) Avoir la rage: to be fiercely determined.^[8]
4. Rage de dents: an extremely painful toothache.^[8][4]
5. Faire rage: to rage, to reach the height of its violence (of a storm, a fire, fighting).^[8][4]
6. (medicine) rabies, a fatal viral disease transmitted by the bite of infected animals.^[3][8]

Word family

• enrager
• rager
• rageur
• rageant
• passerage

Related words

• Latin rabiēs

Usage notes

The Grand Robert gives the disease as a separate headword, a specialized use of the same word.^[9] The Wiktionary lists rage au volant “road rage” among its phrases.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p 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. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
7. ^ a b c d e f Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
8. ^ a b c d e f g Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert