lunatique

Forms

lunatique adj. and m.^[1][2]

• lenetike, lunatic, lunatick^[1][2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin lūnāticus (“moonstruck, epileptic”),^[3][4] a derivative of lūna (“moon”) with the suffix -āticus.^[5][6] The Latin adjective meant "moonstruck, epileptic" in the Digest and the Vulgate, and Lewis and Short compare Ancient Greek σεληνιακός (selēniakós).^[7] In Medieval Latin it meant lunatic, maniac, epileptic or insane.^[8] Körting notes that the word is learned in every Romance language, as in Italian lunatico, Old Occitan lunatic and Catalan lunatic.^[9]

The popular outcome of the same Latin word was lunage "lunatic, mad", also "strange", recorded from the 12th or early 13th century to the 15th;^[10][11] the borrowed form drove it out.^[4][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The DEAF's earliest record is the spelling lenetike in the Lettre d'Hippocrate, a collection of medical recipes in prose of the second quarter of the 13th century, and lunatique in the Livre de Sidrac, written after 1268; in both it describes someone who loses his reason under the influence of the moon.^[1][12][13] Bloch–Wartburg and the TLFi date the word to 1277, from a register of the Parlement in which an old man is called foolish and lunatic.^[3][4][14]

Semantic evolution

In Middle French the word described a person struck by a periodic madness tied to the phases of the moon, mad or epileptic: in 1372 Corbechon writes that the humours and illnesses of the body move with the moon, si comme il appert de ceulx qui sont lunatiques, et de ceulx qui cheent du hault mal "as is seen in those who are lunatic and those who suffer from the falling sickness".^[15] Its more general sense "subject to the influence of the moon" is recorded from the 15th century.^[10]

The sense "capricious, whimsical" appears with Cotgrave in 1611.^[4][10] A horse suffering from periodic inflammation of the eyes was called lunatique from 1680, a use the FEW traces to the veterinary Latin of Vegetius.^[4][10] The modern French word is lunatique.^[4]

Timeline

• 1225–1250 – lenetike in the Lettre d'Hippocrate.^[1][12]
• after 1268 – lunatique in the Livre de Sidrac.^[1][13]
• 1277 – in a register of the Parlement, of a man who has lost his reason.^[4][3]
• c. 1292 – the first Anglo-Norman record cited by the AND.^[2]
• 1372 – Corbechon on those who are lunatiques.^[15]
• 1611 – the sense "capricious" in Cotgrave.^[4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. lunatic, mad: losing one's reason under the influence of the moon.^[1][2]
2. subject to the influence of the moon.^[15][10]

Noun

1. a lunatic, one who suffers a frenzy or is mentally unstable under the influence of the moon.^[2]

Anglo-Norman

The AND heads the word lunatic, spelled lunatick and lunatique, as an adjective and a noun, and first cites it about 1292.^[2] The English word lunatic, recorded from the late 13th century, comes from the Old French word or directly from the Late Latin one.^[16]

Descendants

• Middle French lunatique (→ French lunatique)^[17][4]
• Middle English lunatik (borrowed, or from Latin; → English lunatic)^[16]

Related words

• lunage

Usage notes

Tobler–Lommatzsch treats the word under lunage,^[2][18] Godefroy in the Complément under lunatique,^[14] and the AND under lunatic.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Baldinger, Kurt; Möhren, Frankwalt; Städtler, Thomas, eds. (1971–2021), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'ancien français (DEAF), Heidelberg: Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaften; DEAFél / DEAFpré, deaf-server.adw.uni-heidelberg.de, p. s.v. lunatique
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–), p. s.v. lunatic
3. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France, p. 417
4. ^ 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
5. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
9. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
10. ^ a b c d e f Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 5:455
11. ^ Gamillscheg, Ernst (1926–1928), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der französischen Sprache, Heidelberg: Winter, p. 606
12. ^ a b Möhren, Frankwalt, Dictionnaire étymologique de l'ancien français (DEAF): Complément bibliographique, electronic version (DEAFBiblEl), Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaften, alma.hadw-bw.de/deafbibl (texts by siglum, with their dates), p. LettrHippoT
13. ^ a b Möhren, Frankwalt, Dictionnaire étymologique de l'ancien français (DEAF): Complément bibliographique, electronic version (DEAFBiblEl), Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaften, alma.hadw-bw.de/deafbibl (texts by siglum, with their dates), p. SidracH
14. ^ a b Godefroy, Frédéric (1881–1902), Dictionnaire de l'ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IXe au XVe siècle, 10 vols., Paris: Vieweg / Bouillon, p. 10:99
15. ^ a b c Dictionnaire du Moyen Français, version 2015 (DMF 2015), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/dmf, p. s.v. lunatique
16. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
17. ^ Dictionnaire du Moyen Français, version 2015 (DMF 2015), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/dmf
18. ^ Tobler, Adolf; Lommatzsch, Erhard (1925–2002), Altfranzösisches Wörterbuch, 11 vols., Berlin / Wiesbaden / Stuttgart: Weidmann / Steiner, p. 5:730