ὑδροφοβία

Forms

ὑδροφοβίᾱ (hudrophobíā) f (genitive ὑδροφοβίᾱς); first declension^[1]

Etymology

A compound from Ancient Greek ὑδρο- (hudro-) + -φοβία (-phobía), “water” and “fear”.^[1][2] Bailly derives it from the adjective from Ancient Greek ὑδροφόβος (hudrophóbos, “dreading water”).^[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its earliest witness is a fragment of Menander, of the 4th–3rd century BC, which ascribes a horror of water to wine-drinkers.^[5][6]

Semantic evolution

In medicine the word named the horror of water that follows the bite of a mad dog, the symptom by which rabies shows itself in people.^[5][7] In Dioscorides it appears as a variant reading for ὑδροφόβας (hudrophóbas),^[5][8] and the Roman medical writer Celsus uses it in Latin.^[3]

Latin borrowed it as hydrophobia, and Wiktionary lists calques such as German Wasserscheu.^[1] English hydrophobia, from Late Latin, is recorded from the late 14th century, for the dread of water in rabies and sometimes for the disease itself.^[4] Modern Greek υδροφοβία (ydrofovía) is a learned word for a pathological fear of water.^[9]

Timeline

• 4th–3rd century BC – Menander uses it of the aversion to water of wine-drinkers.^[5][6]
• 1st century AD – Dioscorides' text has it as a variant reading for the name of the rabid dread of water.^[5][6]
• Late 14th century – English borrows hydrophobia through Late Latin.^[4]
• Modern Greek – The learned word υδροφοβία (ydrofovía) names a pathological fear of water.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. (medicine) A horror of water caused by the bite of a mad dog; hydrophobia, rabies.^[5][7][10]
2. An aversion to water, which Menander ascribes to wine-drinkers.^[5]

Related words

• ὕδωρ (húdōr)
• φόβος (phóbos)
• Latin hydrophobia
• English hydrophobia

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Köbler, Gerhard, Griechisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, online ed., https://www.koeblergerhard.de
3. ^ a b Bailly, Anatole (2020), Dictionnaire grec-français, Bailly 2020 Hugo Chávez ed., ed. Gérard Gréco et al.
4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e f g Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
7. ^ a b Pape, Wilhelm (1914), Griechisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 3rd ed., rev. Max Sengebusch, Braunschweig: Vieweg
8. ^ Дворецкий, И. Х. (1958), Древнегреческо-русский словарь, Moscow: ГИС
9. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
10. ^ Korinthios, J. (2025), Grande Dizionario Greco Classico: Greco–Italiano, digital ed., Milan: Hoepli