rabbia

Forms

rabbia f (plural rabbie)^[1] Old Italian also had rabia and raia.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin rabia (“rabies; fury”), recorded in imperial times (Servius) in place of classical Latin rabiēs (“madness; rabies”).^[3][4][5][1] The same word is French rage, the source of English rage, and Occitan rabia, Spanish rabia and Portuguese raiva.^[4][6]

The Latin noun is a derivative of rabiō (“to rave, to be mad”), a verb of popular character and of Indo-European origin.^[3][4][1] Nocentini and Devoto compare Sanskrit रभस् (rabhas, “violence, impetuosity”).^[4][7] De Vaan finds the etymology uncertain: Schrijver rejected the Sanskrit comparison and proposed a link with Tocharian A rapurñe (“desire”), and Iranian verbs of violent motion have also been compared.^[8]

The /bj/ of the Latin word gave the double consonant of the Italian word, the normal Tuscan outcome of a labial before /j/.^[9][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Dante (1300–1313) has the word only in the figurative sense of indignation or fury, never for the disease.^[3][5] The disease is first named in the 14th-century Libro di Mascalcia, a veterinary treatise.^[3][10]

Semantic evolution

Other figurative senses followed in the early 14th century: eagerness or frenzy (Giordano da Pisa, 1305), the fury of inanimate things (Arrigo Simintendi, before 1333), and spite or vexation (Boccaccio, 1348–1353).^[3] Petrarch calls the German soldiers la tedesca rabbia, “the German fury”, held back by the Alps.^[5]

The modern language keeps the whole range, from the medical term to mild annoyance (mi fa rabbia, che rabbia!) and dogged effort (studiare con rabbia).^[5][10][9] The proverb chi tutto vuole, di rabbia muore (“he who wants everything dies of rage”) warns against wanting too much.^[11][12] The derivatives are old too: rabbioso from the early 13th century, arrabbiare from the end of the 13th, and the medical rabbico from 1829.^[3][4]

Timeline

• Early 13th century – The adjective rabbioso is recorded.^[3][4]
• 1300–1313 – Dante uses rabbia for indignation and fury.^[3]
• 1305 – Giordano da Pisa uses it for eagerness or frenzy.^[3]
• Before 1333 – Arrigo Simintendi uses it for the fury of the elements.^[3]
• 14th century – The Libro di Mascalcia names the disease.^[3]
• 1348–1353 – Boccaccio uses it for spite or vexation.^[3]
• 1829 – Rabbico “of rabies” is recorded.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. (pathology) rabies, a viral disease of mammals, especially dogs and wolves, passed to humans by bites.^[5][10][13]
2. anger, rage: violent irritation, often uncontrolled: Ha sbattuto la porta per la rabbia.^[5][10][9]
3. Vexation, annoyance, spite: Mi fa rabbia perdere il treno per un minuto.^[5][9][13]
4. Fierce determination: allenarsi con rabbia.^[5][10][13]
5. (uncommon) Intense craving: rabbia di potere.^[5][10][11]
6. (literary) The fury of natural forces, such as the wind or the sea.^[5][9][13]

Word family

• arrabbiare
• rabbico
• rabbioso
• arrabbiato
• arrabbiatura
• arrabbiarsi

Related words

• Latin rabiēs
• French rage

Usage notes

Rabbia silvestre is rabies in wild animals;^[13][5] idrofobia is a synonym for the disease.^[13][5] In the sense of anger the near-synonyms are collera and ira, and in familiar speech bile.^[13][1] The exclamation che rabbia! expresses annoyance.^[9][10]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 15, 178
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
4. ^ a b c d e f Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
7. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
8. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ a b c d e f Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
10. ^ a b c d e f g Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
11. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
12. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
13. ^ a b c d e f g Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli