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bacchor

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word bacchor

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 250–184 BC, Plautus
Ultimate origin
Ancient Greek (Βάκχος)

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈbak.kʰɔr][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈbak.kor][1]

Forms

bacchor (present infinitive bacchārī, perfect active bacchātus sum); first conjugation, deponent[1]

Etymology

It is a verb from Latin Bacchus + -ō, from the name of the god of wine.[2][1] The TLL compares Ancient Greek βακχεύω (bakkheúō, “to celebrate the rites of Bacchus”), and Priscian already derived it from Bacchus.[3] Bacchus is borrowed from Ancient Greek Βάκχος (Bákkhos).[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus has it first: in the Amphitruo someone warns against opposing a Bacchante in her frenzy.[2][4]

Semantic evolution

It is to celebrate the rites of Bacchus, and Catullus has someone gazing out like the stone statue of a Bacchante.[4] More often it is to rave like a Bacchante: Varro uses it of Ajax cutting down a wood in his madness, and Virgil of the prophetess who raves in her cave.[2] Horace applies it to a raging wind, and the Ciris to a girl roaming wildly through the city.[2] A passive use means to be filled with Bacchic revels, of a grove.[2] Augustine has an active form ⟨bacchābat⟩.[3] Church Latin glosses it to revel, rant, be raving wild.[5]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of a Bacchante.[2][4][6]
  • 116–27 BC – Varro of Ajax raging.[2][6]
  • 81/79–52/50 BC – Catullus of a Bacchante's statue.[4][6]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil of a raving prophetess.[2][6]
  • 65–8 BC – Horace of a raging wind.[2][6]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To celebrate the rites of Bacchus.[2][4][1]
  2. Of a place, to be filled with Bacchic revels.[2]
  3. To rave like a Bacchante, rage; to speak in a frenzy, rant; of the weather, to rage.[2][5][1]
  4. To wander in a frenzy; of animals, to run wild.[2][1]

Word family

  • bacchābundus
  • bacchātim
  • bacchātiō
  • dēbacchor
  • perbacchor
  • Baccha
  • bacchānal

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  6. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
Cite this entry

“Bacchor.” Etymologically, 20 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/bacchor. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·