Etymologically
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deliro

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [deːˈliː.roː][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [deˈliː.ro][1]

Forms

dēlīrō (present infinitive dēlīrāre, perfect active dēlīrāvī); first conjugation, no passive, no supine stem[1]

Etymology

It is formed from dē and līra “furrow”, literally “to go out of the furrow”.[2][3][1] De Vaan thinks it grew from a phrase *dē līrād (īre), “to go off the track”.[4] Līra is *loisā-, from Proto-Indo-European *lois-h₂- (“furrow, track”).[4] Archaic spellings are dēlēro and dēleiro.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

A character in Plautus says “the wife is raving, she is seized by black bile”.[2] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.[6]

Semantic evolution

Its literal sense, to stray from the ridges in ploughing, survived as a farmers' word, as Pliny explains, and Ausonius uses it of a rule that does not deviate.[2][3] It mainly meant to be out of one's mind, as Terence's man raving with fear and Cicero's “dreams of madmen”.[2]

Romance kept it, as Italian delirare.[1] English delirium comes from its derivative dēlīrium, borrowed in the 1590s.[7]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of a raving wife.[2][6]
  • 190–159 BC – Terence uses it of a man mad with fear.[2][6]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero speaks of madmen's dreams.[2][6]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder explains its farming sense.[3][6]
  • 1590s – English delirium is borrowed.[7]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To deviate from the furrow; to deviate from a straight line.[2][1]
  2. To be deranged, out of one's mind, to rave.[2][1]

Word family

  • dēlīrāmentum
  • dēlīrātiō
  • dēlīrus
  • dēlīritās
  • dēlīrium

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  5. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  6. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com