Etymologically
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entheus

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈɛn.tʰe.ʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈɛn.te.us][1]

Forms

entheus (feminine enthea, neuter entheum); first/second-declension adjective[1] Some manuscripts of Augustine spell it ente-.[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek ἔνθεος (éntheos, “possessed by a god, inspired”),[3][1][4] which Köbler analyses as ἐν (en, “in”) and θεός (theós, “god”).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL's first examples are in Seneca's tragedies:[2] in the Troades a maenad struck by the god frightens the woods with frenzied step.[3][2]

Semantic evolution

Lewis and Short call it a poetic word of the period after Augustus.[4] It means filled with a god, inspired or frenzied:[3][2] Seneca uses it of a priestess of Phoebus shaking the laurel, Martial of a frenzied crowd, and Statius of Apollo's laurel, of a band crowned with ivy and, by transfer, of the dwelling of the Sibyl.[2][3] In an active sense, filling with divine frenzy, Martial uses it of Cybele, the mother whose eunuch priest howls.[3][4]

Firmicus Maternus applies it to seers and priests.[2] Among Christian writers it comes close to “holy”, as in a passage of Augustine against Faustus.[2]

Timeline

  • 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it of a maenad and of a priestess of Phoebus.[3][2][5]
  • 40–102/103 AD – Martial uses it of Cybele and of a frenzied crowd.[3][5]
  • c. 45–96 AD – Statius uses it of the Sibyl's dwelling.[3][5]
  • 343/350 AD – Firmicus Maternus uses it of seers.[2][5]
  • 354–430 AD – Augustine uses it of men thought holy.[2][5]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Possessed by a god, divinely inspired, frenzied.[3][4]
  2. That fills with divine frenzy, inspiring.[3][4]
  3. (Christian Latin) Holy.[2]

Usage notes

Wiktionary gives entheātus as a synonym.[1]

References

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