enthusiasmus
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Pronunciation
Forms
enthūsiasmus m (genitive enthūsiasmī); second declension[1]
Etymology
It is borrowed from Ancient Greek ἐνθουσιασμός (enthousiasmós, “divine inspiration, enthusiasm”),[1][2] from ἐνθουσιάζω (enthousiázō, “to be inspired or possessed by a god”), from ἔνθεος (éntheos, “possessed by a god”).[2]
Earliest recorded meaning
Etymonline calls it Late Latin,[2] but Ramminger notes that the TLL has only the Greek form; his examples are Neo-Latin, such as Birck's Stomius, where enthusiasm stirs poets.[3]
Semantic evolution
In Neo-Latin it meant poetic frenzy, the furor poeticus.[3][1] English took it over about 1600, from French and directly from Latin, and under the Puritans it came to mean excessive religious emotion.[2]
Timeline
- c. 1600 – English borrows it as enthusiasm, from French and also directly from Latin.[2]
Meanings
Noun
Related words
- English enthusiasm