Etymologically
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horror

Etymology and origin of the Latin word horror

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Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
Plautus
Ultimate origin
Latin (horreō)

Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈhɔr.rɔr][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈɔr.ror][1]

Forms

horror m (genitive horrōris); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is from horreō “to bristle, shudder” with the suffix -or.[2][3][1] Wiktionary traces it to a Proto-Italic *horzōs remodelled as an ⟨r⟩-stem.[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest citations are from Plautus, of trembling with fear and of dread.[2] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.[4]

Semantic evolution

Its literal sense was bristling, of hair standing on end, which Lewis and Short call only poetic and very rare, as Lucan's sea “not ruffled” (nōn horrōre tremit).[2][5] It meant stiffness from cold, as in Lucretius, roughness of appearance or of style, a discordant sound, and grimness of manner.[2] It meant shivering from cold or fever, and trembling from fear, then dread, horror, and in Lucretius religious awe.[2] It also meant something that inspires horror, and a person who is the terror of a place.[2]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant dread, horror.[6] Medieval Latin used it of aversion and abhorrence.[7] English horror came in the early 14th century, from Old French and directly from Latin, first as “feeling of disgust”.[8]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of trembling and dread.[2][4]
  • 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it of stiffness, of harsh sound and of religious awe.[2][4]
  • c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian uses it of bristling.[2][4]
  • early 14th century – English horror is recorded.[8]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A bristling, standing on end; the ruffling of water.[2]
  2. Stiffness from cold.[2]
  3. Roughness, uncouthness; a harsh sound; grimness.[2]
  4. Shivering, trembling, from cold or from fear.[2]
  5. Dread, horror; religious awe.[2]
  6. A source of horror; a terror.[2]
  7. (Medieval Latin) Aversion, abhorrence.[7]

Word family

  • horrifer
  • horrificō
  • horrificus

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 l m n o Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  7. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
Cite this entry

“Horror.” Etymologically, 16 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/horror. Accessed 16 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·