hydrophobicus

Forms

hydrophobicus (feminine hydrophobica, neuter hydrophobicum); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek ὑδροφοβικός (hudrophobikós),^[1][2][3] from ὑδροφοβία (hudrophobía, “fear of water, hydrophobia”), which Köbler connects with ὕδωρ (húdōr, “water”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Caelius Aurelianus, a medical writer of the 5th century AD,^[4] uses it in his work on acute diseases in the phrase passio hydrophobica, the disease hydrophobia.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

The TLL defines it as afraid of water, suffering from hydrophobia, and notes that the masculine is also used as a noun for such a patient; manuscripts spell it with y-, hi- and -fob-.^[5] In medieval medical texts the noun named a person afraid of water, a rabid person.^[6][4]

English hydrophobic (1807) was formed from hydrophobia with -ic rather than taken from the Latin adjective.^[7]

Timeline

• 5th century AD – Caelius Aurelianus speaks of passio hydrophobica.^[2][4]
• 7th–8th century – Medical writings such as a pseudo-Galenic treatise on the pulse use the noun for a rabid person.^[6][4]
• 1807 – English forms hydrophobic from hydrophobia.^[7]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of or relating to hydrophobia; suffering from hydrophobia.^[2][3][5]
2. (Medieval Latin, as a noun) A person who fears water, a rabid person.^[6][4]

Related words

• English hydrophobic

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
4. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
6. ^ a b c Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com