lymphatus

Forms

lymphātus (feminine lymphāta, neuter lymphātum); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

Used as an adjective, it is the past participle from Latin lymphō (“to drive mad”).^[2][3][1] The TLL thinks it was rather formed back from lymphāticus (“frenzied”), the verb then being made from the participle.^[4] Varro and Priscian derived it from lympha (“water; water nymph”),^[4] a form of Ancient Greek νύμφη (númphē, “bride, nymph”), apparently altered by dissimilation.^[2][1] Varro says that the Greeks called people with a disturbed mind νυμφόληπτος (numphólēptos), and that the Latin word was formed after it.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found first in Pacuvius,^[4][5] who describes Hesione as if frenzied or stirred by the rites of Bacchus.^[4]

Semantic evolution

In Catullus, Horace and Virgil it describes frenzy: Virgil's Amata rages through the city lymphata, which Servius explains as struck by the madness of the Nymphs, as cerriti are named from Ceres.^[6][4] Horace has a mind lymphata, and Livy and Tacitus use it of people struck by panic.^[3] It was used of prophets in a frenzy, as in Seneca and Lucan,^[4] and the glossaries explain it as furiosus “raving”.^[4]

Timeline

• 220–130 BC – Pacuvius uses it of a frenzied woman.^[4][5]
• 81/79–52/50 BC – Catullus uses it.^[6][5]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of Amata raging through the city.^[4][6][5]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of panic.^[3][5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Frenzied, distracted, frantic, out of one's mind.^[2][6]
2. Panic-stricken.^[3]
3. In a prophetic frenzy.^[4]

Related words

• lympha
• lymphō
• lymphāticus

Usage notes

A fourth-declension noun lymphātus “madness” is listed for one passage of Pliny the Elder,^[7][3][6] but the TLL doubts that editors are right to read it there.^[4]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d e Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
7. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press