Etymologically
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lymphatus

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [lymˈpʰaː.tʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [limˈfaː.tus][1]

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]

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