rabidus

Forms

rabidus (feminine rabida, neuter rabidum); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin rabiēs (“madness, rage”) + -idus, from the verb rabiō (“to rave”).^[2][3][4] De Vaan finds the origin of ⟨rabiō⟩ uncertain: Schrijver compared Tocharian A rapurñe (“desire”), and the LIV an Iranian root seen in Parthian rf- (“to attack”), but both are isolated and doubtful.^[4] Festus explained it from the dog's disease ⟨rabiēs⟩.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Lucretius,^[4] who has raging lions;^[2] Köbler's first source is the Rhetorica ad Herennium.^[5]

Semantic evolution

It is “raging, ravening”, of wild beasts, and of dogs in particular “rabid, mad”, as Seneca's sad sight of rabid dogs.^[2][6] It is used of persons and monsters, as Ovid's raging Centaurs, of the Sibyl's frenzied mouth in Virgil, of raging waves, and of feelings: Catullus' Attis finds rest from the raging frenzy of his mind.^[2] It is mostly poetic and post-Augustan.^[6]

Church Latin glosses it “mad”.^[7] English rabid (1610s) comes from it; its sense “infected with rabies” is from 1804.^[8]

Timeline

• 96–55 BC – Lucretius of raging lions.^[2][5]
• 81/79–52/50 BC – Catullus of a raging frenzy.^[2][5]
• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca of rabid dogs.^[2][5]
• 1610s – English rabid.^[8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of animals, raging, ravening; of dogs, rabid, mad.^[2][6][1][7]
2. Of persons, furious, savage; of natural forces, violent.^[2][1]
3. Of feelings or conduct, frenzied, wild; of utterances, frantic.^[2][1]

Related words

• rabidē
• rabies
• rabiō
• rabiōsē
• rabiōsulus
• rabiōsus
• rabula
• rabulātus
• English rabid

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com