Etymologically
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rabidus

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈra.bɪ.dʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈraː.bi.dus][1]

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]
  • 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