rabiosus

Forms

rabiōsus (feminine rabiōsa, neuter rabiōsum, adverb rabiōsē); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin rabiēs (“madness, rage”) + -ōsus.^[2][1][3] The noun rabiēs belongs to rabiō (“to rave”),^[4][5] which de Vaan traces to Proto-Italic *rab- or *raf-; its further origin is unclear.^[4] He finds Schrijver's comparison with Ancient Greek ἔραμαι (éramai, “to desire, love”) unconvincing in meaning, and mentions the link with Parthian rf- (“to attack”) proposed in LIV.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus is the first author:^[5] in the Menaechmi a man is said to call his wife a rabid bitch, and in the Captivi someone was held to be raving mad.^[2][6][7]

Semantic evolution

It meant rabid, of dogs, in Horace, Celsus, Scribonius Largus and Pliny the Elder,^[6][8] and raving mad, of persons.^[2][6] More widely it meant furious or frenzied: Cicero warns that courage must not be rabid,^[7][8] Seneca lists it among the kinds of anger,^[2][6] Petronius uses it of a wild, barbarous voice and of the hissing of the sacred geese,^[8] and Lactantius of ravening wolves.^[6] Augustine writes that a rabid dog makes a man it bites rabid by contagion.^[6] Lewis and Short call it rare but classical.^[8]

British Medieval Latin used it of raging animals and conduct, and in heraldry for a lion rampant.^[9] It survives in Italian rabbioso.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of a rabid dog and of a madman.^[2][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of a frenzied kind of courage.^[7][8][5]
• 65–8 BC – Horace uses it of a rabid bitch.^[8][6][5]
• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca lists it among the kinds of anger.^[2][5]
• before 66 AD – Petronius uses it of a wild voice.^[8][5]
• 354–430 AD – Augustine uses it of rabies passed on by a bite.^[6][5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (of dogs) rabid, mad.^[2][6]
2. (of persons) Raving mad, lunatic.^[2][6]
3. Furious, frenzied, raging.^[2][8]
4. (Medieval Latin, heraldry) Rampant.^[9]

Word family

• rabiōsulus

Related words

• rabiēs
• rabidus
• rabiō

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ 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 e f g h Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ a b c d Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b c d e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press