Etymologically
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rabiosus

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ra.biˈoː.sʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ra.biˈɔː.s̬us][1]

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

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