Etymologically
Log in

raptus

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 20 October 2026 at 04:22. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈrap.tʊs], [ˈrap.tuːs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈrap.tus], [ˈrap.tus][1]

Forms

raptus m (genitive raptūs); fourth declension[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin rapiō (“to seize, snatch”) + -tus, a verbal noun.[2][1][3] De Vaan traces rapiō to Proto-Italic *rap-i- (“to seize”) and Proto-Indo-European *h₁rp-i- (“to seize”), comparing Ancient Greek ἐρέπτομαι (eréptomai, “to devour, snatch away”) and Lithuanian ap-rė́pti (“to take, catch”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Cicero,[5] who writes of the abduction of Ganymede.[2]

Semantic evolution

It is the act of snatching or tearing away: in Ovid one arm is torn off by Ino.[2] It is robbery or plunder, as Tacitus' seizing of crops and cattle, and the seizing of prey, as of beasts that live by it in Seneca.[2] It is carrying off, abduction, rape.[2] Lewis & Short note a medical sense, a cramp or convulsion of the limbs, in Caelius Aurelianus.[6] In the law codes and charters of Medieval Latin it is rape and any violent act against a woman, and it also meant rapture.[7][1][5] Church Latin glosses it abduction, robbery.[8]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of the abduction of Ganymede.[2][5]
  • 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid of tearing away.[2][5]
  • 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca of seizing prey.[2][5]
  • 98–115 AD – Tacitus of plunder.[2][5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The act of snatching or tearing away; a violent jerk.[2][6][1]
  2. Robbery, plunder; the seizing of prey.[2][1][8]
  3. Carrying off, abduction, rape.[2][1][8][7]
  4. (medicine) A cramp, convulsion.[6][1]
  5. (Medieval Latin) Rapture.[1]

Usage notes

Raptus is also the perfect passive participle of rapiō, “seized, snatched”.[1][6] English rapt, first “carried away in an ecstatic trance”, comes from the participle and dates from the late 14th century.[9]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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. ^ 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  8. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  9. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com