delirium Latin · revision 685

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA (Classical): [deːˈliː.ri.ũː]^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (Ecclesiastical): [deˈliː.ri.um]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''dēlīrium''' ''n'' (genitive dēlīriī or dēlīrī); second declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is formed with the suffix [[m|la|-ium]] from [[delirus|alt=dēlīrus]] “crazy”, according to the OLD, or from the verb [[deliro|alt=dēlīrāre]] “to be deranged”, according to the TLL and Wiktionary.^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)^(Wiktionary) The verb is literally “to go off the furrow”, from [[m|la|dē|t=off, away]] and [[lira|alt=līra]] “furrow”, a ploughing metaphor, from [[ine-pro|*loys-|t=track, furrow]].^(Etymonline)^(Wiktionary)

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+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It first appears in Celsus, in the early 1st century AD,^(Köbler 2010) who describes a patient troubled by fever, [[m|en|delirium]] and difficult breathing.^(TLL)

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+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It was a medical term for a derangement of the mind, delirium or frenzy, especially in fever.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Celsus uses it often, noting for example that delirium arises from fear and that it can be a sign of recovery when heat and shivering are present.^(TLL)

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+ English borrowed it in the 1590s for a disordered state of mind in illness, and the medical Latin ''delirium tremens'' was coined in 1813.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 14–37 AD – Celsus uses it as a medical term.^(Köbler 2010)^(TLL)

+ * 1590s – English borrows it as [[en|delirium]].^(Etymonline)

+ * 1813 – The medical phrase ''delirium tremens'' is coined.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # ''(medicine)'' A derangement of the mind, [[m|en|delirium]], frenzy.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

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+ ==Word family==

+ * [[dēlīrō]]

+ * [[dēlīrus]]

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+ ==Related words==

+ * [[līra]]

+ * [[en|delirium]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}