Noted lexicographer Elizabeth Knowles provides a 'how-to' guide for budding word detectives, showing how to explore the history of words from origin to current usage, identifying both the questions you should ask and how to answer them. Click here for more details.
'An indispensable field guide for all word origin hunters, full of insider's tips and practical advice' John Mitchinson, co-author of QI: The Book of General Ignorance
This new print publication provides a unique resource for scholars researching linguistic and literary history, the history of the language, social history, and more. Read more and see a sample page.
(fr
n
tk) Forms: 
. 4 frenetyk, 4-6 -ike; 5 frena-, 6 frenetyke, -ik, 6-7 -ick, 7 frenitick, 9 frenetic. 
. 6 phrenetike, 6-7 -ique, 7 -icke, 7-8 -ick, 9 -itic, 7- phrenetic. [a. OF. frenetike (Dial. S. Greg. 12-13th c.), ad. L. phren
ticus, a. late Gr. 
(Epict.), for 
afflicted with 
delirium, f. 
, - heart, mind. Formerly stressed 
phrenetic, whence PHRENTIC, FRANTIC.]
1. Of persons: Delirious; mentally deranged; insane; crazy: = FRANTIC a. 1. Obs.
c1374 CHAUCER Troylus v. 206 (Camps.) And in his
rowes frenetyk [
v.r. frentyk] and madde He curssed Ioue, Appollo, and ek Cupide.
1377 LANGL. P. Pl. B. x. 6 To flatereres or to folis
at frantyk [
v.r. frenetike] ben of wittes.
1483 CAXTON Gold. Leg. 193/1 Saynt marcial heled one that was frenatyke.
1596 DALRYMPLE tr.
Leslie's Hist. Scot. VIII. 84 Donald and quha with him appeiret frenetik.
1558 KNOX First Blast (Arb.) 11 The foolishe, madde and phrenetike shal gouerne the discrete.
1651 HOBBES Leviath. III. xxxiv. 215 Those that became Phrenetique, Lunatique, or Epileptique.
1751 G. LAVINGTON Enthus. Meth. & Papists III. (1754) 139 They [Persons bit by the Tarantula] are Phrenetic and delirious.
1778 Phil. Trans. LXVIII. 206 All that survived..were to the highest degree phrenetic and outrageous.
2. transf. Affected with excessive excitement or enthusiasm, esp. in religious matters; furious; frantic; fanatic. Cf. FRANTIC a. 2.
c1540 tr.
Pol. Verg. Eng. Hist. (Camden) I. 109 This..restrained the rude raginge of the frenetick Scotts.
1657 M. HAWKE Killing is M. 40 The foolish dictates of such frenetick Impostor.
1819 J. H. WIFFEN Aonian Hours (1820) 109 Frenetic zealots.
1882 Pall Mall G. 27 Oct. 1 Some of the more frenetic of the franc-tireurs of Liberalism.
fig. 1872 BROWNING Fifine v, How the pennon from its dome, Frenetic to be free, makes one red stretch for home!
1565 J. CALFHILL Answ. Treat. Crosse 23 It is to be feared greately, least their arise some phrenetike persons, which will bragge and boast..that they be Prophetes.
1660 N. INGELO Bentiv. & Ur. v. 138 He esteems Prophetick Visions only as Dreams of phrenetick men.
1858 Times 4 Nov. 6/4 The chivalrous and phrenetic Montbar, whose name was a cry to hush infants.
1878 J. P. N
EWMAN in
N. Amer. Rev. CXXVII. 321 When inspired, their individuality was intact. They [sacred writers] were never..phrenetic.
3. a. Of a disease: Consisting of or attended by delirium or temporary madness: = FRANTIC a. 3a. Obs. b. Of actions, etc.: Insane; erratic; passionate: = FRANTIC a. 3b.
a1529 SKELTON Agst. ven. Tongues viii. 10 Ye are so full of vertibilite, And of frenetyke folabilite.
1641 MILTON Ch. Govt. II. iii. 50 Sometimes he shuts up [the man] as in frenetick, or infectious diseases.
1816 KEATINGE Trav. (1817) I. 198 [Of Mohammedanism] Its frenetic might, enthusiasm, too, evaporating in the diffusion of conquest.
1895 M. CORELLI Sorrows Satan 378 They run up the gamut of baffled passion to the pitch of frenetic hysteria.
1595 DANIEL Civ. Wars IV. v, Impotent, By means of his Phreneticque maladie.
1615 H. CROOKE Body of Man 139 Rending the membranes, cause all our motions to be head-strong and giddy, our sensations phrenetick and mad.
1754 O. in
Connoisseur No. 28.
1 Tom Dare-Devil..was carried off last week by a phrenetic fever.
1815 M
ARY A. S
CHIMMELPENNINCK Demolit. Monast. Port Royal III. 268 He struck every one who approached him, with the most phrenitic violence.
1860 T. MARTIN Horace, Odes I. xvi, Clashing again And again their wild cymbals, such fervour phrenetic.
¶4. Catachrestic for PHRENIC a. 1.
1704 J. HARRIS Lex. Techn. I,
Phrenetick Nerves, are those which are called also
Stomachick..These descend between the Membranes of the
Mediastinum, and send forth Branches into them.
1706 in
PHILLIPS.
B. as n. A madman: = FRANTIC n.
1693-4 M
OLINEUX Let. 17 Feb. in
Locke's Lett. (1708) 75 How comes it to pass that want of consciousness cannot be proved for a drunkard as well as for a frenitick?
1837 CARLYLE Fr. Rev. III.
I. iv, All men's minds may go mad, and ‘believe him’, as the frenetic will do, ‘because it is impossible’.
[
1607 MARSTON What you will II. i, A company of odd phrenetici Did eate my youth.]
1612 SELDEN Illustr. Drayton's Poly-olb. xvii, [They] made this poore King..euen as a Phrenetique, comit what posterity receiues now amongst the worst actions..of Princes.
1695 WOODWARD Nat. Hist. Earth II. (1723) 99 A common Fold of Phreneticks and Bedlams.
1881 W. R. SMITH Old Test. in Jew Ch. x. 281 The visions of poor phrenetics.
Hence phre
neticness, madness (Bailey vol. II, 1727).
This message is confidential. You should not copy it or disclose its contents to anyone. You may use and apply the information for the intended purpose only. OUP does not accept legal responsibility for the contents of this message. Any views or opinions presented are those of the author only and not of OUP. If this email has come to you in error, please delete it, along with any attachments. Please note that OUP may intercept incoming and outgoing email communications.
No comments:
Post a Comment