hydrophobia

English

WOTD – 13 November 2018

Etymology

From Middle English idroforbia (hydrophobia), from Latin hydrophobia,[1] from Ancient Greek ὑδροφοβία (hudrophobía),[2] from υδρο- (udro-, prefix meaning ‘water’) (from ῠ̔́δωρ (húdōr, water), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *wed- (water)) + φοβία (phobía, phobia). The word is analysable as hydro- + -phobia.

Pronunciation

  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˌhʌɪ.dɹə(ʊ)ˈfəʊ.bɪ.ə/
  • (General American) IPA(key): /ˌhaɪ.dɹəˈfoʊ.bɪ.ə/
  • (file)
  • Rhymes: -əʊbiə
  • Hyphenation: hy‧dro‧phob‧ia

Noun

hydrophobia (countable and uncountable, plural hydrophobias)

  1. (pathology) An aversion to water, as a symptom of rabies; the disease of rabies itself.
    Synonym: hydrophoby (archaic)
    • 1603, John Florio, transl.; Michel de Montaigne, “An Apologie of Raymond Sebond”, in The Essayes, [], book II, printed at London: By Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount [], OCLC 946730821, page 319:
      [] Cato, who ſcorned both death and fortune, could not abide the ſight of a looking glaſſe or of water; overcome with horrour, and quelled with amazement, if by the contagion of a mad dog he had falne into that ſickneſſe which Phiſitians call Hydroforbia, or feare of waters.
    • 1796 April, “Art. 27. Dialogues between a Pupil of the Late John Hunter and Jesse Foot, including Passages in Darwin’s Zoonomia. 8vo. pp. 102. 3s. sewed. Becket. 1795. [book review]”, in The Monthly Review; or, Literary Journal, Enlarged, volume XIX, London: Printed for R[alph] Griffiths; and sold by T[homas] Becket, [], OCLC 901376714, page 451:
      Now that I have breathed a little, I am anxious to know your opinion of the nature of that affection in the throat, which deprives a patient of the power of ſwallowing in conſequence of hydrophobia.
    • 1851, Samuel Hahnemann; R. E. Dudgeon, compiler and transl., “The Bite of Mad Dogs”, in The Lesser Writings of Samuel Hahnemann: Collected and Translated, London: W. Headland, [], OCLC 832853297, page 198:
      I myself knew a boy whose face was licked by a dog that was going mad, and who died of hydrophobia.
    • 1872, George Fleming, “Introduction”, in Rabies and Hydrophobia: Their History, Nature, Causes, Symptoms, and Prevention, London: Chapman and Hall, [], OCLC 494794227, pages 5–6:
      Hydrophobia may, without risk, be applied to the disease in mankind, and serve to distinguish it; but it would be most injudicious to retain it as a designation for the madness or rabies of the lower animals. [] "Hydrophobia" is not even a proper designation for the malady in him [man], inasmuch as authors have described a spontaneous hydrophobia in the human species, or certain symptoms resembling those of hydrophobia, which certainly were not the same as those produced by the bite of a rabid animal, neither was the presence of a transmissible virus proved to exist.
    • 1875, William H[enry] Holcombe, “Why Did They Die?”, in Our Children in Heaven, new edition, Philadelphia, Pa.: J. B. Lippincott & Co., OCLC 38170507, page 286:
      The Christian philosophy nominally attributes all natural evils, including sickness and death, to sin. But it has lost the connecting link between the moral disorders and the physical disorders which afflict us. [] It cannot understand [] how there are cancers and plagues and hydrophobias of the soul, the secret causes of those horrible diseases in the body.
    • 1911 May 12, John R[obbins] Mohler, “Differential Diagnosis”, in Rabies or Hydrophobia (U.S. Department of Agriculture Farmers’ Bulletin; 449), Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, OCLC 457984500, pages 14–15:
      A young man, 24 years of age, employed as a clerk in a dry goods store, was bitten on a Saturday morning bu a watchdog belonging to the proprietor. [] [H]e stated that he had been reading about rabies and the symptoms which would develop in man from the bite of a rabid dog, and insisted that he was developing hydrophobia as a result of having been bitten by the watchdog. [] Two days later the young man was in a very hysterical state and kept insisting that the dog that bit him was rabid. [] Here was a typical case of lyssophobia or pseudo-rabies, a figment of an overworked imagination, []
    • 1985, Marc Haffen, “History of Isopathy”, in O. A. Julian; Rajkumar Mukherji, transl., Julian’s Materia Medica of Nosodes with Repertory: [] Translated from the Original French, 2nd revised Indian edition, New Delhi: Published by Kuldeep Jain for B. Jain Publishers, published 2005, →ISBN, page 34:
      Thus not only should be diluted and dynamised the "known" morbid agents (as for example Scabby of Sheeps, Tinea of animals, itch (psora) of man, the blood of the spleen of animals suffering from Anthrax, pus of syphilis, serum taken out of vesicles of Marochetti in hydrophobias, lympth of Anthrax and of plague even of the contagion of cholera) but also all sorts of products from secretions and excretions of men and of animals []
  2. (psychology, colloquial) A morbid fear of water; aquaphobia.
    • [1998, Reese Palley, “HydroPhobias”, in Unlikely Passages, Dobbs Ferry, N.Y.: Sheridan House, published 2002, →ISBN, pages 39 and 40:
      [page 39] HydroPhobias begin on land long before casting off. But once at sea, fear is quickly lost in the joys and pleasures of the passage. [] [page 40] There are three HydroPhobias. The Big Three. Two of the Big Three are fears that prevent landlubbers from becoming sailors. The third is primal and common to all mankind. The Big Three are 1) Fear of Flatland, 2) Fear of Being with Self, and 3) The Fear of Bogeymen.]

Usage notes

A morbid fear of water is technically called aquaphobia, so not to be confused with rabies.

Derived terms

Terms related to hydrophobia

Translations

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Notes

    References

    1. idroforbia, n.” in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 13 November 2018.
    2. hydrophobia” (US) / “hydrophobia” (UK) in Oxford Dictionaries, Oxford University Press.

    Further reading


    Latin

    Etymology

    From Ancient Greek ὑδροφοβία (hudrophobía).

    Pronunciation

    • (Classical) IPA(key): /hy.droˈpʰo.bi.a/, [hʏ.drɔˈpʰɔ.bi.a]

    Noun

    hydrophobia f (genitive hydrophobiae); first declension

    1. hydrophobia

    References

    This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.