W. Smith
I like to ponder word origins. With “frenetic,” we could start with Middle English; our word has been around a while. Working backwards, as we do with etymology, here goes the history. Frenetic can be traced back further than me frenetic—to Old French frenetique, from a Latin word meaning delirious, from a related Greek word meaning frenzy, insanity, or brain disease, literally inflammation of the brain.
Frenetic still means frenzied or frenzy, but I’m not sure the sense of insanity has been retained. Common synonyms are frantic, wild, excited, agitated, troubled, hyper, distraught, obsessive, fanatical, overwrought. But I left out a few that are sometimes included, demented, crazy, maniacal, unbalanced, unscrewed, weirded out, wigged out. And even insane.
Perhaps “totally worked up” captures it best. I can’t best an example I came across, “kind of how you’d run around the kitchen madly trying to cook a last-minute dinner for 30 of your closest friends.” Yes, madly trying to cook, though not in the insane sense. But considering its etymology, it isn’t surprising that someone caught in a frenetic situation appears crazed.
I should also point out that Frenetic is the name of a domain-specific programming language. I’ll not get into specifics of how it introduces a see-every-packet programming paradigm as it operates at a packet level of abstraction.
I offer you frenetic as our word of the season. Or, if you prefer, adopt the antonyms calm, peaceful, balanced. Be good to yourself and those around you.
Any thoughts? Reply to [email protected]. Or send along your own special word with some comments that shed light on it.