Timeline for What is the "thirsty" equivalent of "ravenously"?
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| Mar 29, 2014 at 20:16 | history | edited | WS2 | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Mar 29, 2014 at 20:10 | comment | added | WS2 | @tchrist. This is what the OED says. It was only my presumption that it was a raven. Etymology: < ravin n.1 + -ous suffix. Compare Old French ravineux, ravinos, rabinos rapid, impetuous (late 12th cent.). (a) Originally: (of an animal) given to seizing other animals as prey; predatory; ferocious. Later: (of an animal or person; also of the appetite, hunger, etc.) voracious, gluttonous. Also fig. and in extended use. | |
| Mar 29, 2014 at 19:29 | comment | added | tchrist♦ | Looking further back, apparently there was a Proto-Germanic *khrabanas for raven, cognate with corvus, corax, κοραξ, and almost surely unrelated to rapere/rapio where we get our own ravenous and rapacious (amongst many others). | |
| Mar 29, 2014 at 18:59 | comment | added | tchrist♦ | That’s not true about the origin of ravenous: what you have stated is a mere folk etymology for which I can discover no evidence. The (surface?) evidence is that ravenous is not related to raven at all: think raptor not raven here. The common word raven for the bird Corvus corax comes from OE hræfn. Ravenous in contrast derives from medieval French ravine or medieval Latin rapine, both ultimately from Latin rapere meaning to seize and whence we also derive our own word rape. Whether there is a PIE link between these, however, I’ve no idea; I suppose it’s possible. | |
| Mar 27, 2014 at 21:35 | history | answered | WS2 | CC BY-SA 3.0 |