The verb is probably derived from the noun.[1] Their origin is unknown:
- Possibly from the rootProto-Indo-European*dʰer-(“to hold”) (the same offirmus), as the fear that makes one rigid.
- Alternatively cognate withAncient Greekμόρμορος(mórmoros,“fear, panic”),μύρμος(múrmos,“fear”) andμορμώ(mormṓ,“bogey, she-monster”), with the samedissimilation*morm- >form- seen informīca and possiblyfōrma.[2][1]
If this is ofProto-Indo-European origin, it would appear to be a reduplication of a root*mer-, possibly the same root as*mer-(“to disturb”) and/or the source of*mor-(“incubus,mare (evil female spirit of nightmares)”) (which is otherwise thought to be from*mer-(“to disappear, die”)).(Canthis(+) etymology besourced?) However, de Vaan reconstructs only a stem*mormo- which he does not allow an etymology.
If not Indo-European, then asubstrate origin must be considered, which the variation of forms in Greek and morphological obscurity in both languages make likely.(Canthis(+) etymology besourced?)
The suffix component-īd- is unexplained in either case, but compare-idus (with different vowel length),-ō(forming nouns).
formīdō (present infinitiveformīdāre,perfect activeformīdāvī,supineformīdātum);first conjugation
- todread orfear
- to beafraid of or for
formīdō f (genitiveformīdinis);third declension
- fear,alarm,terror,dread
Ōraformīdō mūta claudit.- The fearcloses the mouths mute.
- fright,horror
- scarecrow
Third-declension noun.
- “formido”, inCharlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879)A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- “formido”, inCharlton T. Lewis (1891)An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
- formido inGaffiot, Félix (1934)Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
- Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894)Latin Phrase-Book[1], London:Macmillan and Co.
- superstitious fears; phantoms:formidines
- Pokorny, Julius (1959)Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch [Indo-European Etymological Dictionary] (in German), volume 2, Bern, München: Francke Verlag,page749
