English
Xanthippe
Xanthippe may come from Latin Xanthippē.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEXanthippēuncertain
- Englishearliest quotation 1691Xanthippe
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEXanthippēuncertain
- Englishearliest quotation 1691Xanthippe
Earliest quotation: 1691, Anthony Wood, RICHARD HOOKER: “RICHARD HOOKER, that rare and admirable Theologiſt, [...] married…”
The story
She is described as shrewish in Xenophon’s Symposium, though the same work states that Socrates chose her precisely because of her argumentative spirit. In Xenophon’s Memorabilia and Phaedo by Plato she is depicted as a devoted wife and mother.
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *h₁eḱ- ‘horse’
Today it means
noun An ill-tempered woman.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin Xanthippē / Xanthippe