English
horror autotoxicus
Horror autotoxicus comes from Latin horror ‘dread, terror, horror’, and goes back to Proto-Italic *horzōs.
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*horzōsreconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEhorror‘dread, terror, horror’
- Englishearliest quotation 1989horror autotoxicus
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*horzōsreconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEhorror‘dread, terror, horror’
- Englishearliest quotation 1989horror autotoxicus
Earliest quotation: 1989, Arthur M. Silverstein, A History of Immunology: “Ehrlich's dictum of horror autotoxicus makes no claim that…”
The story
Latinate neologism coined c. 1900 by Paul Ehrlich in German, from Latin horror, auto- (‘self’), toxicus (‘toxic’).
Every English word from Proto-Italic *horzōs
Today it means
noun The now-discredited principle that the body will not harm itself by its own immune reactions.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Italic *horzōs / horror autotoxicus