maenad
See also: mænad
English
Etymology
From Latin maenas (“bacchant”), from Ancient Greek μαινάς (mainás, “raving, frantic”), from Ancient Greek μαίνομαι (maínomai, “be furious”).
Pronunciation
Noun
maenad (plural maenads or maenades)
- (Greek mythology) A female follower of Dionysus, associated with intense reveling.
- 1919, W. Somerset Maugham, The Moon and Sixpence, chapter 30
- Blanche Stroeve was in the cruel grip of appetite. Perhaps she hated Strickland still, but she hungered for him, and everything that had made up her life till then became of no account. She ceased to be a woman, complex, kind and petulant, considerate and thoughtless; she was a Maenad. She was desire.
- 1919, W. Somerset Maugham, The Moon and Sixpence, chapter 30
- An excessively wild or emotional woman.
Derived terms
Translations
follower of Dionysus