lyssophobia
English
Etymology
lyssa + -o- + -phobia
Noun
lyssophobia (uncountable)
- The fear of lyssa, or rabies.
- Synonym: hydrophobophobia
- 1911 May 12, John R[obbins] Mohler, “Differential Diagnosis”, in Rabies or Hydrophobia (U.S. Department of Agriculture Farmers’ Bulletin; 449), Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, OCLC 457984500, pages 14–15:
- A young man, 24 years of age, employed as a clerk in a dry goods store, was bitten on a Saturday morning bu a watchdog belonging to the proprietor. […] [H]e stated that he had been reading about rabies and the symptoms which would develop in man from the bite of a rabid dog, and insisted that he was developing hydrophobia as a result of having been bitten by the watchdog. […] Two days later the young man was in a very hysterical state and kept insisting that the dog that bit him was rabid. […] Here was a typical case of lyssophobia or pseudo-rabies, a figment of an overworked imagination, […]