lysso-, lyss-, lyssa-, lytta-
(Greek: madness, fury, rage, frenzy; relationship to rabies)
2. A morbid fear of catching rabies: Greg, suffering from lyssophobia, avoided wild animals altogether because he was most afraid of being bitten by one and contracting an acute viral disease which would affect his nervous system.
More details about the lyssiophobias
1. An intense terror of becoming mad, insane, or of having a nervous breakdown.When people fear that they are “going crazy”, they may be referring to a severe mental disorder known as schizophrenia. At a more symbolic level, the fear of going crazy is a condition of becoming disconnected from reality and other people and living in an isolated or alienated state.
2. A fear of getting rabies because such a condition is the result of a virus-produced disease that destroys the brain nerve cells in both humans and animals.The symptoms are characteristic of a profound disturbance of the nervous system, e.g., excitement, aggressiveness, as well as madness, followed by paralysis and death.
2. Origin: Latin, a "worm" said to grow under the tongue of dogs, and to cause canine madness; from Greek, literally, "madness".
Spanish fly, or cantharides as it is sometimes called, is often given orally to farm animals to incite them to mating. The cantharides excreted in the urine irritate the urethral passages, causing inflammation in the genitals and subsequent priapism (persistent abnormal erection of the penis, usually without sexual desire and accompanied by pain and tenderness).
For this reason, Spanish fly has been given to humans for purposes of seduction; especially, when men slip it into women's drinks at bars. It is dangerous since the amount required is miniscule and the difference between the effective dose and a harmful dose is very narrow. Cantharides cause painful urination, fever, and sometimes bloody discharge. They often cause permanent damage to the kidneys and genitals.
Cross references of word families that are related directly, or indirectly, to: "anger, angry; rage, wrath, fury; rave": fur-, furi-; ira-; mania-; rab-, rav-.