Associations to the word «Tarantism»

Wiktionary

TARANTISM, noun. (obsolete) (medicine) An extreme urge to dance, popularly thought to have been caused by the bite of a tarantula and prevalent in southern Italy in the 15th through 17th centuries.

Dictionary definition

TARANTISM, noun. A nervous disorder characterized by an uncontrollable impulse to dance; popularly attributed to bite of the southern European tarantula or wolf spider.

Wise words

In words, as fashions, the same rule will hold; Alike fantastic, if too new, or old: Be not the first by whom the new are tried, Nor yet the last to lay the old aside.
Alexander Pope