Mind & EmotionGreek → English
Pyromania
/ˌpaɪroʊˈmeɪniə/noun
A compulsion to set fires for the relief or excitement of it.
The Greek roots
πῦρ
pŷr
fire
μανία
manía
madness, frenzy
Literally: “fire madness”
The story of the word
Πῦρ gave English pyre, pyrotechnics and pyrite, the fire stone, so called because it throws sparks when struck. German and French psychiatry produced this compound in the 1830s, during the decades when the monomanias were being catalogued one obsession at a time. Genuine pyromania is rare in the clinical literature; most deliberate fire-setting turns out to have an ordinary motive behind it.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → scientific coinage → English
- First recorded
- 19th century
Same family
pyrepyrotechnicspyritekleptomania
In a sentence
The report ruled out pyromania and pointed at an insurance claim.