Thoughtful Vocabulary: Horripilation
“Horripilation” is a seldom-used word for a very common phenomenon: goosebumps.
The word comes from Latin roots, as many of my favorites do. “Pila/Pilus” means “hair.” It’s the same root we see in the word capillary, for thin, strand-like systems. The “Horri/Horrere” root is a little more interesting, though. My first thought looking at the term is our modern “horror,” so simple etymological math would make Horripilation “the process of getting Horror Hair,” as we all remember from that one episode of Futurama.
“Zoidberg had hair?”
“I never said he had hair! If you chose to imagine in that way that’s your decision.”
Later…
“I thought you said he didn’t have hair?”
“He didn’t! But the horror of whatever he saw was so great he grew hair just so it could turn white!”
But things are a bit trickier than that. Because while Latin already had the term “Horribilis,” which conveys strong fear, that word’s roots are tied up with the original “horrere,” which means “stand upright,” “shiver,” and “tremble.” Latin has a very similar sounding word, “hortari,” which means “to urge,” which makes me wonder if there’s a connection between standing up in fear and standing up for something you believe. But thus far, my findings are inconclusive.
Either way, I’m curious which came first: the meaning of “horrere” as physically standing, and the posture was associated with fear, or the fear came first, only to be associated with the posture.
What I do know is that horripilation is criminally underused. It feels both clinical and insidious; There’s almost a shiver in the mouth the way it’s spoken. It’s a word that the villain uses to describe a hero’s fear, but never the kind of word heroes might say themselves. It goes back to the primal, evolutionary hackle-raising that kept our ancestors alive. And it sounds a lot better than endlessly repeated, “hair stood on end.” Because the next time I hear that someone’s “hair stood on end,” all I’ll be thinking, is “Oy, again with the horror hair.”