DiotimosReading Desk

Words · Meanings · Passages

Burton’s Anatomy of Melancholy Lexicon

Words, historical meanings and reading routes

103 entries · 3,864 subsidiary terms

Terms beginning with F

1–5 of 5

  1. Faculty

    A faculty is a power or capacity: what a soul, bodily part or person is able to do.

    The Anatomy of Melancholy

  2. Familiar

    A “familiar” can be a close associate or intimate friend.

    The Anatomy of Melancholy

  3. Fascination

    “Fascination” means bewitchment or enchantment, especially an influence thought to work through the eyes.

    The Anatomy of Melancholy

  4. Fear

    Fear is an affection directed towards anticipated evil in Burton’s classification; sorrow concerns evil already present.

    The Anatomy of Melancholy

  5. Form

    Form names a shape, configuration, pattern or kind; as a verb, it means to shape or construct.

    The Anatomy of Melancholy

Citation and alignment conventions

Citation convention 1

Citation form policy: Citation forms are distinct from exact printed forms; phrase records keep their local construction.

Citation convention 2

Citation form policy: Citation key is separate from exact printed form; spelling and inflection normalized only where unambiguous. Multiword keys are labelled phrases.

Citation convention 3

Citation form policy: Citation lemma or phrase is distinguished from the exact printed form; inflection, title and construction scope are stated explicitly.

Citation convention 4

Citation form policy: Dictionary keys use standard headwords (Latin verbs in first-person singular present, nouns and adjectives in nominative singular); phrase/family keys are explicitly labelled. Exact printed forms and inflections are retained separately.

Citation convention 5

Citation form policy: Dictionary keys use standard headwords (Latin verbs in first-person singular present, nouns and adjectives in nominative singular); phrase/family keys are explicitly labelled. Exact printed forms and inflections remain separate.

Citation convention 6

Citation form policy: Dictionary keys use standard headwords (Latin verbs in first-person singular present, nouns in nominative singular); phrase/family keys are explicitly labelled. Exact printed forms and inflections are retained separately.

Citation convention 7

Citation form policy: Dictionary lemma or explicitly labelled phrase is separate from the exact printed form.

Citation convention 8

Citation form policy: English headwords normalize case only; spelling variants retained in exact printed forms. Latin inflections are identified separately from citation forms.

Citation convention 9

Citation form policy: Exact original form retained; explanatory family label does not replace it.

Citation convention 10

Citation form policy: Lemma/family keys normalize lexical identification; exact_printed_form retains source spelling and case. Latin forms are distinguished from the English body and from editorial note translations.

Citation convention 11

Citation form policy: Normalized expansion of an abbreviated Latin title, not a single-word dictionary lemma; exact local abbreviations are separately retained.

Citation convention 12

Citation form policy: The citation key identifies the immediate lemma or a normalized phrase; the printed form and explanatory article heading remain distinct.

Citation convention 13

Citation form policy: The exact abbreviated title is preserved; chiromancy is its explained family destination, not a conjecturally expanded Latin dictionary form.

Citation convention 14

Citation form policy: The exact attestation is preserved; the lemma or family identifies its citation form without silently altering the quotation.

Citation convention 15

Citation form policy: The key identifies the dictionary lemma or explicitly expanded title phrase; printed inflection and abbreviation are retained separately.

Citation convention 16

Citation form policy: The key identifies the immediate lemma or a normalized phrase; the printed inflection or spelling remains distinct.

Citation convention 17

Citation form policy: The key identifies the immediate lemma or normalized phrase; exact printed spelling and inflection are preserved separately.

Citation convention 18

Citation form policy: Unambiguous case, spelling or inflection normalization; otherwise a labelled phrase or source family. Exact attestation retained separately.

Alignment convention 19

Indexed form relation: Equal-scope phrase or clause comparison; the whole construction is not assigned to one component.

Alignment convention 20

Indexed form relation: Indexed form is a component of the original unit; the modern unit aligns the same scope.

Alignment convention 21

Indexed form relation: Indexed form is one component of the quoted phrase or full unit; its lexical contribution is defined separately from modifiers and complements.

Alignment convention 22

Indexed form relation: No original/modern alignment is claimed; the explanation derives from original English marginal wording.

Alignment convention 23

Indexed form relation: The comparison preserves the local phrase scope; the indexed form is distinguished from the rest of the construction.

Alignment convention 24

Indexed form relation: The comparison retains the same local phrase scope; the indexed word is distinguished from the wider construction.

Alignment convention 25

Indexed form relation: The exact indexed form is distinguished from the wider phrase; the paired units retain the same local scope.

Alignment convention 26

Indexed form relation: The form contributes the dung/refuse sense specified in the local gloss; the whole phrase includes the separately described action, relation and modifiers.

Alignment convention 27

Indexed form relation: The full phrase or clause is aligned; its entire meaning is not assigned to the indexed component.

Alignment convention 28

Indexed form relation: The indexed expression is the full alignment unit.

Alignment convention 29

Indexed form relation: The indexed form is a component of the original alignment unit; the modern unit aligns the whole construction.

Alignment convention 30

Indexed form relation: The indexed form is a component of the quoted construction; the modern unit renders that full construction, not the component alone.

Alignment convention 31

Indexed form relation: The indexed form is distinguished from the wider phrase; the paired units preserve local scope.

Alignment convention 32

Indexed form relation: The indexed form is the entire original alignment unit.

Alignment convention 33

Indexed form relation: The indexed word is defined separately; the complete quoted construction is aligned.

Alignment convention 34

Indexed form relation: The indexed word or phrase is defined separately; the quoted construction is aligned as a whole.

Alignment convention 35

Indexed form relation: The whole quoted unit is aligned; meanings contributed by its other words are not assigned to the indexed component.

Alignment convention 36

Indexed form relation: component of explicitly stated whole construction; not a single-word translation

Alignment convention 37

Indexed form relation: component of stated construction

Alignment convention 38

Indexed form relation: component of the explicitly stated original construction; modern unit aligns that whole construction

Alignment convention 39

Indexed form relation: component of the stated full construction

Alignment convention 40

Indexed form relation: component of the stated original construction; modern unit aligns that whole construction

Alignment convention 41

Indexed form relation: component of the stated original construction; modern unit aligns the whole construction

Alignment convention 42

Indexed form relation: entire alignment unit

Alignment convention 43

Indexed form relation: entire indexed component

Alignment convention 44

Indexed form relation: entire original alignment unit

Alignment convention 45

Indexed form relation: entire unit

Alignment convention 46

Indexed form relation: indexed component of explicit wider construction

Alignment convention 47

Indexed form relation: indexed component of the explicit original construction; modern unit translates that construction

Alignment convention 48

Indexed form relation: indexed component of the explicitly stated original construction; modern unit translates that construction

Alignment convention 49

Indexed form relation: indexed lexical component within the expressly stated larger original construction; modern unit aligns that construction

Alignment convention 50

Scope: Equal-scope lexical or construction alignment.

Alignment convention 51

Scope: Equal-scope original and supplied-modern units

Alignment convention 52

Scope: Equal-scope original/modern units

Alignment convention 53

Scope: Equal-scope phrase or clause; the full rendering is not assigned to an isolated component.

Alignment convention 54

Scope: Equal-scope phrase or clause; the whole rendering is not assigned to an isolated component.

Alignment convention 55

Scope: Equal-scope phrase or clause; the whole rendering is not assigned to the isolated indexed form.

Alignment convention 56

Scope: Equal-scope phrase or complete original/modern source unit; no larger phrase is assigned to the indexed word alone.

Alignment convention 57

Scope: Equal-scope quoted phrase or complete source unit; not a claim that every modern word translates the indexed word.

Alignment convention 58

Scope: Exact equal-scope phrase or full sentence; no single-word claim for a multiword construction.

Alignment convention 59

Scope: Mixed English/Latin clause and supplied modern rendering; indexed phrase itself Latin

Alignment convention 60

Scope: No supplied-modern equivalent claimed

Alignment convention 61

Scope: Original marginal Latin and supplied editorial translation, excluding wrapper

Alignment convention 62

Scope: Original marginal quotation and supplied editorial translation

Alignment convention 63

Scope: Original marginal wording and supplied editorial rendering

Alignment convention 64

Scope: Same local construction, with explicitly marked supply or grammatical redistribution.

Alignment convention 65

Scope: Same local construction, with explicitly marked supply or redistribution.

Alignment convention 66

Scope: Same local construction; specified supplies or grammatical redistribution are explicit.

Alignment convention 67

Scope: Same local construction; the specified supplies or grammatical redistribution are explicit.

Alignment convention 68

Scope: Single indexed component or phrase; wider wording retained separately as context.

Alignment convention 69

Scope: Single indexed lexical item or phrase; wider former construction retained separately.

Alignment convention 70

Scope: Whole stated construction, with no component-only equivalence claimed.

Alignment convention 71

Scope: Whole stated construction; listed modern additions explicate or recast the original, rather than supply independent original lexical forms.

Alignment convention 72

Scope: Whole stated construction; no component-only equivalence claimed.

Alignment convention 73

Scope: Whole supplied phrase/construction aligned; no assertion that every modern word translates the indexed component.

Alignment convention 74

Scope: construction

Alignment convention 75

Scope: equal-scope lexical phrase or construction; wider context kept separately

Alignment convention 76

Scope: equal-scope lexical phrase or construction; wider context recorded separately

Alignment convention 77

Scope: equal-scope phrase or explicitly qualified construction

Alignment convention 78

Scope: equal-scope phrase; the indexed form and surrounding modifiers or complements are distinguished

Alignment convention 79

Scope: exact component or full construction as explicitly given; broader context is not a single-word translation

Alignment convention 80

Scope: identity: original English marginal wording

Alignment convention 81

Scope: lexical item

Alignment convention 82

Scope: lexical_component

Alignment convention 83

Scope: naming phrase

Alignment convention 84

Scope: phrase

Alignment convention 85

Scope: phrase or construction

Alignment convention 86

Scope: prepositional phrase

Alignment convention 87

Scope: single lexical component

Alignment convention 88

Scope: single lexical component or substantival patient label

Alignment convention 89

Scope: single lexical item or phrase

Alignment convention 90

Scope: whole Latin noun phrase

Alignment convention 91

Scope: whole adjective/noun phrase

Alignment convention 92

Scope: whole clause

Alignment convention 93

Scope: whole conditional clause

Alignment convention 94

Scope: whole coordinated phrase

Alignment convention 95

Scope: whole heading

Alignment convention 96

Scope: whole naming phrase

Alignment convention 97

Scope: whole negative construction

Alignment convention 98

Scope: whole noun phrase

Alignment convention 99

Scope: whole noun phrase or named lexical component as given

Alignment convention 100

Scope: whole paired phrase

Alignment convention 101

Scope: whole phrase or construction

Alignment convention 102

Scope: whole possessive noun phrase

Alignment convention 103

Scope: whole predication

Alignment convention 104

Scope: whole stated construction; no component-only equivalence is claimed

Alignment convention 105

Scope: whole stated original phrase or construction, not a component-only translation

Alignment convention 106

Scope: whole stated original phrase or construction, not a component-only translation; people is supplied to make the substantivized adjective explicit

Alignment convention 107

Scope: whole stated phrase or construction

Alignment convention 108

Scope: whole stated phrase or construction; exact original unit retained

Alignment convention 109

Scope: whole verb phrase

About this collection

October 2026

The Anatomy of Melancholy · Robert Burton

About this collection and downloads

103 complete contextual articles with 3,864 independently explained supporting vocabulary records.

About the lexicon

The supporting vocabulary register explains individual printed forms and local senses. Its glosses and lookup aliases are not additional articles. This volume highlights significant uses rather than listing every occurrence.

The source is the supplied annotated EPUB and parallel DOCX, based on Burton’s sixth edition of 1651. The supplied older-English text, paired modern rendering, historical marginal quotations and editorial notes remain distinct. Source locators belong to the supplied edition; they are not pages in this lexicon. No new collation of historical witnesses or of all cited authorities is claimed. Historical medicine, reported supernatural powers and polemical statements are explained in context.

Use the alphabetical contents or thematic guide to find articles, and the form and English indexes to find particular words and meanings. Linked cross-references lead to articles in this volume; other related titles identify topics outside it.