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🎉 A reveller 🏺 A Bacchus follower
bacchant

bacchant

9.9
A person who joins ancient wild ceremonies for Bacchus, the god of wine
  • noun
  • /ˈbækənt/
  • Archaic
translation icon : bacante
  • During the festival, the bacchant danced wildly, celebrating in honor of Bacchus.

Examples

  • Invested with divine power—or so it is believed—the Bacchants perform the rituals of dismemberment and eating of flesh on Mount Cithaeron.

    Academic text (1998)

  • Wearing ivy and animal skins, the bacchant led the procession through the forest, rejoicing in the spirit of the celebration.

  • The Bacchants, of course, have many images.

    Academic text (1998)

  • Recognizing that the necessities of space require the following analysis to be superficial in the extreme, let us see how this second step works when applied to The Bacchants by Euripides.

    Academic text (1998)

  • The bacchants sang songs and offered wine to the god of revelry during the midnight ritual.

Synonyms

bacchanal
vsbacchant
  • Literature
1 9.9

A person who joins wild parties and drinks too much

is a ritual follower of the Roman wine god not a general reveler
bacchante
vsbacchant
  • Archaic
9.9

A woman who takes part in wild religious celebrations for the wine god Bacchus

is the gender neutral term for any devotee regardless of sex

Surface Forms

bacchant singular
bacchants plural

Morphology

bacchant = Bacchus (transparent) = Bacchus + ant

Direct agentive formation from the name 'Bacchus' yielding 'follower/devotee of Bacchus', a literal and regular derivation.

Etymology

Bacchant originally named a follower of Bacchus, the god of 'wine', who took part in loud, wild religious ceremonies. So a bacchant can mean a priest or devotee who joins those wild rites.