Bacchantes

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A group of female followers devoted to the worship and ecstasy of Bacchus, often participating in ritualistic celebrations and festivities
2. Females associated with the ancient Roman god of wine, involved in joyous and frenzied revelries during religious ceremonies
3. Women who engage in ecstatic practices and celebrations in honor of Bacchus, often marked by music, dance, and intoxication

Etymology: "Bacchantes" is the plural of "bacchant," which English borrowed from Latin "bacchantem," the present participle of "bacchari," meaning to celebrate the rites of Bacchus or to revel. Bacchus is the Roman name for the god of wine, taken from the Greek "Bakkhos," and the Greek name was itself used as a title for the god, so the followers were named after him in the same way the god was. The Roman god is a counterpart of the Greek Dionysus, and his female followers, the maenads of Greek myth, are the figures English later gathered under this term. The word therefore carries the wild, ecstatic energy of the rites rather than any sense of ordinary drinking. The Latin verb it grows from describes taking part in the festivities themselves, which is why the English word keeps the idea of participating in a frenzy rather than simply being drunk.