a psychiatric disorder marked by uncontrollable bodily movement, widespread in S Italy during the 15th to 17th centuries: popularly thought to be caused by the bite of a tarantula
Word origin
C17: from New Latin tarantismus, from Taranto; see tarantula
tarantism in American English
(ˈtærənˌtɪzəm)
noun
a nervous disease characterized by hysteria and popularly believed to be curable by dancing or manifested by a mania for dancing: prevalent in S Italy during the 16th and 17th cent.
Word origin
It tarantismo: because formerly epidemic in the vicinity of Taranto; pop. assoc. with the tarantula, by whose bite it was erroneously said to be caused