# What did they call an adrenaline rush before they discovered adrenaline? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 17, 2018, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-they-call-an-adrenaline-rush-before-they-discovered-adrenaline/821483 "2018-09-17T17:54:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2018, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-they-call-an-adrenaline-rush-before-they-discovered-adrenaline/821483/1 "2018-09-17T17:54:47Z")
This is something I’ve wondered about in the context of historical fiction and fantasy\*– presumably people have known about the boost from excitement/anger/fear pretty much forever. But the name “adrenaline” only dates back to the beginning of the twentieth century. So there must have been some other name for it from before. \*I’ve seen the term “adrenaline rush” used in several fantasy stories. Stories with pre-industrial settings– there is no way anyone there would know a “hormone” as anything but the noise a prostitute makes. I know it’s “translation convention”, but I find it jarring all the same. ---
**Author:** ![Reindeer\_Flotilla](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reindeer_flotilla/32/3024_2.png) [@Reindeer\_Flotilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reindeer_Flotilla)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2018, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-they-call-an-adrenaline-rush-before-they-discovered-adrenaline/821483/2 "2018-09-17T18:53:58Z")
> [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](#): > > This is something I’ve wondered about in the context of historical fiction and fantasy\*– presumably people have known about the boost from excitement/anger/fear pretty much forever. But the name “adrenaline” only dates back to the beginning of the twentieth century. So there must have been some other name for it from before. > > \*I’ve seen the term “adrenaline rush” used in several fantasy stories. Stories with pre-industrial settings– there is no way anyone there would know a “hormone” as anything but the noise a prostitute makes. I know it’s “translation convention”, but I find it jarring all the same. One guess might include ‘thrill’, which originates from the old english word ‘pierce’, which was used in the old expression “pierced by emotion”. It seems tangentially related to the action of something getting injected into the blood, at least in hindsight. Though users of the expression back in the day must have related to the experience of something changing or being added inside them to explain the response. I’d also add the phrase “getting one’s blood up”, but that seems limited in usage for only when adrenaline was increased due to anger. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2018, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-they-call-an-adrenaline-rush-before-they-discovered-adrenaline/821483/3 "2018-09-17T19:55:27Z")
Catharsis, perhaps? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2018, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-they-call-an-adrenaline-rush-before-they-discovered-adrenaline/821483/4 "2018-09-17T20:05:38Z")
There’s “going beserk”. It’s an old phrase that dates back to the Vikings. The original meaning was that a Viking warrior was taken over by the spirit of a bear and would therefore fight like a wild animal. When the Vikings faded away in the late Middle Ages, the term also stopped being used. But it was revived in the 19th century when authors began writing historical adventure novels about the Vikings. From there, it entered into general usage. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2018, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-they-call-an-adrenaline-rush-before-they-discovered-adrenaline/821483/5 "2018-09-17T23:17:39Z")
> [@Reindeer\_Flotilla](#): > > One guess might include ‘thrill’, which originates from the old english word ‘pierce’, which was used in the old expression “pierced by emotion”. It seems tangentially related to the action of something getting injected into the blood, at least in hindsight. Though users of the expression back in the day must have related to the experience of something changing or being added inside them to explain the response. Thrilling = Prickling. It’s the pricking of the skin. ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2018, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-they-call-an-adrenaline-rush-before-they-discovered-adrenaline/821483/6 "2018-09-18T00:32:04Z")
> [@Reindeer\_Flotilla](#): > > One guess might include ‘thrill’, which originates from the old english word ‘pierce’, which was used in the old expression “pierced by emotion”. It seems tangentially related to the action of something getting injected into the blood, at least in hindsight. Though users of the expression back in the day must have related to the experience of something changing or being added inside them to explain the response. I guess that must have been Brandon Sanderson’s reasoning. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2018, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-they-call-an-adrenaline-rush-before-they-discovered-adrenaline/821483/7 "2018-09-18T01:01:53Z")
For various contexts: Over-excited Giddy All riled up Heated Spooked An excess of Blood (humorists) In a state ---
**Author:** ![road\_lobo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d78d45/32.png) [@road\_lobo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/road_lobo)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2018, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-they-call-an-adrenaline-rush-before-they-discovered-adrenaline/821483/8 "2018-09-18T03:56:02Z")
The red mist ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2018, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-they-call-an-adrenaline-rush-before-they-discovered-adrenaline/821483/9 "2018-09-18T04:13:49Z")
> [@road\_lobo](#): > > The red mist Good one! and “seeing red” follows it. ---
**Author:** ![Tony\_Dubois](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ac8455/32.png) [@Tony\_Dubois](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tony_Dubois)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2018, 8:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-they-call-an-adrenaline-rush-before-they-discovered-adrenaline/821483/10 "2018-09-18T08:46:05Z")
some phrases i remember reading from medieval literature: - consumed/ moved with excitement - great haste - high-strung - violently overpowered with… - sanguine nature (considering that the theory of the bodily humors ran popularly) ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2018, 9:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-they-call-an-adrenaline-rush-before-they-discovered-adrenaline/821483/11 "2018-09-18T09:29:06Z")
“Hot” covered a variety of heightened emotions and eagerness for excitement, but perhaps that’s not the same as actually experiencing the excitement. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2018, 9:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-they-call-an-adrenaline-rush-before-they-discovered-adrenaline/821483/12 "2018-09-18T09:31:35Z")
I’ve just remembered a line from Dryden about some hotheads spoiling for a fight: “The sons of Belial, flown with insolence and wine”. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2018, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-they-call-an-adrenaline-rush-before-they-discovered-adrenaline/821483/13 "2018-09-18T17:26:00Z")
[Google Ngram Viewer records “battle fever”](https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=battle+fever&year_start=1800&year_end=2000&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2Cbattle%20fever%3B%2Cc0) as first appearing in the early 1860’s (US Civil War?) and hanging around, with some fluctuations in popularity, ever since. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2018, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-they-call-an-adrenaline-rush-before-they-discovered-adrenaline/821483/14 "2018-09-18T19:37:38Z")
I’m not sure there would necessarily be a single term, as there are different ways to feel when you get one. It can be a panic. It can be a surge of anger. It can be a runner’s high. It can be a sudden fright. It can be a burst of energy. To me, none of those really feel the same. Yet they are all blamed on Adrenalin rushes. ---
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2018, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-they-call-an-adrenaline-rush-before-they-discovered-adrenaline/821483/15 "2018-09-19T02:03:30Z")
The vapors. Dennis ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2018, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-they-call-an-adrenaline-rush-before-they-discovered-adrenaline/821483/16 "2018-09-19T02:35:10Z")
> [@mixdenny](#): > > The vapors. Nah, “the vapors” traditionally was more about feelings of faintness, distress, fear, depression, and so on, rather than the energy surge we associate with “adrenaline rush”. ---
**Author:** ![brossa](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brossa/32/3040_2.png) [@brossa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brossa)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2018, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-they-call-an-adrenaline-rush-before-they-discovered-adrenaline/821483/17 "2018-09-19T11:56:52Z")
In a passion, e.g. a passion of rage or a passion of fear? ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2018, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-they-call-an-adrenaline-rush-before-they-discovered-adrenaline/821483/18 "2018-09-19T14:06:27Z")
> [@Reindeer\_Flotilla](#): > > I’d also add the phrase “getting one’s blood up”, but that seems limited in usage for only when adrenaline was increased due to anger. > [@Stubb](#): > > . Oh, captain, we’re good men. Our blood’s up, that’s all. We’ve been killing! A hard thing to stop killing, when you’ve been killing steady, sir. Why, we’ve been killing so fast, our blood’s so high, we wouldn’t have heard the Last Trump! From the movie Moby Dick, 1956. So the concept of one’s blood being up as an equivalent to an adrenaline rush dates back to at least…heh, 1956? Still, a wonderful line. ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2018, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-they-call-an-adrenaline-rush-before-they-discovered-adrenaline/821483/19 "2018-09-19T14:36:22Z")
There are a lot of chemical rushes we get that are not necessarily Adrenalin. I was at a council meeting last night. One of the speakers who was very nervous about speaking beforehand got up and gave her little speech, she received a nice round of applause. It was obvious that she somehow chemically responded to the applause as this calm, confident aura took her over and for the rest of the night she spoke slowly and decisively as if she was the one to be listened to. It was kind of comical. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2018, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-they-call-an-adrenaline-rush-before-they-discovered-adrenaline/821483/20 "2018-09-19T17:56:30Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > Nah, “the vapors” traditionally was more about feelings of faintness, distress, fear, depression, and so on, rather than the energy surge we associate with “adrenaline rush”. To be more specific, [“the vapors”](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vapours_(disease)) were a catchall term for female complaints, everything from PMS to menopause. It was thought to arise from emenations given off by the womb. A lot of these complaints, such as depression and bipolar disorder, were actually no different than male disorders. Excuse me, all this thought of females has given me the fantods… [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-they-call-an-adrenaline-rush-before-they-discovered-adrenaline/821483.md?page=2)