beside oneself

English

Alternative forms

• besides oneself (Early Modern)

Etymology

Possibly derived from Ancient Greek παράνοια (paránoia, “madness”), from παράνοος (paránoos, “demented”), from παρά (pará, “beyond, beside”) + νόος (nóos, “mind, spirit”), with "beside mind" evolving into "beside oneself".

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Prepositional phrase

beside oneself

1. (idiomatic) Overcome; consumed by an emotion.

   His widow was beside herself with grief.

   • 1860, Henry David Thoreau, The Last Days of John Brown‎^[1]:

     [...] he contemplated it most calmly. Comparatively, all other men, North and South, were beside themselves.

Translations

consumed by an emotion

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 異常激動／异常激动 (yìcháng jīdòng)

• Czech: být bez sebe
• Danish: ude af sig selv
• Esperanto: ekstaza (eo), krom si mem
• Finnish: poissa tolaltaan (fi)
• French: dépassé (fr), (en, because of joy) ne plus se sentir (fr)
• German: außer sich
• Hungarian: magánkívül van, odavan (hu), nagyon (hu) (literally “very much”)
• Icelandic: ekki með sjálfum sér
• Italian: fuori di sè
• Russian: вне себя́ (ru) (vne sebjá)
• Spanish: fuera de sí
• Swedish: utom sig (sv)
• Yiddish: אויסער זיך (oyser zikh)