Have you ever experienced that intense shiver down your spine when listening to a particularly moving piece of music? This sensation is known as frisson, and there is actually a Wikipedia article dedicated to exploring this phenomenon. The term was introduced into English in 1777 by British politician Horace Walpole, who initially used it to describe a general feeling of emotional thrill. The word itself was borrowed from the French word frisson, which could refer to a fever or a shiver, and can be traced back to the Latin verb frigere, meaning “to be cold” (which also gave rise to the word frigid). Ultimately, this can be linked back to the Proto-Italic and Proto-Indo-European roots srigos and srig, both indicating “cold”. As the definition of frisson evolved, the usage of the term saw a significant increase towards the end of the 20th century, reaching its peak in 2014.
