Such a word as "idiot", people often use in relation to those whose behavior in one way or another is knocked out of the general system. You could even say that they are being abused. But does everyone fully understand the meaning of this lexeme? The interpretation and etymology of the word "idiot" will be discussed in the article.
Two values
Today dictionaries offer the following two interpretations of the studied lexeme.
The first of these is a term used in psychiatry. It refers to a person who suffers from idiocy, which is understood as an extreme degree of mental retardation.
The second meaning is figurative, it is found in colloquial speech and refers to a stupid person, a dumbass.
But have there always been such interpretations?
Etymology of the word "idiot"
According to linguists, this lexeme is rooted in the ancient Greek language. There is an adjective ἰδιώτης, the meaning of which is "separate", "private". This definition applied to Athenian citizens who did not participate in any way in the life ofdemocratic society.
This word comes from another ancient Greek adjective - ἴδιος, which can be translated into Russian as "special", "own", "own". The latter, in turn, goes back to the Proto-Indo-European form swe meaning "one's own", "oneself".
From ancient Greek, the word passed into Latin in the form idiota, and from there into a number of European languages. According to some researchers, it appeared in Russian, being borrowed from French from the noun idiot. According to others - from the German Idiot.
There is also a folk etymology for the word "idiot". Some consider it as an abbreviation consisting of two words "go" and "from here." Like many folk interpretations, although this version is funny, it is unreliable.
In Ancient Hellas
They called idiots people who were excluded from politics. They did not go to the agora, did not participate in the elections. While the bulk of the citizens who called themselves "polites" were very kind to all public events.
Those who ignored them were not respected. Therefore, over time, the word denoting "private person" has acquired a disparaging connotation. It has come to refer to an undeveloped, limited, ignorant person. Already among the Romans, it denoted an ignoramus, an ignoramus, and from here it is not far from stupidity.
Thanks to Dostoevsky
The studied lexeme became popular in the Russian language in the middle of the 19th century. It spread even more after in 1868 in the journal "RussianHerald" was first published by "The Idiot", the immortal creation of the genius Dostoevsky.
However, it should be noted that the author put a double meaning into the word. Prince Lev Myshkin is an idiot only from the point of view of the representatives of the imperfect and sinful world. In fact, he turns out to be much wiser and cleaner than them.
