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Idiot is a word derived from the Greek ιδιωτης, idiōtēs ("layman," "person lacking professional skill," "a private citizen," "individual"), from ιδιος, idios ("private," "one's own"). In Latin the word idiota ("ordinary person, layman") preceded the Late Latin meaning "uneducated or ignorant person." Its modern meaning and form dates back to Middle English around the year 1300, from the Old French idiote ("uneducated or ignorant person"). The related word idiocy dates to 1487 and may have been analagously modeled on the words prophet and prophecy.

The word is a cognate in German, Slovenian, and Swedish.

History

It was originally used in ancient Greek city-states to refer to people who were overly concerned with their own self-interest and ignored the needs of the community. Declining to take part in public life, such as (semi-)democratic government of the polis (city state, e.g. Athenian democracy) was considered dishonorable. "Idiots" were seen as having bad judgment in public and political matters. Over time, the term "idiot" shifted away from its original connotation of selfishness and came to refer to individuals with overall bad judgment–individuals who are "stupid."

In hellenistic Egypt, idiotès was a term for soldier (etymologically parallel to that word which derives from sold 'pay'), derived from the idios logos, the Ptolemies' royal treasury that paid them.

In modern English usage, the terms "idiot" and "idiocy" describe an extreme folly or stupidity, its symptoms (foolish or stupid utterance or deed). In psychology, it is a historical term for the state or condition now called profound mental retardation.

Handicap

In 19th and early 20th-century medicine and psychology, an "idiot" was a person with a very severe mental retardation or a very low IQ level, as a sufferer of cretinism, defining idiots as people whose IQ were below 20 (with a standard deviation of 16); Mongolian idiot was applied to sufferers of Down syndrome.

In current medical classification, these people are now said to have profound mental retardation, and the word "idiot" is no longer used as a scientific term.

Use as an abuse

In modern English and other languages, idiot is also a derogatory term used to insult, usually meaning "You are stupid." For example, a group of drunks disturbing the peace could be referred to as "idiots." However, use of "idiot" to refer to people who are genuinely mentally retarded would generally be considered offensive.

A few authors have used "idiot" characters in novels, plays and poetry. Often these characters are used to highlight or indicate something else (allegory). Examples of such usage are William Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury and William Wordsworth's The Idiot Boy. Idiot characters in literature are often confused with or subsumed within mad or lunatic characters.

The most common imbrication between these two categories of mental impairment occurs in the polemic surrounding Edmund from William Shakespeare's King Lear. In Fyodor Dostoevsky's novel The Idiot, the idiocy of the main character, Prince Myshkin, is attributed more to his honesty, trustfulness, kindness, and humility, than to a lack of intellectual ability. This somewhat parallels the use of the word "idiot" in colloquial Russian to characterize a naive optimist and the "do-gooder."

Other uses

• The Idiot is a classic in world literature, in Russian, by Dostoyevsky and the title of an album by Iggy Pop.
• In June of 2005, New York State Assemblyman Will Stephens sent an e-mail to his constituents referring to them as 'pontificating idiots'.
• "Idiot box" is a slang term for television, or for a dialog box on a computer.
• "Walk Idiot Walk" is a song performed by the rock music group The Hives and released on the band's 2004 album, Tyrannosaurus Hives.
• "Idiot savant" was the original term for savant syndrome, used to describe people who excel in one particular thing while being below-average in other mental or behavioral areas. Many of these people are also autistic savants.
• In 2004, Red Sox outfielder Johnny Damon affectionately referred to his team as "The Idiots" to describe its eclectic roster and devil-may-care attitude toward "the curse".
• "Idiot lights" was a pejorative term used in the 1960's and 1970's referring to the low oil pressure and alternator fault lights on an automobile dashboard. The implication of the term was that knowledgeable drivers use real gauges and don't need warning lamps. The present and almost universal use of warning lamps in automobiles has caused the term to fall into disuse.
• The Idiot's Guide to Everything was released in 2003 as a methodological approach to describing literally everything imaginable. It was not a huge success.
• There are a series of books called The Complete Idiot's Guide to...
• American Idiot is an album released by the rock band Green Day in 2004.

Quotes

• "Reader, suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself." (Mark Twain, c.1882)

Sources, references and External links

• Dictionary.Reference.Com "Middle English, ignorant person, from Old French idiote (modern French idiot), from Latin idiota, from Greek idiotès, private person, layman, from idios, own, private."
• Etymonline "c.1300, "person so mentally deficient as to be incapable of ordinary reasoning," from Old French idiote "uneducated or ignorant person," from Latin idiota "ordinary person, layman," in Late Latin "uneducated or ignorant person," from Greek idiotes "layman, person lacking professional skill," literally "private person," used patronizingly for "ignorant person," from idios "one's own."
•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty |title= (help) on cretinism

• Disability
• Pejorative terms for people