Etymologically
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dementia

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Pronunciation

  • /dɪˈmɛnʃə/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin dēmentia (“madness, insanity, folly”),[2][3][4][5] from the stem of dēmēns (“mad, out of one's mind”), the source of dement, with the abstract noun suffix -ia.[2][4][6] The Latin adjective is formed from the phrase dē mente (“out of the mind”).[4] English had earlier used demency, from démence, from the 1520s.[4][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Insanity, especially affecting thought and judgement: 1598, in J. Mosan's translation of C. Wirsung's Praxis Medicinae, according to the revised OED.[2] Etymonline and Merriam-Webster date the word to 1806,[4][7] the Oxford Dictionary of English and the Shorter Oxford to the late 18th century,[8][9] and Dictionary.com to 1800–10.[6]

Semantic evolution

The word passed from general madness to a medical term for a progressive decline of memory and reasoning caused by disease of the brain.[2][9][7] Senile dementia, the failure of mind in old age, is recorded from 1822.[4] Dementia praecox, a Modern Latin name for what is now called schizophrenia, was used in English from 1899, after German (1891) and démence précoce (1857).[4][9] A general sense, loss of judgement or wild foolishness, is recorded from 1846.[2][9]

Timeline

  • 1520s – demency, from French.[4]
  • 1598 – insanity.[2]
  • 1806 – a low condition of mental function.[4][7]
  • 1822 – senile dementia.[4]
  • 1846 – foolishness, loss of judgement.[2]
  • 1899 – dementia praecox.[4]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. (medicine) A usually progressive condition, such as Alzheimer's disease, in which the brain's memory, reasoning and other cognitive abilities decline.
  2. Madness or folly; a complete loss of judgement.

Word family

  • demential
  • dementia praecox
  • senile dementia

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  6. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  7. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  8. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  9. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press