paranoia

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˌpæɹ.əˈnɔɪ.ə/ (UK); /ˌpæɹ.əˈnɔɪ.ə/, /ˌpɛɹ.əˈnɔɪ.ə/ (US)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from New Latin paranoia,^[2][3][4] from Ancient Greek παράνοια (paránoia, “madness, derangement”),^{[5][2][6][3][7]} from paránoos “demented, distracted”,^{[5][2][6][3][7][4]} from Ancient Greek παρά (pará, “beside, beyond”) + νόος (nóos, “mind”).^{[5][2][6][3][7]}

Earliest recorded meaning

Mental derangement (1811, in the form paranoea).^[8][2][6][3]

Semantic evolution

The modern form paranoia appears in 1848 in Etymonline and 1891 in Barnhart.^[6][2] In psychiatry it came to mean a chronic disorder marked by systematized delusions, especially of persecution or grandeur,^[6][8][5][3] and in general use extreme or irrational distrust of others.^[5][3][9] Middle English medical writing had already described a pathological state of suspiciousness as suspecioushed (early 15th century).^[6] The adjective paranoid dates from 1904.^[2]

Timeline

• early 15th century – suspecioushed, pathological suspicion.^[6]
• 1811 – paranoea.^[8][2][6]
• 1848 – paranoia.^[6]
• 1904 – paranoid.^[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A psychotic disorder marked by delusions of persecution or grandeur, often defended with apparent logic; now usually called delusional disorder.
2. Extreme, baseless or irrational suspicion and distrust of others.

Word family

• paranoically
• paranoiac
• paranoid
• paranoid schizophrenia

Related words

• nous
• para-
• noetic

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
3. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas, Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House