παράνοια

Forms

πᾰρᾰ́νοιᾰ (paránoia) f (genitive πᾰρᾰνοίᾱς); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Ancient Greek παράνοος (paránoos, “deranged, mad”) with the abstract suffix -ία (-ía).^[1] The adjective is formed from παρά (pará, “beside, beyond”) and νόος (nóos, “mind”), and the noun is close to the verb παρανοέω (paranoéō, “to be deranged”).^[2][3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is Aeschylus' Seven against Thebes, in the sense “madness”.^[5][6][7]

Semantic evolution

In tragedy and medicine the word meant derangement or madness: Euripides uses it in the Orestes, and the Hippocratic Prognostic of mental disorder in illness.^[5][7] In Athens it was also a legal term: a suit for παράνοια could be brought to establish that a citizen was too insane to manage his affairs, an action to which Aristophanes refers in the Clouds and which Plato and Aristotle mention.^[5][8][9] Aristotle also uses the plural for fits of madness.^[5]

In later Greek the word meant folly as well as madness; it occurs in Plutarch and Philo, and as a variant reading in the Second Epistle of Peter.^[4] Hesychius glosses it as “arrogance”.^[10]

In the 19th century the word was revived in Latin form as a psychiatric term, which gave English paranoia in 1848 (paranoea from 1811).^[2][11] Modern Greek παράνοια (paránia) continues the ancient word and the psychiatric sense of New Latin paranoia, and also means irrational behaviour in general.^[11][12]

Timeline

• 6th–5th century BC – Aeschylus uses it in the Seven against Thebes of a fatal madness.^[5][6]
• 5th century BC – Euripides uses it in the Orestes, and the Hippocratic Prognostic of mental derangement in illness.^[5][7]
• 5th–4th century BC – Aristophanes refers to suits for παράνοια in the Clouds, and Andocides and Isaeus use the word.^[5][6]
• 4th century BC – Plato and Aristotle mention the suit for παράνοια.^[5][8]
• 1st–2nd century AD – Plutarch and a variant reading of the Second Epistle of Peter use it of madness or folly.^[4]
• 1811 – English first has paranoea, and paranoia in 1848, as a psychiatric term.^[2]
• Modern Greek – The learned παράνοια (paránia) means paranoia and, more loosely, irrationality.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. Derangement, madness, insanity.^[5][7]
2. (Attic law) In the phrase παρανοίας γράφεσθαι, to indict someone for insanity, so as to take the management of his property from him.^[5][8][9]
3. (Koine) Folly, foolishness.^[4][8]

Related words

• παράνοος (paránoos)
• παρανοέω (paranoéō)
• νόος (nóos)
• ἄνοια (ánoia)
• English paranoia

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ Μανδουλίδης, Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της αρχαίας ελληνικής
4. ^ a b c d Bauer, Walter; Danker, Frederick W., et al. (2000), A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed., Chicago: University of Chicago Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
7. ^ a b c d Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
8. ^ a b c d Pape, Wilhelm (1914), Griechisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 3rd ed., rev. Max Sengebusch, Braunschweig: Vieweg
9. ^ a b Πάπυρος–Larousse–Britannica, Μέγα Λεξικό της Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Πάπυρος
10. ^ Hesychius of Alexandria, Lexicon, ed. Kurt Latte (Α–Ο, Copenhagen 1953–1966) and Moritz Schmidt (Π–Ω, Jena 1858–1868)
11. ^ a b c Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
12. ^ Ακαδημία Αθηνών (2014), Χρηστικό Λεξικό της Νεοελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Academy of Athens