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dementio

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Forms

dēmentiō (present infinitive dēmentīre); fourth conjugation, intransitive[1][2]

Etymology

It is from Latin dēmēns (“out of one's mind”) + -iō.[1][3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL dates it from Lucretius, who says of the mind in sickness dēmentit dēlīraque fātur, “it goes mad and speaks wildly”.[3][2][1]

Semantic evolution

It is a rare word, used before and after the classical period.[2] Apuleius uses it in his Apology of a woman said to have lost her reason, and Tertullian argues that when a man goes mad, his soul goes mad.[3][2] Lactantius uses it of a man driven mad by a demon and of a mind maddened by drink,[3][2] and Martianus Capella has it too.[3][5]

Timeline

  • 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it of the mind in sickness.[3][1][6]
  • c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius uses it twice in his Apology.[3][6]
  • c. 160–220 AD – Tertullian uses it.[3][6]
  • c. 250–317 AD – Lactantius uses it of madness caused by a demon.[3][2][6]
  • 5th century AD – Martianus Capella uses it.[3][6]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To be out of one's mind, to rave; to become deranged, lose one's reason.[1][2][3]

Usage notes

A medieval noun dēmentiō “madness” (genitive dēmentiōnis) appears in Hugeburc's life of Wynnebald, about 778.[7][6]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
  5. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  6. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften