Usage and Origin Of the Word Madness

A QUESTION OF SANITY OR EMOTION : THE ORIGIN OF MADNESS

By definition , `madness ' correlates to one or something which is mad The Oxford English Dictionary defines `mad ' as

1 . mentally deranged insane . 2 . senseless foolish . 3 . angry resentful . 4 . wildly enthusiastic (about ) or fond (of . 5 . extremely excited or confused frantic . 6 . wildly exuberant . 7 . temporarily overpowered by violent reactions , emotions , etc

The word `mad ' has come to mean something as frivolous as over-excitement , or enthusiasm , to something as serious as a question of sanity . In today 's culture and society

, madness has even been used as the moniker of a zany ska-pop band , and it is used in reference to a neurodegenerative disease in bovine - or Mad Cow Disease , but which came first : the emotion , or the level of sanity ? When did it become readily acceptable that madness was not only a state of mind , but also a quantifier for enthusiasm

In to understand the root of the term `madness , we need to go back to its roots . The word `mad , according to dictionaries , is from before 900 A .D . and derives from Middle English vernacular for `madden and Old English `gem ?dan , or to make mad akin to mad , foolish . Even within the mid-centuries , the term signified a sense of foolhardy action , or senselessness . Perhaps it is this basis , and association with profound behavior which led the word to become synonymous with mental diss

Literature often alludes to the cultural influences of an era . Many poets through the centuries have suggested that inspiration comes to them that their works are often not their own , but those of a muse According to Tracy K . Smith , one such poet , Federico Garcna Lorca believes that it is to the `duende ' which inspiration comes

Unlike the Muse or Angel , which exist beyond or above the poet , the duende sleeps deep within the poet , and asks to be awakened and wrestled , often at great cost

This illusionary `demon ' is often how madness and mental diss were diagnosed . In the early Middle Ages , possession and demonic pranksters were often considered the reason for madness , or early cases of schizophrenia . We have come along way , though , in learning and discovered that mental diss may lead one into madness , but they are not caused by anger or emotion

The substitution of definition for `madness ' had become a readily acceptable practice by the 1300s an era also known for the bubonic plague . Many medical doctors had come alongside playwrights and poets in the use of the term . Mental health asylums had become wide-spread institutions across Europe . This isn 't to say they didn 't exist prior but in correlation to the use of language , it plays a strong significance that mental health and `going mad ' would be considered synonyms at this time . It is perhaps unsurprising that Dante 's Divine Comedy speaks of madness in similar `medical ' terms in Canto XXX

When vanish 'd the two furious shades , on whom

Mine eye was held , I turn...