E 0479          IDIOT

The word " idiot " is of  Greek origin .

H 0393         ט ו י ד ה

Concept of root : simplemindedness

Hebrew word

pronunciation

English meanings

ט ו י ד ה

hedioth

simple, ignorant person

Related English words

idiot

Comparison between European words and Hebrew

Languages

Words

Pronunciation

English meanings

Similarity in roots

Hebrew

ט ו י ד ה

hedioth

simple, ignorant person

h . d y . th

Greek

ιδιωτης

idiotès

simple, ignorant person

i d y . t

English

idiot

idiot

i d i . t

 

 

Hebrew *HEDIOTH --- *IDIOTIS Greek

 

 

This Hebrew word is found in Post Biblical language, and as usual when a similarity with a Greek word is found , the first supposition is that the Hebrew one is a loanword from Greek. We cannot say that this is impossible, but there is uncertainty about this matter.

 

First we look at Greek etymology, the story of the word "idios" that is at the basis of "idiotès" . Greek scholars suppose that "idios" come from an older "*whedios" . If this is true, we find the same H that opens our Hebrew "hédioth" . And it is hard to understand how come Hebrew, upon loaning a Greek word after it had lost an initial H , would have re-introduced that H. The other explanation is that the Hebrew word, however much it looks like the Greek one, had its own H before the Greek language was encountered.

 

Another particular aspect is that in Hebrew we see two different plurals, in what today are the male and female suffixes, but in the past did not have this clear division. They are "ה ד י ו ט י ם, hediothim" and "ה ד י ו ט ו ת, hediothot" . This would be a rather surprising thing to do with a loanword. And it is an indication of old language. Coming back to Greek, apparently the initial W has changed into an I, a phenomenon that is seen very often in Hebrew. But our Hebrew word does not have an initial I and an old W remains very improbable. So we have two words that show quite some similarity , but may well have had independent stories after a common origin .

 

Note:
  • Indo-European No way back from Greek has been established in a convincing way. "Idiotès" comes from the well known word "ιδιος, idios = personal, private, own, distinct". "Idiotis" is then used in the sense of not having anything else but oneself, being, oddly "not distinct", a simple common person". It has been tried to link "idios" to Latin "sed-" saying "but", but this does not convince. Our comparison has to stay with Greek.

 

Note:
  • English "idiot" has a quite different meaning, though it has developed out of the same word. The concept "uncultivated" has become "mentally deficient". This development has begun in Latin, where this Greek loanword concentrated on " ignorant person ". It was then taken further to its actual meaning during the Middle Ages in France, slowly followed in other countries.

 

Note:
  • Hebrew still uses : ה ד י ו ט , hedioth ", in the sense of "simple, ignorant people ", like in old language, but today as well to say "idiot".
    The concept of "idiot" is further also expressed by different old words like : " ט פ ש, thippèsh" or " ם ט מ ט מ , methumtham ".

 

 

 

 

 
Created: Tuesday 6 November 2007 at 22.30.54 Updated: 22/10/2012 at 15.30.47