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	'''Idiot''' is a word derived from the ] {{Polytonic\|ἰδιώτης}}, ''idiōtēs'' ("layman," "person lacking professional skill," "a private citizen," "individual"), from {{Polytonic\|ἴδιος}}, ''idios'' ("private," "one's own").<ref>Liddell-Scott-Jones ''A Greek-English Lexicon'', entries for and .</ref> In ] the word ''idiota'' ("ordinary person, layman") preceded the ] meaning "uneducated or ignorant person."<ref>''Words'', entry ''''.</ref> Its modern meaning and form dates back to ] around the year 1300, from the ] ''idiote'' ("uneducated or ignorant person"). The related word '''''idiocy''''' dates to 1487 and may have been analagously modeled on the words ] and ].<ref>Etymonline.com, entry ''''.</ref>

	The word has ]s in ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], and ].

	==History==
	"Idiot" was originally used in ] ]s to refer to people who were overly concerned with their own self-interest and ignored the needs of the community. Declining to take part in public life, such as (semi-)democratic government of the ] (city state), such as the ], was considered dishonorable. "Idiots" were seen as having bad judgment in public and political matters. Over time, the term "idiot" shifted away from its original connotation of selfishness and came to refer to individuals with overall bad judgment–individuals who are "]".

	In modern ] usage, the terms "idiot" and "idiocy" describe an extreme folly or stupidity, its symptoms (foolish or stupid utterance or deed). In psychology, it is a historical term for the state or condition now called ].

	==Disability==
	In 19th and early 20th-century medicine and psychology, an "idiot" was a person with a very severe ] or a very low ] level, as a sufferer of ], defining idiots as people whose IQ were below 20 (with a standard deviation of 16); '''Mongolian idiot''' (or '''Mongoloid idiot''') was applied to people who had ].<ref></ref>

	In current medical classification, these people are now said to have profound mental retardation, and the word "idiot" is no longer used as a scientific term.

	==In literature==
	{{unreferenced\|date=October 2006}}
	A few authors have used "idiot" characters in novels, plays and poetry. Often these characters are used to highlight or indicate something else (]). Examples of such usage are ] '']'' and ] '']''. Idiot characters in literature are often confused with or subsumed within mad or lunatic characters. The most common imbrication between these two categories of mental impairment occurs in the polemic surrounding Edmund from ] '']''. In ] novel '']'', the idiocy of the main character, Duke Myshkin, is attributed more to his honesty, trustfulness, kindness, and humility, than to a lack of intellectual ability.

	==Other uses==
	*] is a classic in world literature, in Russian, by Dostoyevsky and the title of an album by ].
	* In June of ], New York State Assemblyman ] sent an e-mail to his constituents referring to them as 'pontificating idiots'.
	* "Idiot box" is a slang term for ], or for a ] on a computer.
	* "Walk Idiot Walk" is a song performed by the rock music group ] and released on the band's ] ], ''Tyrannosaurus Hives''.
	* "Idiot savant" was the original term for someone having what is now called ]. It was used to describe people who excel in one particular thing while being below-average in other mental or behavioral areas. Many of these people are also ]s.
	* In ], ] ] ] affectionately referred to his team as "The Idiots" to describe its eclectic roster and devil-may-care attitude toward "]".
	* "]s" was a pejorative term used in the 1960s and 1970s referring to the low oil pressure and alternator fault lights on an automobile dashboard. The implication of the term was that knowledgeable drivers use real gauges and do not need warning lamps. The present and almost universal use of warning lamps in automobiles has caused the term to fall into disuse.
	* The Idiot's Guide to Everything, released in 2003 as a methodological approach to describing literally everything imaginable, was not a huge success.
	* There also exists a series of guides and handbooks, each called ].
	* ] ("idiots") is an 1998 movie by ].
	* One of ]'s most popular catch-phrases in that movie was using the word "Idiot".
	* '']'', the ] and ] by ] is a euphemism for President George W. Bush.
	* After shooting a double-bogey on the 18th hole of the ], ] referred to himself by saying "I'm such an idiot".
	* On ], Ren often refers to stimpy as a "fat bloated idiot."

	==Quotes==
	* "it is true of idiots, that the more absurd and foolish they are, and the more their opinions diverge from those universally held, the more likely are they to utter no word which they will wish to recall" - St. Augustine in Letter 143 to Marcellinus (A.D. 412)
	*"Reader, suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of ]. But I repeat myself." (], c.])
	*"Never argue with an idiot. He will lower you to his level and beat you with experience." (Bob Smith, c. 1962)

	==See also==
	*]

	==Sources and external links==
	{{wiktionary}}
	* "Middle English, ignorant person, from Old French ''idiote'' (modern French idiot), from Latin ''idiota'', from Greek ''idiotès'', private person, layman, from ''idios'', own, private."
	* "c.1300, "person so mentally deficient as to be incapable of ordinary reasoning," from Old French ''idiote'' "uneducated or ignorant person," from Latin ''idiota'' "ordinary person, layman," in Late Latin "uneducated or ignorant person," from Greek ''idiotes'' "layman, person lacking professional skill," literally "private person," used patronizingly for "ignorant person," from ''idios'' "one's own".
	*{{1911}} on cretinism
	*{{Catholic}}

	==References==
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Revision as of 12:35, 1 December 2006

what you are.