The Origin of “Idiot”

The word “idiot” is a word derived from the Greek “idiotes”, meaning, “a person lacking professional skill”, or simply “a private citizen”, from “idios” meaning “for one’s own”.  In the Latin equivalent, “idiota” originally meant “layman”, before morphing in Late Latin to mean “an uneducated or ignorant person”.

In Athenian democracy, an idiot was someone who was characterised by self-centeredness, selfishness and concern almost exclusively with private, as opposed to public, affairs.  Idiocy, then, was the natural state of ignorance into which all persons were born and its opposite, citizenship, was effected through formalised education that allowed participation in public affairs for the good of society.  The Athenian Greeks believed that people who refused to exercise their right to vote, or were incapable of reasoning and contributing to matters of public affairs, were “idiotes”.