Sheer Madness

So many ways of saying ‘crazy’, so let’s take an etymologist’s look at their origins. (I must be mad….)

Crazy originally meant ‘diseased, sickly, when first seen in the 1570s, by the following decade the use had changed to ‘broken, impaired’, and the modern ‘of unsound mind’ first appears around 1610.

Berserk, or more often berserker, referred to a Norse warrior around 1835, having been introduced by Sir Walter Scott in The Pirate in 1822. It is derived from the Old Norse and originally meant ‘a warrior in a bearskin’.

Mad has had the modern meaning since the 13th century. It originated from Proto-Indo-European mei ‘to change’.

Insane, first seen in the middle of the 16th century, is older than the opposite of ‘sane’ which doesn’t appear until 1721.

Bonkers dates from 1948, derived from the idea that a ‘bonk’ (on the head) would render one senseless. Note from 1957, ‘bonkers’ was British naval slang for ‘slightly drunk’.

Out to lunch is first seen in 1955, the idea being to convey that a person ‘wasn’t there’.

Fruitcake is used to describe one of questionable sanity from 1952. Nutty as a fruitcake predates the shorter version, appearing in the 1930s. Confusing, but correct for traditional fruitcake contained fruit and nuts.

Unstable is first seen at the beginning of the 13th century, when it was used solely to mean ‘liable to fall’.

Lunatic appears in the late 13th century, coming from the Latin luna as the moon has long been related to questionable sanity.

Barking, an abbreviation of ‘barking mad’, first appears in 1925 and alludes to an association with mad or rabid dogs.

Non compos mentis first appears in English law in 1607 in the writings of John Cowell.

Mad as a March hare is likely to have first appeared in the writings of Geoffrey Chaucer in 1368, but did not gain widespread popularity until the publication of Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

Mad as a hatter appears in 1829, much earlier than Lewis Carroll’s work in 1865. Hatters used mercuric nitrate to process fur for felt hats, this known to cause neurological problems at times.

Batty appears first in 1899.

Stark raving is attributed to playwright John Beaumont in the 1640s, but popularity had to wait until 1734 and Henry Fielding’s The Intriguing Chambermaid

Doolally is British slang first appearing in 1917, correctly doolally tap this being the Urdu for ‘fever’ in the military camp of Deolali near Bombay, India established in 1861.

Not the full shilling first appears in the 1970s, which is also the time the shilling became decimalized as five pence.

Away with the fairies became popular in the late 19th century, but had been in use in Scotland since 1636 when appearing in a poem as ‘dance with the fairies’.

Out of one’s tree has been used since the mid 1960s, when it also referred to intoxication.

Gaga appears in 1920, coming from the French meaning ‘senile’.

Bananas is used in this context for the first time in 1968 – earlier, since 1935, it described sexual perversion.

Loco is American slang from 1844, coming from the Spanish with the same meaning.

Frog Idioms

Several words have become part of the language in being used in phrases. Last time we looked at ‘bite’ and now look at ‘frog’.

Leapfrog refers to any number of games since at least the 16th century. The present version is first described in 1898. Of more interest are the versions found in other countries: France has ‘leapsheep’; the Dutch, Chinese and the Romanians ‘leap goats’; India it is ‘horse leap’; Italy has ‘leap small or baby horse’; Filipino version is ‘leap cow’; Koreans have ‘pile driving’; and Japanese also ‘leap horse’.

Frog in your throat, describing one with a perceived ‘croaky’ voice, is first seen in 1892; although the phrase is used from the middle of the 17th century to refer to someone with a swelling in their neck.

Frog march dates from 1871, when it referred to police officers carrying a drunken or otherwise awkward prisoner. This involved four individuals, each holding one limb, carrying the offender face down. Since the 1930s this usually refers to someone being taken away with an arm (or two) behind their backs.

Bullfrogs have only been known as such since 1738, called such because of their loud call.

Frogman is used to describe scuba divers in suits from 1945.

And with only a few commonly heard phrases, I thought it might be fun to include some, at least to my mind, some few if any will have heard before.

A Big Frog In A Small Pond, essentially uses frog instead of fish.

Frog Face, is an insult as frogs are not considered particularly attractive (so why do so many princesses kiss the things in folklore?)

A Frog Choker, is a reference to heavy rain which is enough to choke a frog.

Frog Slicing, apparently a reference to anatomy classes in school which invariably involve chopping up frogs. I was ill the day the things were brought into school to go under the knife, I don’t think I’ve suffered too much from missing out.

To Be As Cross As A Frog In A Sock, a very strange expression using ten syllables to mean ‘angry’ which has but two syllables.

Like Herding Frogs, where frogs have replaced cats. I would think it easier to herd frogs than cats, indeed I would have thought it easier to herd anything than it would be cats.

Fine As Frog Hair, sometimes Frog Fuzz, describes something as excellent.

To Eat The Frog, is to begin the day with the most difficult task and thus everything else on the agenda is easier. Perhaps this is why magistrate courts always decide to sit on the most difficult case first, thus keeping as many as possible waiting, and waiting, and waiting, and …..

As Mad As A Box Of Frogs, is the same as a bag of wet mice, and many other containers of creatures not normally found in such.

To Juggle Frogs, is to attempt to multitask to the point where nothing gets done.

A Boiling Frog, a situation which isn’t seen as bad until it’s too late to do anything about it.

To Know No More Than A Frog Knows About Bedsheets, is an odd expression suggesting the individual knows little or less about a subject.

If Frogs Had Wings They Wouldn’t Bump Their Butts When They Hop, is simply wishing for something that are simply impossible. Wishing for the moon would be a more common version.

Frog, as a derogatory term for a Frenchman, came to Britain in the First World War. Prior to that it was used by those from the Benelux countries, and earlier still by the French to describe Parisians and thought to derive from the toads once appearing on the emblem of the French capital.

Synonym Etymologies M

Continuing the look at synonyms through the eyes of the etymologist, this time it is the letter M and mad. There are three usages for 'mad': as an adjective, as in 'insane'; as an adverb, as in 'oddly'; and as a verb, as in 'anger'. In all three cases the original sense seems to have been the adjective, this coming to English through the Germanic route and while the Old Saxon word gimed meant 'foolish', the Gothic version of gamaiths was used to mean 'wounded, crippled', and the Old Norse meitha 'to hurt, maim'. All these are derived from the Proto-Indo-European mei 'to change, move', a root which has also given us the word 'migrate'.

Insane is clearly derived from 'sane', itself from the Latin sanus 'sound, healthy', and from Proto-Indo-European seh 'to tie' and later used to mean 'to put in place or order'.

Derange is from the French desrengier 'throw into disorder' and thus the opposite of the reng 'line, row', related to Proto-Germanic hringaz 'circle, ring, curved', and back to Proto-Indo-European sker 'to turn, bend'.

Demented is from an obsolete verb dement 'to drive mad'. Here the first element is the negative 'de-', with the Proto-Indo-European men 'to think'.

Crazy is from the original 'craze', itself a Germanic word meaning 'to shatter, crush, break in pieces'. It seems likely to have come to English from Old Norse kraza 'shatter'.

Ardent is from the Old French ardant 'burning, hot, zealous'. Here the word came from Latin ardere 'to burn' and Proto-Indo-European as 'to burn' or 'glow'.

Zealous comes from 'zeal', itself from Old French zel and Latin zelus and Greek zelos all meaning 'ardour, rivalry, emulation'. All these can be traced to Proto-Indo-European ya 'to seek, request, desire'.

Fervent is another coming to English from Old French, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European bhreu 'to boil, bubble, effervesce, burn'.

Eager, also from Old French where aigre 'sour, acid, harsh, bitter, lively, eager, active, forceful', came from Latin acrus and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European ak 'be sharp, rise to a point, pierce'.

Angry is from 'anger' and came to English from Old Norse angra 'hostile, distress, suffering, agony'. It can be traced back further to Proto-Germanic angaz and to Proto-Indo-European angh 'tight, painfully constricted, painful'.

Irate, or 'ire', comes from Old French ire and Latin ira 'anger, wrath, passion'. Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European eis, this word has produced innumerable words indicating passion, such as the Greek hieros 'filled with the divine' and oistros 'causing madness'; Sanskrit esati 'drives on' and yasati 'boils'; Avestan aesma 'anger'; and Lithuanian aistra 'violent passion'.

'Mad' appears in several phrases, including 'like mad', which was first recorded in 1650; 'mad as a March hare' from the 1520s; 'mad as a hatter' from 1829; one could not be a 'mad scientist' before 1891; and as 'mad as a wet hen' since `1823'.