amentia

English

Etymology

From Latin āmentia (“madness; senselessness”), from āmēns (“mad, insane; foolish”), from ab (“from, away from”) + mēns (“mind”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /eɪˈmɛnʃə/, /əˈmɛnʃə/

Noun

amentia (countable and uncountable, plural amentias)

1. Mental impairment; state of being mentally handicapped.
   • 1922, W. G. Aitchison Robertson, Aids to Forensic Medicine and Toxicology‎^[1], 9th edition:

     Cretinism is a form of amentia, which is endemic in certain districts, especially in some of the valleys of Switzerland, Savoy, and France.

Derived terms

• amential

Related terms

• dementia

Translations

the state of being mentally handicapped

• Bulgarian: вродено слабоумие (vrodeno slaboumie)
• Finnish: amentia
• German: Amentia f, Schwachsinn (de) m (dated)
• Italian: amenza (it) f
• Polish: amencja f
• Portuguese: amência (pt) f
• Russian: слабоу́мие (ru) n (slaboúmije), аме́нция (ru) f (améncija)

Anagrams

• animate, aminate, metania, Anamite

Latin

Etymology

From āmēns (“mad, insane; foolish”) +‎ -ia, from ab- (“from, away from”) + mēns (“mind”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [aːˈmɛn.ti.a]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [aˈmɛn.t͡si.a]

Noun

āmentia f (genitive āmentiae); first declension

1. madness, insanity (the state of being out of one's senses)
   • 63 BCE, Cicero, In Catilinam orationes 1.25:

     Ad hanc tē āmentiam nātūra peperit; voluntās exercuit; fortūna servāvit.

     Nature has borne you for this madness; desire has trained [you]; fortune has preserved [you].

2. folly, stupidity, senselessness
3. malice, malignity

Declension

First-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	āmentia	āmentiae
genitive	āmentiae	āmentiārum
dative	āmentiae	āmentiīs
accusative	āmentiam	āmentiās
ablative	āmentiā	āmentiīs
vocative	āmentia	āmentiae

Descendants

• English: amentia
• Italian: amenza
• Russian: аме́нция f (améncija)

References

• “amentia”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “amentia”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• "amentia", in Charles du Fresne du Cange, Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• “amentia”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.