idioticon

The story

1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*swé“self (reflexive pronoun)”
2. Ancient Greek · derived fromἰδιωτικόν
3. Late Latin · derived fromidioticon
4. German · borrowed fromIdiotikon
5. English todayidioticon

PIE word *swé Borrowed from German Idiotikon, Idioticon (archaic), from Late Latin idioticon (chiefly in the titles of works), from Ancient Greek ἰδιωτικόν (idiōtikón), the neuter singular of ἰδιωτικός (idiōtikós, “pertaining to or for a person not engaged in public affairs; private; amateurish”), from ῐ̓δῐώτης (ĭdĭṓtēs, “person not engaged in public affairs; amateur, layperson; ignorant person, idiot”) + -ῐκός (-ĭkós, suffix forming adjectives meaning ‘of or pertaining to’). ῐ̓δῐώτης is derived from ῐ̓́δῐος (ĭ́dĭos, “private (as opposed to public); distinct, separate; peculiar, specific”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *swé (“self (reflexive pronoun)”) + -ώτης (-ṓtēs, suffix forming nouns referring to types of persons). The English word is cognate with Dutch idioticon. The plural form idiotica is derived from German Idiotika, Latin idiotica, and Ancient Greek ἰδιωτῐκᾰ́ (idiōtĭkắ).

Words from the same roots