Re: Cretin
- From: Charles Ellson <charles@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 28 Dec 2005 21:15:22 +0000
On 28 Dec 2005 12:44:26 -0800, "Daniel Mac an Toisich"
<GNENIAN@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
<snip>
On 27 Dec 2005 18:47:17 -0800, "Daniel Mac an Toisich"
<GNENIAN@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>"The word cretin came from the French Cre'tin and was used as a
>derogatory term for true Christians who were seeking the Kingdom of
>Heaven and living in it and refused the gentile government
>encroachments of exercising authority so common during its first use of
>the term in that area.
>http://wackyneighbor.com/archives/2002/10/yet_another_ety.php
<snip>
>
>Etymology: French cr?tin, from French dialect cretin, literally,
>wretch, innocent victim, from Latin christianus Christian Date: 1779
>
>
>
>http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?l=c&p=30
>
>cretin
>1779, from Fr. Alpine dialect crestin, "a dwarfed and deformed idiot,"
>from V.L. *christianus "a Christian," a generic term for "anyone," but
>often with a sense of "poor fellow."
The OED seems to shift it to the other side of the Alps with the
implication that it started as a non-derogatory term in favour of
someone who is harmless to others:-
Cretin.
1779 [a. F. crétin, ad. Swiss patois crestin, creitin:-
L. Christianum CHRISTIAN, i.e. "gentle creature" as dist from the
brutes. (Cf natural)
One afflicted with cretinism.
Cretinism.
1801......... The condition of a cretin.... deformity..... idiocy,
endemic in certain Alpine valleys and elsewhere.
Use as an insult is IMU a more modern phenomenon, basically as a
substitute for idiot, fool and similar, concentrating on the medical
rather than religious associations of the word.
--
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