- dementia (n.)
- 1806, from Latin dementia "madness, distraction, folly," noun of state from dementem, from dementer (see dement). It existed earlier in an anglicized form, demency (1520s), from French démence. Dementia praecox is a Modern Latin form recorded from 1899 in English, 1891 in German, from French démence précoce (1857). See precocious.