the.com/lunatic
Someone the moon allegedly made crazy, back when weather forecasting and psychiatry were the same job.
means A person regarded as mad or wildly irrational — historically, someone believed to suffer periodic insanity.
from From Latin 'lunaticus,' built on 'luna' (moon). The ancient and medieval belief held that the moon's phases could trigger madness or epilepsy — hence 'moonstruck.' That theory is false, but the word stuck around long after the science didn't.
- root word
- from luna, latin for moon
- old belief
- full moon caused temporary madness
- legal history
- uk law used term until 1930
- modern irony
- science finds no moon-madness link