Historical Terms for Mental Retardation

Tammi Reynolds, BA & Mark Dombeck, Ph.D.

Along side Howe's Idiots, Fools, and Simpletons, other terms were also historically used to describe degrees of mental retardation. These terms were originally neutral words simply referring to categories within a classification scheme for degrees of mental retardation. As the terms entered the vernacular, however, they tended to take on prejudicial connotations. Here are some other old mental retardation classification terms that are no longer used medically, but which are still used to insult people:

Cretin is a very old term (the oldest listed here) and is thought to come from the French word meaning Christian. This term originally reflected the promising perspective that people with mental retardation were "still Christian" and should thus be treated with kindness. Ironically, this term has taken a derogatory connotation and today has no positive meaning.

The term amentia has a long history, mostly associated with dementia. The difference between amentia and dementia was originally defined by time of onset. Amentia was the term used to describe an individual who developed deficits in mental functioning early in life, while dementia described individuals who develop mental deficiencies as adults. During the 1890s, amentia was used to describe someone who was born with mental deficiencies. By 1912, ament was a classification lumping "idiots, imbeciles, and feeble minded" individuals in a category separate from a dement classification, in which the onset is later in life.

The term dementia appears to be unique in that it seems to have gone unchanged in terms of meaning over hundreds of years. The term first emerged in the sixteenth century and was used in reference to people who lost mental functioning. In 1912, the classification of dement was used to identify individuals who had previously functioned normally, but who lost their faculties over time. Today's definition has pinpointed the onset of mental deterioration as occurring after the age of eighteen.

Idiot is derived from the Greek language and was used to classify individuals with severe mental retardation. These individuals were unable to function well enough to take care of themselves and required care around the clock. The term gradually became part of the mainstream and by the middle of the 1890s, the negative connotations prevented the term from being used by the medical community.

Imbecile is another French term derived from the Latin word meaning "without support." The term originally was used in reference to someone who was physically weak. This meaning stayed with the term from the middle of the sixteenth century until the early nineteenth century. Imbecile was used as a medical term to classify individuals with moderate mental retardation. Like the term idiot, it gradually entered the vernacular and became a term of abuse.

Mongolism was a medical term used to identify someone with Down syndrome. For obvious reasons, the Mongolian People's Republic requested that the medical community cease use of the term as a description of mental retardation. Their request was granted in the 1960s, when the World Health Organization agreed that the term should cease being used within the medical community.

As introduced by S.G. Howe, simpleton was supposed to be a medical term referring to individuals with mild retardation. However, it never fully entered the worldwide medical community's terminology. The term was later replaced by "moron."