Meta-note on LoTR: instances of "madness"

[eykar]

Etymology courtesy of Aelfgifu: "Mad" - or "Maed" (gemaedan)meant not necessarily loony, but mad (angry) or, more to your point, "foolish" - which is different than "crazy

Comments

[aelfgifu]

interesting thoughts. I looked up "mad" in my Old English dictionary to see what the earlier connotations of the word were. As it turns out - you are quite right in what you read into the word. "Mad" - or "Maed" (gemaedan)meant not necessarily loony, but mad (angry) or, more to your point, "foolish" - which is different than "crazy." Tolkien was certainly familar with the older meaning of the word