November 11, 2021
Volume 51 - No. 45
By Friedrich Gomez
Just imagine, the newest global research is now suggesting that a dementia syndrome originated in ancient Egypt around 3,000 B.C.
All of which gives renewed meaning to the old scientific proverb: “The Science Graveyard is full of old, outdated, dead scientific theories.” In King’s English: dementia now has a pedigree (with a recorded paper trail) far longer than initially The Paper - 760.747.7119
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thought.
That’s when the ancient Egyptian written records were discovered from Prince Ptah-Hotep (23752350 B.C.) during the reign of Pharoah Djedkare in the Fifth Dynasty, who mentioned “senile deterioration,” which for the ancient Egyptians “was an unfortunate ‘consequence of time’ in the deterioration process of ageing.” And although the dementia disease is now believed to have been (recorded) over 5,000 years ago in
ancient Egypt, the actual name, itself (‘dementia’) – is a lot more recent.
‘dementia.’ (National Library of Medicine, the Center for Biotechnology Information.)
It is there, in the archbishop’s pioneering book, “Etymologies” when the world first heard the word
“The history of dementia is probably as old as humankind, itself,” according to The Brain Research Institute at the University of
The word ‘dementia’ first appeared circa 600 A. D., a little more than 14 centuries back in time and is originally derived from Latin, meaning “out of one’s mind,” and was first coined by Saint Isidore (560-635 A.D.), who was the Archbishop of Seville, Spain.
Dementia
DEMENTIA IS AS OLD AS HUMANKIND. Long before it was recorded in ancient Egypt, and long before it was given a description and a name, dementia as a disease, has been around since the dawn of human civilization.