Where does “mentecatto” come from?

mentecatto (Italian) comes from Latin mente captus, from Latin mente, from Latin mēns, from Proto-Italic mentis, from Proto-Indo-European méntis, from Indo-European *men-.

mentecatto (Italian): half-witted; imbecilic; half-wit

Definitions

  1. half-witted; imbecilic; half-wit

Ancestry of “mentecatto”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Latinmente captusinsane, mad
2Latinmenteablative singular of mēns
3Latinmēnsmind
4Proto-Italicmentismind, thought
5Proto-Indo-Europeanméntisthought
6Indo-European*men-—

Words derived from “mentecatto”

Every word from Indo-European *men- →Every word from Proto-Indo-European méntis →Every word from Proto-Italic mentis →