Etymology of the word 'autism'

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Apparently it is derived from the greek word for 'self, 'aut' as in 'autocrat'.

autism (n.)
1912, from Ger. Autismus, coined 1912 by Swiss psychiatrist Paul Bleuler (1857-1939) from comb. form of Gk. autos- "self" (see auto-) + -ismos suffix of action or of state. The notion is of "morbid self-absorption."


Quite an unpleasant etymology then. Do you agree with this?

Autism's etymology (auto and -ism = a tendency towards the self) describes the social impairment symptoms - the relative lack of social engagement, or at least of social and emotional cognition - among people on the spectrum. Sure it overlooks the other symptoms, but so what?

Words change meanings, and "autism" no longer means "a tendency towards the self" or "a symptom of schizophrenia" or "morbid self-absorption" any more, even though the term may have had those meanings a hundred years ago.

Analogy: the word "rubella" (= German measles) originally meant "little red things" such as the dots on the skin. There are other symptoms of rubella that this old Latin word doesn't cover, but who cares? The modern word rubella is the name of a specific disease, it doesn't mean "little red things" any more.

Etymology is about the past, not the present. Words change meanings and the etymology of a word does not define its current meaning.

"Autism" now means autism, it doesn't mean "morbid self-absorption" any more. We are not in 1912. And autism is no longer a symptom or subset of childhood schizophrenia, as it was many decades ago.

So, I think the etymology of "autism" is interesting, but sort of irrelevant.

PS: Bleuler is usually referred to as "Eugen Bleuler", not "Paul Bleuler". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bleuler

I just want to say that I really enjoy your posts, Thomas81.

You don't ask banal questions, but provide food for thought.

My feeling on the etymology is this: etymology follows cultural norms and societal perspectives, and therefore, a word's deeper (or more literal) meaning is often not the best descriptor or definition for the word, but an interesting historical and sociological insight into human perspectives surrounding that concept.

Which, in non-fancy language, means that this is a very unpleasant etymology, because society has an unpleasant view of autism....