From Greek 'mania' (madness, divine frenzy), from PIE *men- (to think) — Greeks saw mania as both curse and gift.
A person exhibiting wild or violent behavior; a person with an extreme enthusiasm or obsession; relating to or affected with mania.
From Late Latin 'māniacus,' from Greek 'maniakós' (mad, frenzied), from 'manía' (madness, frenzy, divine inspiration). The Greek 'manía' derives from PIE *men- (to think), the same root behind 'mind,' 'mental,' 'memory,' and 'mania.' The original Greek concept of 'manía' was ambiguous — it could denote destructive madness or divine inspiration. Plato distinguished four types of divine 'manía': prophetic (from Apollo), mystical (from Dionysus), poetic (from the Muses), and erotic (from Aphrodite). Key roots: manía (Ancient Greek: "madness, frenzy, divine inspiration"), *men- (Proto-Indo-European: "to
Plato argued in the 'Phaedrus' that 'manía' (madness) is not always a curse but sometimes a divine gift. He identified four types of blessed madness: prophetic madness (the oracle at Delphi), purificatory madness (religious ecstasy), poetic madness (the poet possessed by the Muses), and erotic madness (the lover transported by Aphrodite). The Greeks thus saw genius and madness as two faces of the same condition — the mind overwhelmed by forces beyond its control.