Lunatic is an informal term referring to a person who is considered mentally ill, dangerous, foolish or unpredictable, conditions once attributed to lunacy. The term may be considered insulting in serious contexts in modern times, but is now more likely to be used in friendly jest. The word derives from lunaticus meaning "of the moon" or "moonstruck". The term was once commonly used in law.
History
The term "lunatic" derives from the Latin word lunaticus, which originally referred mainly to epilepsy and madness, as diseases caused by the moon. By the fourth and fifth centuries astrologers were commonly using the term to refer to neurological and psychiatric diseases. Philosophers such as Aristotle and Pliny the Elder argued that the full moon induced insane individuals with bipolar disorder by providing light during nights which would otherwise have been dark, and affecting susceptible individuals through the well-known route of sleep deprivation. Until at least 1700 it was also a common belief that the moon influenced fevers, rheumatism, episodes of epilepsy and other diseases.
Toby is a popular male name in many English speaking countries. The name is from the Middle English vernacular form of Tobias. Tobias itself is the Greek transliteration of the Hebrew טוביה Toviah, which translates to Good is Yahweh. Yahweh is the name of the Jewish god. Tobit is also an alternate form of Tobias.
It is also used as a contraction of Tobin, an Irish surname now also used as a forename.
People named or nicknamed Toby
Toby is the seventh studio album by American soul group The Chi-Lites, produced by lead singer Eugene Record. The album was released in 1974 on the Brunswick label.
History
By 1974, Brunswick had started to struggle financially so Toby was less heavily-promoted than the group's previous albums and fared less well commercially. It was the first Chi-Lites album since 1970 to stall outside the R&B top 10 (peaking at #12) and to miss the top 100 on the Pop listings. Three singles from the album were top 20 R&B hits. In the UK however, where the Chi-Lites had previously established themselves as a successful singles group, none of the issued singles made any impact on the national chart.
Track listing
Charts
References
External links
Toby the Tram Engine is a fictional anthropomorphic tram engine in The Railway Series by the Rev. W. Awdry and his son, Christopher; he also appears in the spin-off television series Thomas & Friends. Toby, a tram engine with cowcatchers and sideplates, carries the North Western Railway running number seven and works on the same Ffarquhar branch line as Thomas the Tank Engine.
Toby first appeared in the seventh book in The Railway Series, Toby the Tram Engine in 1952, and appeared in several subsequent books. The second book focused on Toby was the sixth of Christopher Awdry's books, Toby, Trucks and Trouble.
Prototype and back-story
Toby is based on a J70 tram engine from the Great Eastern Railway (GER Class C53). His cowcatchers and sideplates allow him to run on roadside tramways, which other engines are not allowed to do for safety reasons. J70s were used for light duties, such as branch line work and dock shunting.