Idiot Savant (English spelling) [France]

Japanese: イディオ･サバン（英語表記）idiot savant[フランス]

A psychiatric term. Refers to a mentally retarded person whose overall intellectual development is delayed but who has exceptional talent in certain specific areas. In many cases, these people are skilled at mechanically memorizing things like place names, station names, numbers, calendars, and timetables, and as such, in recent years there has been concern about whether this condition is similar to childhood autism, but some people also excel in music and art. As this term was discovered and studied in France, it is used worldwide, but in Japanese it is translated as "intelligent idiot" or "idiot genius." [Miyamoto Tadao]

Source: Heibonsha World Encyclopedia, 2nd Edition Information

Japanese:

精神医学の用語。全体としては知能の発達がおくれているが，ある特定の面についてだけはすぐれた才能をもつ精神遅滞者をいう。地名，駅名，番号，カレンダー，時刻表などの機械的記憶にたくみな場合が多く，そのため近年では小児自閉症との異同が問題にされるが，音楽や絵画に秀でることもある。フランスで発見され研究されたのでこの語が世界的に通用するが，日本語では〈聡明な白痴〉〈白痴の天才〉などと訳される。【宮本忠雄】

出典　株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典第２版について　情報

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