Sunday Word: Compos mentis

[sallymn]

compos mentis [kohm-pohs men-tis, kom-puhs men-tis]

adjective:
(Latin) of sound mind, memory, and understanding

Examples:

Each of these stories was, in some measure, autobiographical, and each a reassurance that, despite my worrying, I was still compos mentis. (John L'Heureux, John L'Heureux on Death and Dignity, The New Yorker, April 2019)

Erica Wagner tells us that sometime after 1917, when, in Washington's words, Edmund was "a harmless white haired old man of over 70," a doctor engaged on behalf of the estate of his recently deceased brother Ferdinand had declined to say whether Edmund was compos mentis. Apparently this had been something of a life-long concern. (Richard Howe, Erica Wagner's Chief Engineer: Washington Roebling, The Man Who Built the Brooklyn Bridge, The Gotham Center for New York City History, September 2018)

"I had little bit of whiplash, I smacked the back of my head," she later recalled on The Jonathan Ross Show. "And I had a man standing over me with a flashlight until about 3am to make sure I was compos mentis." (Nuray Bulbul, Brit Awards: 10 memorable moments ahead of 40th ceremony, BBC, February 2020)

Eldridge gives no facts to support his assumption. If Whitman was compos mentis at this time, the only way to attack his story is to attack the moral character or the memory of the witness. (Emory Holloway, 'Whitman Pursued', American Literature March 1955)

"It is getting the better of me," he said aloud, "and I must not give way. Lunacy is often the development of one idea, while, in other respects, the patient is compos mentis. No, no; a lunatic could not feel as I do." (George Manville Fenn, The Man with a Shadow)


Origin:
Latin, literally 'in command of one's mind,' from compos 'having the mastery of,' from com 'with, together' + stem of potis 'powerful, master' (from PIE root poti- 'powerful; lord'), + mentis, genitive of mens 'mind' (from PIE root men<.em>- 'to think') (Online Etymology Dictionary)