Why Mad?

My fascination of the word "mad" sprouts from its many connotations in modern language usage, both common and uncommon. The most abundant usages of the word are as an adjective to describe an emotion, or as an adjective to add to the meaning of another adjective. Before I discovered the slang version of the word while visiting my family in New York, I thought that the only usage of the word mad was when referring to an angry feeling someone may feel. My Northeastern cousins, however, would use the word mad to add to a description of something. For example, they would say, "That movie was mad cool," meaning that it was really cool. Since my apprehension of this usage, I too have used it in my daily vocabulary.

 My historical knowledge of the word mad is limited. Because of this, I am interested in looking deeper into the origin of the word and how its multiple meanings came to be. Whether its slang or its intended meaning, the usages of the word "mad" are extremely different, and sometimes opposite of each other. This is somewhat confusing, but very interesting as I begin my research on this single word. I am nervous that I will not be able to find the origins of some of the meanings; however, I think that many of them have existed for a long time. I am looking forward to focusing on the original meaning of the word, and how it has progressed to its most common usages.