Re: Neanderthals succumbed to iodine deficiency...
it also occurred to me, but they just sound alike.
Had a look at an ethimological dictionary on-line, but I can't guarantee, as on ethimologies there are often different views
Idiot (BTW in french it is also idiot but with accent on the o and silent t) is from latin idiota, which is from greek idiòtes=private, and this from ìdios=particular,same.
Meaning that the idiot is someone who doesn't have any public or social life.
But I remember from highschool there was something like that the greeks were calling idiots those who talked greek (=same language), which is something left in terms like "idiom". But maybe that has nothing to do.
Iodine, scientific term is latin iodium, from gr. ioeides, composed by ion=violet and eidon=aspect - this ethimology is pretty clear instead