"Madness need not be all breakdown. It may also be breakthrough." —Psychologist R. D. Laing. crazy (adj.)1570s, "diseased, sickly," from craze + -y (2). Meaning "full of cracks or flaws" is from 1580s; that of "unsound mind," or behaving so, is from 1610s. If by defining someone as crazy, we mean they're cracked, the cracks might …