Friday, March 25, 2011
Slim
Oxford Concise Dictionary of English Etymology, s.v. slim:
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LG., Du. slim, repr. MLG. slim(m), MDu. slim(p) slanting, cross, bad = MHG. slimp (-b) slanting, G. schlimm grievous, awkward, bad:—Gmc. *slimbaz.I've always been fond of the etymological fallacy, and now I'm glad to learn that (etymologically, at least) there is something bad in being slim. Cf. Shakespeare, Julius Caesar 1.2.192-195:
Let me have men about me that are fat,I was once slim and dangerous. Throughout high school, I weighed less than a hundred pounds. But now I am "omo de panza," if not "omo de sostanza."
Sleek-headed men and such as sleep o' nights:
Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look;
He thinks too much: such men are dangerous.
Labels: etymology
