Quoting Howard Gaskill <[log in to unmask]>:
> This may seem lazy, but I'm enquiring on behalf of someone else. Does
> anyone know the origin of "Wurmschneider", bzw. "jemandem den
> Wurm schneiden". "Wurmschneider" apparently came to be applied to
> tourist guides, having originally been associated with one particular
> Swiss guard in the Vatican, known for conning his customers (around
> 1600). I presume that the idiom predates him though. He is mentioned
> in a text from 1610 which suggests he acquired the name "nachdem er
> einigen Wolgeruesteten den Wurm geschnitten".
>
> Howard Gaskill
Yes, Howard, this was indeed very lazy of you:
The term 'Wurmschneider' is explained in gory detail in Grimm, vol 30, cols
2286 f. Also somewhat differently in Adelung, vol 5, 311. For those who might
be interested, it seems to have referred initially to the removal of parasitic
worms by surgical methods (hence 'Wurm- und Bruchschneider', Riemer). Since the
casualty rate was very high, the term then came to signify an 'untrustworthy
amateur', and eventually a self-appointed tourist guide. It seems to have been
applied routinely by German travellers to Italy in the 17th and early 18th
centuries.
Hope this helps.
Mit unterthaenigstem Wurmsegen, O.
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