As a guess, perhaps from clunker, in turn from clinker. But all my
etymological resources are buried. Back to you, Robin-of-the-cleansed-computer?
Mark
At 03:56 AM 12/10/2005, you wrote:
>>lunkhead
>>
>> A blockhead. Hence lunk"headed a., thickheaded, stupid.
>>
>> 1884 'Mark Twain' Huck. Finn xxii. 225 So the duke said these Arkansaw
>>lunkheads couldn't come up to Shakespeare.
>
>As Patrick's done the OED, it only remains for me to gild the gingerbread.
>
> From the OED [OED3 here], it looks as if the word was coined by Twain --
> no derivation is given there. However, "lunk" is earlier (first recorded
>1867), said to be derived from "lunkhead". Which is ass backwards if you
>consider the dates:
>
> colloq. (orig. U.S.).
>
> derivation [Abbrev. of lunkhead.]
>
> A slow-witted, unintelligent person.
>
> 1867 Harper's Weekly 25 May 330/2 They're tigers, you
> thick-headed lunk.
>
>Beale/Partridge 8 (surprisingly) doesn't have an entry, but the (as always
>excellent) Jonathan Green in +The Cassell Dictionary of Slang+ has as
>follows:
>
> lunk n. [mid-19C+] (US) 1 a fool. 2 an oaf, a curmudgeon [abbr.
>LUNKHEAD]
>
>{Green follows the OED nonsense here -- anyone have any idea why the OED
>does what it does, other than that the derivation of "lunk" there was
>written by a lunkhead?}
>
> lunk adj. [late 19C+] (Irish) 1 of weather. close, sultry 2 of a
>person, feeling ill. [Scot. lunkie, close, ult. Norwegian lunke, a tepid
>degree of heat]
>
> lunker n.1 [mid-19C+] (US) an animal or fish considered more
>than usually large for its species. [ety. unknown)
>
> lunker n.2 [1970s+] (US) a dilapidated motor car. [? CLUNKER n.
>1]
>
> lunkhead n. [mid-19C+) (orig. US) an absolute fool, an idiot, an
>incompetent. [? SE lump + sfx. -HEAD (1)]
>
> lunky adj. [1940s+] (US) stupid. [LUNKHEAD]
>
>... so there you are: etymology unknown. (dave: no apparent relation to
>industrial slag. Patrick: no connection to rodents, whether or not you take
>the old-fashioned view that rabbits are rodents.)
>
>There seems to be (Dom) no relation to LUMMOX, which is recorded earlier.
>OED3:
>
> dial. and U.S.
>
> [Of obscure formation. Goes with the dial. verb lummock to move
>heavily or clumsily.]
>
> A large, heavy, or clumsy person; an ungainly or stupid lout.
>
>a1825 R. Forby Vocab. E. Anglia (1830) II. 201 Look o' yin great lummox,
>lazing and lolloping about. ...
>
>My own guess would be that Twain coined the word from the earlier "lunk",
>itself formed on phonaesthetic principles recalling words like "lummox",
>"lolling" "lubber", "loblolly boy" and "lump".
>
>Robin
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