> 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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