At 1:49:37 PM on Thursday, November 10, 2005, Daniel J.
Milton wrote:
> --- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "Brian M. Scott"
> <BMScott@...> wrote:
>> Although <loon> 'a crazy person; a simpleton' is from the
>> bird appellative, it's also quite likely that the sense
>> development was influenced by <loony> 'lunatic' (noun and
>> adj.), which is from <lunatic> and hence related to French
>> <lune>. (And I'm amused to discover that there's an archaic
>> English <lune>, used only in the plural to mean 'fits of
>> frenzy or lunacy; mad freaks or tantrums'.)
> No.
Yes.
> <Loon> 'a crazy person; a simpleton'(ME <louen, etc.)is,
> according to the OED, of uncertain origin.
I have no idea where you're getting this, since my own
information is from the on-line OED, this article being from
the 1989 edition. Specifically, s.v. <loon> n.-2,
definition 1.c.:
c. transf. A crazy person; a simpleton.
Perhaps influenced by LOONY a. and n.
This is the bird noun ('A name for certain acquatic birds').
The etymology is given as follows:
App. an alteration of LOOM n.2 q.v., perh. by assimilation
to prec. n.
The preceding noun is:
1. A worthless person; a rogue, scamp (esp. in false loon,
to play the loon); a sluggard, idler.
b. Of a woman: A strumpet, concubine.
2. A man of low birth or condition; in phrase lord and
loon. Now only arch.
3. A boor, lout, clown; an untaught, ill-bred person.
4. A fellow, man, chap.
5. A boy, lad, youth.
The etymology is uncertain:
In 16th c. lowen, lowne, rhyming with chenoun, downe. Of
obscure origin; the early forms do not favour the current
hypothesis of connexion with early mod.Du. loen homo
stupidus (Plantijn and Kilian) which seems to be known
only from dictionaries. The ON. lúenn, beaten, benumbed,
weary, exhausted (pa. ppl. of lýja to beat, thrash) has
been suggested as a possible etymon. The order of
development of the senses is somewhat uncertain.]
The LOOM in question is 'A name given in northern seas to
species of the Guillemot and the Diver, esp. Alca bruennichi
and Colymbus septentrionalis (Red-throated Diver). Cf. LOON
n.2', also 'The flesh of these birds as an article of food'.
The etymology: 'In Shetland repr. a. ON. lóm-r; in mod.
literary use partly from Shetland dialect and partly a.
mod.Sw. and Da. lom.'
> <Loony> 'a crazy person' is a contraction of lunatic, one
> moon-struck.
Which is precisely what I said.
Brian