2023-09-08 17:07 UTC
The English suffix "-ard" (as in "drunkard", "laggard", "braggard", and "sluggard") is used to make adjectives into deprecating nouns.
"He's drunk" is just a description.
"He's a drunkard" is a moral judgment that finds the subject lacking.
The same process turned "he's wise" into "he's a wizard".
"Wizard" was the medieval equivalent of "smartass".
Replies (5)
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@jewelpit@dice.camp 2023-09-08 17:13
@BrianBinh@dice.camp I love this etymology because it implies that at some point, someone from England met someone from Spain and all they could think was "this motherfucker is _too Spanish._"
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@bluedragon@masto.yttrx.com 2023-09-08 18:43
@BrianBinh@dice.camp i don't know if I like this better if its true or if you made it up. Either way; top shelf.
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@ChurchHatesTucker@mefi.social 2023-09-08 20:39
@BrianBinh@dice.camp "You're a smartass, Harry." It tracks.
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@tzarfenix@dice.camp 2023-09-09 00:49
@BrianBinh@dice.camp Isaac Asimov actually had an introductory essay to a Wizards anthology where he wrote about this *at length*
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@michaelwong@mstdn.ca 2023-09-09 15:25
@DrollTide@mastodon.social @lucifargundam@qoto.org @tzarfenix@dice.camp @BrianBinh@dice.camp Somebody famous called someone else "dotard".