NIMROD

[Dr. Goodword]

• nimrod •

Pronunciation: nim-rahd • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Noun

Meaning: A great or mighty hunter or just someone who loves hunting.

Notes: Today's word does not mean a silly or stupid person, a widespread misunderstanding emanating from Bugs Bunny cartoons. Bugs is wont to refer to his sometime nemesis, Elmer Fudd, as "poor little Nimrod" when Elmer is hunting him. Since Elmer is not 'vewy bwight', many have taken nimrod to mean a silly or stupid person. Not so.

In Play: Today's Good Word is an antique hunting term: "Noah Zarque is a rather dim nimrod who tracks wild animals tenaciously, even though he couldn't hit a barn with a bass fiddle, let alone a rabbit with his old blunderbuss." Did you hear about the guys who called their hunting lodge The Nimrod Club and told their wives it was a literary society? Click here to find out why it worked. (Sorry, guys, if your wives subscribe to our Good Words.)

Word History: The eponym of today's Good Word is Nimrod, a mighty hunter of the Old Testament, king of Shinar and a city dear to all of us, Babel. He was also the great-grandson of the original Noah (not Mr. Zarque). According to Genesis 10:9, Nimrod was a mighty hunter. The name resembles the Hebrew verb nimrodh "let us revolt", but the idea of a hunter suggests that the word comes from ancient Babylonian nimr "leopard" + rod "to subdue." (This word was a suggestion of Luciano Eduardo de Oliveira, a mighty hunter of interesting words.)

[sluggo]

I must observe that in popular speech (that I hear at least), the daffy Disney definition has prevailed. Yet I had no idea where it came from, which would seem to indicate it's got substantial legs.

Ah, the power of mass media

[LukeJavan8]

A boy a year behind me back in the grades had the
last Name of Nimm, and we all called him "nimrod", poor
kid.
There were also twins called Witt. One Witt was an
"half-wit" and together they were Dim and Nit.

[skinem]

I spent a summer logging not far from Nimrod, Oregon....

...of course, lots of juvenile snickering over the name by, well, juveniles.

[LukeJavan8]

I remember Nimrod was a source for the justification
of American slavery, too.