Nimrod. In Genesis, he’s recorded as being a hunter of legendary renown and expertise. But I remember the first time I read that for myself thinking, “Really? I thought it meant ‘idiot.'”
The etymologists can’t document exactly how this change in meaning happened, but they do know that it happened within the last 30-40 years, taking on the connotation of “klutz, geek” etc.
Popular opinion is that the change is actually thanks to a misunderstanding of–get this–a Bugs Bunny cartoon. 🐰See, Bugs would occasionally sarcastically call Elmer Fudd “a regular Nimrod.” Meaning, of course, that he’s not living up to the famous hunter’s name. But people unfamiliar both with hunting and with the biblical figure assumed he was just insulting Fudd in a straight-up, not-sarcastic way. So Nimrod became a way to insult anyone as unskilled as Fudd…rather than a way to point to an expert hunter.🐰
Who knew that misunderstood sarcasm could change the whole meaning of a word?
Roseanna M. White is a bestselling, Christy Award winning author who has long claimed that words are the air she breathes. When not writing fiction, she’s homeschooling her two kids, editing, designing book covers, and pretending her house will clean itself. Roseanna is the author of a slew of historical novels that span several continents and thousands of years. Spies and war and mayhem always seem to find their way into her books…to offset her real life, which is blessedly ordinary.
I just had this in my "once-a-year" Bible, and I too was wondering when the meaning of Nimrod changed! Thanks for researching!
My daughter actually saw this one on Pinterest, LOL, and ran out to show me. I had to look it up for myself and share!!
You find the most obscure and interesting facts! 🙂