slowworm
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English
[edit]Alternative forms
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From Middle English sloworm (possibly influenced by slow), from Old English slāwyrm (“slow-worm, blindworm”), from *slā (related to Norwegian slo (“slow-worm”), Swedish slå (“slow-worm”)) + wyrm (“worm, snake”). Compare Swedish ormslå.
Pronunciation
[edit]Noun
[edit]slowworm (plural slowworms)
- A small Old World lizard, Anguis fragilis, often mistaken for a snake, having no legs and small eyes.
- c. 1588, Robert Greene, “Scene Eleventh. Frier Bacons cell.”, in The Honorable Historie of Frier Bacon and Frier Bongay[1]:
- Well, sir, it may be we shall have some better orations of it anon: well, Ile watch you as narrowly as ever you were watcht, and Ile play with you as the nightingale with the slowworme; […]
Translations
[edit]Anguis fragilis
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References
[edit]- Anatoly Liberman (2008) An Analytic Dictionary of English Etymology: An Introduction, pages 196-200
Further reading
[edit]Anguis fragilis on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
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- en:Anguimorph lizards