I had occasion to use the word collywobbles today, and as is my wont, I began to muse over it. Colly... wobbles...
Besides just having a nice ring to it, it sounds like a very ancient word. Medieval, even.
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However, Dictionary.com dates it to 1815-ish or so, and provides two definitions (1) intestinal cramps or other intestinal disturbances; or (2) a feeling of fear, apprehension, or nervousness.
I had the second definition in mind, thinking nervous, apprehension = wobbly knees or some such. Diving a little deeper into the vast Internet sea, I pulled up this from the Online Etymology Dictionary:
"nauseated feeling, disordered indisposition in the bowels," 1823, probably a fanciful formation from colic and wobble. Perhaps suggested by cholera morbus.
For those who are curious, as I was, here's a definition of cholera morbus from the National Institute of Health:
An old term that is no longer used in the scientific literature. Cholera morbus refers to acute GASTROENTERITIS occurring in summer or autumn; characterized by severe cramps, diarrhea, and vomiting.
Oh ugh! And I thought having the collywobbles just meant being kind of anxious.
You can read all kinds of fascinating collywobbles quotes in Green's Dictionary of Slang right here. My favorite is this from Albert Smith's The Medical Student in 1861:
...It is absolutely necessary to preserve his health, and keep him from getting the collywobbles in his pandenoodles.
Pandenoodles??
Sounds like a good one for a future Slang-o-rama post...
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| I think I know how she feels... The physiognomy of mental diseases, by Sir Alexander Morison, 1843 CC-BY-4.0 |
While looking for more tidbits, I came across a book on negotiating despite collywobbles. That led me to https://www.goodreads.com/search?q=Collywobbles&qid=I9AGh2B3Jl
ReplyDeleteAn alternative definition is butterflies in stomach, which seems less likely to enhance the indisposition.
Stay safe.
Hi Liz,
ReplyDeleteI like the butterflies in stomach... that's more along the line of my initial thought. :-)
And thank you for the link! I grabbed a copy of "The Little Book of Lost Words: Collywobbles, snollygosters, and 86 other surprisingly useful terms worth resurrecting" by Joe Gillard off that list. I just couldn't resist! :-)