I woke up with a start this morning, feeling befuddled and wondering what day it is. It's the day after Valentine's Day, sure, I knew that, but more to the point it's WEDNESDAY which means it's SLANG-O-RAMA DAY and I haven't prepared a post!
Since I'm already befuddled, I figure that's a good word to tackle. How old is it? Sounds sort of Shakespearean, doesn't it. And is the root word fuddle, and if so, what does THAT mean?
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Turns out, befuddled isn't as old as I thought! The Online Etymology Dictionary dates befuddle, meaning "confuse," from 1873. However, OED notes the word had an older, more specific meaning which predates that:
befuddle [verb]... originally "to confuse with strong drink or opium" (by 1832), from be- + fuddle. An earlier word in the same sense was begunk (1725). Related: Befuddled; befuddling.
I'll admit I'm beguiled by the word begunk, but will stay on task here... How nifty that fuddle is indeed a real word! OED provides the following information:
fuddle [verb] 1580s, "to get drunk" (intransitive); c. 1600, "to confuse as though with drink" (transitive), of obscure origin, perhaps from Low German fuddeln "work in a slovenly manner (as if drunk)," from fuddle "worthless cloth." ... A hard-drinker in 17c. might be called a fuddle-cap (1660s).
Not much else to find elsewhere in a quick internet search, although I do like Merriam-Webster's definition of the adjective befuddled: "utterly confused or puzzled : deeply perplexed." Yep. That pretty much describes my state of mind when I woke up this morning. But no longer. I am now thoroughly un-befuddled, thanks to Slang-o-rama.
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| Whaaat day is this? Image by tigerlily713 from Pixabay |
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