Completely different interpretation of 'bloody'

[Levik]

I read the following mailbag entry and was a little surprised:

What’s the origin of the British slang word “bloody”?

When I studied German, I learned the word bloed (The e can also be represented by an umlaut over the o), which means ‘stupid’ and is considered quite rude. I had always thought that the English term ‘bloody’ was somehow related to that German term. Is this simply a serendipitous coincedence or are there no coincedences?

In another matter, one of the smilies that can be used says the word ‘Putz’. This is actually the Yiddish word for the Hebrew word ‘pot’ (pronounced like the name of the guy from the killing fields of the Khmer Rouge, not like the popular name for marijuana). At any rate, this means ‘vagina’. Schmuck, incidently, means a penis. It is beyond me why it is that in Yiddish, genital organs are rude, but such is the case. There is just something entertaining about the fact that calling someone a schmuck or a putz is not considered offensive, and yet calling them a dick is…

[Khadaji]

The Word Detective says that

No one knows for sure where “bloody” came from, and although many theories have been proposed over the past few hundred years, no solid evidence has ever emerged to settle the question.

I like your theory though.

[bibliophage]

Welcome to the SDMB, Levik.

The item you’re commenting on is a Straight Dope Staff Report (formerly called Cecil’s Mailbag), which are written by Cecil’s minions, not Cecil himself. I’ll move this thread over to the Comments on Staff Reports forum.

bibliophage
moderator CCC

[Exapno_Mapcase]

@Levik

I read the following mailbag entry and was a little surprised:
http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mbloody.html
When I studied German, I learned the word bloed (The e can also be represented by an umlaut over the o), which means ‘stupid’ and is considered quite rude. I had always thought that the English term ‘bloody’ was somehow related to that German term. Is this simply a serendipitous coincedence or are there no coincedences?

We may not know exactly where bloody comes from but no word authority gives this even as a possible derivation.

It might come from another German word, though.

http://alt-usage-english.org/excerpts/fxbloody.html

6. blood’s being something vivid or distressing. Partridge himself
   plumps for this one.

   Ernest Weekley, in Words Ancient and Modern (Murray, 1926),
   finds analogous uses of French sanglant, German blutig, and
   Dutch bloedig. He gives one citation that antedates those in the
   OED (“A man cruelly eloquent and bluddily learned”, John Marston,
   1606 – but “bluddily” may be a descriptive adverb rather than an
   intensifier here), and two (“It was bloody hot walking to-day”,
   Swift, 1711; “bloody passionate”, Samuel Richardson, 1742) that show
   that “up to about 1750 it was inoffensive”. He attributes the
   dropping of “-ly” from “bloodily” to “an instinct which tends to
   drop -ly from a word already ending in -y”, as seen in “very”,
   “pretty”, and “jolly”.

   A Merriam-Webster etymologist (in e-mail to me) chose 6, possibly
   influenced by 3, considering the analogy of German blutig the
   strongest argument…

In another matter, one of the smilies that can be used says the word ‘Putz’. This is actually the Yiddish word for the Hebrew word ‘pot’ (pronounced like the name of the guy from the killing fields of the Khmer Rouge, not like the popular name for marijuana). At any rate, this means ‘vagina’. Schmuck, incidently, means a penis. It is beyond me why it is that in Yiddish, genital organs are rude, but such is the case. There is just something entertaining about the fact that calling someone a schmuck or a putz is not considered offensive, and yet calling them a dick is…

Nonsense. Putz also means penis. Always has.

Penguin Random House

The word putz is from Yiddish, where it literally means ‘the penis’.

And putz is a more offensive word than schmuck, although both have lost most of their literal meaning and have reverted to being words for fools or idiots.

You’ll find that there are lots of real experts on words here, and that uncited guesses about word origins or meanings will get jumped on very quickly. Especially from people who can’t write or spell basic English.

[blinkingblinking]

@Levik

This is actually the Yiddish word for the Hebrew word ‘pot’ (pronounced like the name of the guy from the killing fields of the Khmer Rouge, not like the popular name for marijuana).

I do not want to hijack your thread but, how is ‘Pol Pot’ pronounced? The ‘Pot’ sounds just like ‘pot’. My wife is Cambodian and I lived in Cambodia for 4 months. I have heard many people say ‘Pol Pot’. They say it just lke cooking ‘pot’, or ‘pot’ as marijuana.

[Exapno_Mapcase]

@blinkingblinking

I do not want to hijack your thread but, how is ‘Pol Pot’ pronounced? The ‘Pot’ sounds just like ‘pot’. My wife is Cambodian and I lived in Cambodia for 4 months. I have heard many people say ‘Pol Pot’. They say it just lke cooking ‘pot’, or ‘pot’ as marijuana.

Good, that’s what I thought too, but my Cambodian is a bit rusty :rolleyes: so I didn’t want to challenge something as language-specific as pronunciation.