# Was the deadly sin Sloth named for the animal, or the other way around? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 28, 2020, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-deadly-sin-sloth-named-for-the-animal-or-the-other-way-around/924143 "2020-10-28T19:55:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ekedolphin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ekedolphin/32/10003_2.png) [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2020, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-deadly-sin-sloth-named-for-the-animal-or-the-other-way-around/924143/1 "2020-10-28T19:55:58Z")
Was the term “sloth”, referring to one of the Seven Deadly Sins, named for the animal, or was the animal named for the sin? ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2020, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-deadly-sin-sloth-named-for-the-animal-or-the-other-way-around/924143/2 "2020-10-28T20:32:16Z")
I’m pretty sure the 7 deadly sins predate the discovery of the Americas (where sloths live), so it’s probably safe to say that the sins came first. ---
**Author:** ![Keeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2020, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-deadly-sin-sloth-named-for-the-animal-or-the-other-way-around/924143/3 "2020-10-28T20:42:03Z")
Regardless of how old the sins themselves might be, it is clear to me that the OP was not talking about the sin itself, but about the English word. ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2020, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-deadly-sin-sloth-named-for-the-animal-or-the-other-way-around/924143/4 "2020-10-28T20:54:04Z")
According to the _Oxford English Dictionary_ “sloth” meaning “laziness” comes from Anglo-Saxon, and is etymologically related to the word “slow”. The New World animal was named after the abstract concept on account of its behavior. ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2020, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-deadly-sin-sloth-named-for-the-animal-or-the-other-way-around/924143/5 "2020-10-28T23:04:34Z")
> [@Keeve](#): > > Regardless of how old the sins themselves might be, it is clear to me that the OP was not talking about the sin itself, but about the English word. The “seven deadlies” were codified by Pope Gregory in 590, so that also well predates the colonisation of the Americas. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2020, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-deadly-sin-sloth-named-for-the-animal-or-the-other-way-around/924143/6 "2020-10-28T23:59:28Z")
As has been said, the name of the sin came first. In Spanish, sloths are called _perezoso_ or _oso perezoso_, meaning “lazy one” or “lazy bear.” The name of the sin is _pereza._ ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2020, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-deadly-sin-sloth-named-for-the-animal-or-the-other-way-around/924143/7 "2020-10-29T00:23:34Z")
Sloths were first described by Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo y Valdés in his _Historia general y natural de las Indias_ in 1526. Rather bizarrely, he called it a [_periquito ligero_](https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Sergio_Mendes6/publication/306096083/figure/fig1/AS:398238571089920@1471958882666/18-th-century-drawing-of-a-sloth-perico-ligero-or-periquito-ligero-Juan-Bautista.png) or “light parakeet.” He says of it “The sloth is the stupidest animal that can be found in the world, and is so awkward and slow in movement that it would require a whole day to go fifty paces.” He kept one in his house, and because he never saw it eat he believed it fed on air. The [first (very strange) published illustration](https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/strange-nature-first-printed-illustration-sloth-180970944/) was by the French writer Andre Thevet in his _Les Singularitez de la France Antarctique (Singularities of France Antarctique)_ in 1557. Thevet referred to the animal as _Haut_ or _Hauthi_, evidently derived from a native name for the tree where it lived. Linnaeus described both the two-toed and three-toed sloth in 1758 in the genus _Bradypus_, “slow-foot.” ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2020, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-deadly-sin-sloth-named-for-the-animal-or-the-other-way-around/924143/8 "2020-10-29T00:35:26Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > As has been said, the name of the sin came first. In Spanish, sloths are called _perezoso_ or _oso perezoso_ , meaning “lazy one” or “lazy bear.” The name of the sin is _pereza._ In German, sloth is “Faultier”, which means “lazy animal”. The deadly sin though is “Trägheit”, of which one translation is sloth. ---
**Author:** ![Zyada](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zyada/32/3028_2.png) [@Zyada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zyada)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2020, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-deadly-sin-sloth-named-for-the-animal-or-the-other-way-around/924143/9 "2020-11-05T06:20:42Z")
My go-to for any etymology questions is etymonline. He notes that sloth, meaning laziness dates to late 12th century, while the animal dates to 1610, and is a translation of the Portuguese preguiça > **[sloth | Etymology, origin and meaning of sloth by etymonline](https://www.etymonline.com/word/sloth)** > > SLOTH Meaning: "indolence, sluggishness, neglect of responsibilities," formed from Middle English slou, slowe (see slow… See origin and meaning of sloth.