# What are the origins of the word Dirt Clod? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 5, 2010, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-origins-of-the-word-dirt-clod/552647 "2010-09-05T01:16:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2010, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-origins-of-the-word-dirt-clod/552647/1 "2010-09-05T01:16:13Z")
Yes the humble dirt clod. We all kicked a few to amuse ourselves as kids. Google has little to offer on the origins of the term. Some music group is about all that’s listed. Go figure. 😛 Give a hand for the dirt clods. So, what is a clod? 😕 Clump of dirt, dirt clump, cow pattie (dirt in the rawest form :D) are more obvious terms. Where did dirt clod come from? I recall asking granddad as a kid. He seemed to think it went pretty far back. Is it an anglicized foreign word? ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2010, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-origins-of-the-word-dirt-clod/552647/2 "2010-09-05T01:34:05Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Google has little to offer on the origins of the term. Some music group is about all that’s listed. Go figure. 😛 Give a hand for the dirt clods. Nothing to offer but: Sand name! ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2010, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-origins-of-the-word-dirt-clod/552647/3 "2010-09-05T01:34:40Z")
dictionary is little help. Why is such a weird sounding word used specifically to describe dirt? clod a : a lump or mass especially of earth or clay b : soil, earth. 2. : oaf, dolt. — clod·dish \ˈklä-dish\ adjective. — clod·dish·ness noun. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2010, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-origins-of-the-word-dirt-clod/552647/4 "2010-09-05T01:44:25Z")
> **[Online Etymology Dictionary](https://www.etymonline.com/)** > > The online etymology dictionary (etymonline) is the internet's go-to source for quick and reliable accounts of the origin and history of English words, phrases, and idioms. > [@](#): > > clod > O.E. clod- (in clod-hamer “field-goer”), from P.Gmc. \*kludda-, from PIE \*gleu- (see clay). Synonymous with clot until 18c. Meaning “person” (“mere lump of earth”) is from 1590s; that of “blockhead” is from c.1600. > O.E. clott, akin to Du. kloot “ball,” Ger. Klotz “lump, block;” probably related to cleat and clod. The verb is early 15c.; of fluids from 1590s. Related: Clotted; clotting. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2010, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-origins-of-the-word-dirt-clod/552647/5 "2010-09-05T01:52:12Z")
Thanks. I booked marked the site. To check a few more words. ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2010, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-origins-of-the-word-dirt-clod/552647/6 "2010-09-06T02:04:46Z")
The Oxford English Dictionary is the gold standard on these things. And it says that _clod_ first appears in the 14th century as a variant of _clot_. For quite a while they were interchangeable, but over time the differentiation between a clod of earth and a clot of blood developed. _Clot_ is the older variant; the OED has written cites from c. 1000. It comes from the Old English _clott_. and there are cognate words in all the Germanic languages, so it has very deep roots indeed. _Dirt_, by contrast, is newer. It dates from the 1300s and originally meant “shit”. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2010, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-origins-of-the-word-dirt-clod/552647/7 "2010-09-06T03:04:07Z")
> [@UDS](#): > > The Oxford English Dictionary is the gold standard on these things. Yes and no. Actually, mostly no. You see this claim all the time, though. The first edition of the OED, the multi-volume long one, was started 150 years ago and much of its research is almost that old. Its etymology and everything else about it is wildly out of date. It’s still useful in many ways, and the quotations it gives obviously are still real, but I can’t imagine anybody seriously using it as a standard today. The second edition, which is the last edition in print, tried to salvage the several million errors. The editors frankly gave up on this project. It was too huge. They corrected some mistakes, they added some new research, they added some omitted words and definitions, but couldn’t come close to a complete overhaul. And it is now several decades out of date. The third edition is being issued online. It requires a subscription, and is pretty expensive. I have no reason to spend the money, so I can’t analyze it. I know enough about the history and goals of the third edition to know that the editors are trying to improve on all the deficiencies of the earlier volumes. But modern scholarship and research is huge and has grown tremendously. The Online Etymology Dictionary cited above has a page of sources, found [here](http://www.etymonline.com/sources.php). Most of them are extremely specialized and aren’t necessary for all words. But they do say on the home page: > [@](#): > > The basic sources of this work are Weekley’s “An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English,” Klein’s “A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language,” “Oxford English Dictionary” (second edition), “Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology,” Holthauzen’s “Etymologisches Wörterbuch der Englischen Sprache,” and Kipfer and Chapman’s “Dictionary of American Slang.” Is the OED still the “gold standard” when all this is taken into account? Maybe. (Although it’s not even listed first.) But I think it’s best taken as a good source with flaws that is out of date in print form. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2010, 7:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-origins-of-the-word-dirt-clod/552647/8 "2010-09-06T07:53:27Z")
The fact that there are cognate words in other Germanic languages means that the word goes back to at least, say, 500 B.C. The fact that there are cognate words in other non-Germanic Indo-European languages means that the word goes back to at least, say, 3000 B.C. For what it’s worth, it’s not a good idea to assume that because a word feels funny to you it must be one that was only recently acquired by English. You might consider buying a good dictionary which gives etymologies for the words. I know that you youngsters consider them to be hopelessly out of date, but books (remember, those things with paper and words printed on them) can be quite useful. I have a copy of _The American Heritage Dictionary_ and it’s served me quite well for a long time. It’s much cheaper than buying a compact edition of the OED. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2010, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-origins-of-the-word-dirt-clod/552647/9 "2010-09-06T15:35:23Z")
> [@UDS](#): > > The Oxford English Dictionary is the gold standard on these things. > > … Maybe so, but the US went off the gold standard a long time ago. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![legolus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ad7895/32.png) [@legolus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/legolus)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2012, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-origins-of-the-word-dirt-clod/552647/10 "2012-11-10T04:09:50Z")
Created a profile here just to add this. My Grandmother used to tell a story about the invention of the word clod in reference to dirt. She said my old uncle Clod, probably spelled Klawd, was sitting out in a feild taking a break from farm work kicking, messing with a peice of dirt. While mentioning to his coe worker that they had no real word for the item he said "it’s like a clod of dirt."Probably thinking of how blood clots, maybe his name, I don’t know that part, but they laughed. It spread throughout eastern Kansas, before catching on. When they heard others call it a dirt clod it became a Bair family story. That’s how she used to tell it anyhow. Now it is entirely possible my great great uncle invented a word already in use and just had never heard it before. Grandma didn’t make stuff up, she had a bunch of farm stories like that, but that was the only one where a word had been invented.