sturdy

英文词源

sturdy

sturdy: [13] Someone who is sturdy is etymologically ‘as drunk as a thrush’ – the ancient Roman equivalent to ‘pissed as a newt’. The word comes from Old French estourdi ‘stunned, dazed, violent’, the past participle of estourdir. This went back to a Vulgar Latin *exturdīre ‘be dazed like a drunken thrush’, a compound verb formed from the intensive prefix ex- and Latin turdus ‘thrush’ (the use of the thrush as a symbol of drunkenness perhaps arose from observations of the birds staggering around after feasting on stolen fermenting wine grapes).

The metaphorical Old French sense ‘violent, reckless’ passed over into English, and by the 14th century had evolved into ‘strong, vigorous, robust’.

sturdy (adj.)

c. 1300, "hard to manage, reckless, violent," from Old French estordi (11c., Modern French étourdi) "violent," originally "dazed," past participle of estordiir "to daze, stun, stupefy," from Vulgar Latin *exturdire, which some presume to be from Latin intensive prefix ex- + turdus "thrush." Barnhart suggests the notion is of thrushes eating grape remnants at wineries and behaving as if drunk (Italian tordo "thrush" also means "simpleton," and French has the expression soûl comme une grive "drunk as a thrush"). OED, however, regards all this as "open to grave objection." Century Dictionary compares Latin torpidus "dull."

Sense of "solidly built, strong and hardy" first recorded late 14c. Related: Sturdily; sturdiness. Sturdy-boots "obstinate person" is from 1762; a sturdy beggar in old language was one capable of work (c. 1400).