http://blog.oup.com/2011/01/one-min-words/ Academic insights for the thinking world. Fri, 17 May 2013 12:26:42 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4.2 http://blog.oup.com/2011/01/one-min-words/#comment-234484 Jan Sammer Tue, 18 Oct 2011 10:59:40 +0000 http://blog.oup.com/?p=13238#comment-234484 Given the origin of the word in in the mid-19th century Minnesota with its large Swedish immigrant population, a useful approach might be to turn to Swedish as a possible source of the term. It turns out that "skuld" in Swedish means "debt, guilt, blame", while "skulder" means "indebtedness". It seems plausible that among 19th century Minnesota Swedes the hypothetical word "*skuldigger" was used to refer to a swindler, a confidence artist, a cheat, i.e., someone who borrowed money with no intention of repaying it. The typical behavior of a "*skuldigger" then became known in English as "sculduggery". Given the origin of the word in in the mid-19th century Minnesota with its large Swedish immigrant population, a useful approach might be to turn to Swedish as a possible source of the term. It turns out that “skuld” in Swedish means “debt, guilt, blame”, while “skulder” means “indebtedness”. It seems plausible that among 19th century Minnesota Swedes the hypothetical word “*skuldigger” was used to refer to a swindler, a confidence artist, a cheat, i.e., someone who borrowed money with no intention of repaying it. The typical behavior of a “*skuldigger” then became known in English as “sculduggery”.

]]> http://blog.oup.com/2011/01/one-min-words/#comment-199853 Tweets that mention OUPblog » Blog Archive » One Minute Word Histories -- Topsy.com Fri, 14 Jan 2011 16:19:48 +0000 http://blog.oup.com/?p=13238#comment-199853 [...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Peter Sokolowski and Lauren, Lauren. Lauren said: 3 VIDEOS: http://bit.ly/h1PMvL [...] [...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Peter Sokolowski and Lauren, Lauren. Lauren said: 3 VIDEOS: http://bit.ly/h1PMvL [...]

]]> http://blog.oup.com/2011/01/one-min-words/#comment-199830 Stephen Goranson Fri, 14 Jan 2011 10:14:47 +0000 http://blog.oup.com/?p=13238#comment-199830 The Oxford English Dictionary says of "skulduggery, n." "Etymology: altered < sculduddery n." Do you not accept this? The Oxford English Dictionary says of “skulduggery, n.” “Etymology: altered < sculduddery n." Do you not accept this?

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