gurdus

From Proto-Italic *gʷord-o- (“stubborn, heavy”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *gʷr̥dus, *gʷrd-o- (“slow, heavy, tired”), though de Vaan acknowledges that the root is an o-stem instead of a u-stem. Quintilian called it a Spanish (possibly Iberian) word. Compare Lithuanian gurdùs, Latvian gur̃ds (“tired”), Ancient Greek βραδύς (bradús, “slow”).

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈɡur.dus/, [ˈɡʊr.dʊs]

gurdus m (genitive gurdī); second declension

1. a dolt, jolterhead, numbskull, blockhead, oaf, dullard, or lout
   • (Can we find and add a quotation of Decimus Laberius to this entry?)
   • Gellius, Noctes Atticae 16.7.8:

     Item in Cacomnemone: Hic est (inquit) ille gurdus, quem ego me abhinc menses duos ex Africa venientem excepisse tibi narravi.

     And in (Laberius') The Forgetful Man: This is that dolt (gurdus) who, when two months ago from Africa I came, did meet me here, as I did say.

   • c. 95 CE, Quintilian, Institutio Oratoria 1.5.57:

     Et gurdos, quos pro stolidis accipit vulgus, ex Hispania duxisse originem audivi.

     While I have heard that gurdus, which is colloquially used in the sense of “stupid,” is derived from Spain.

Second declension.

• (dolt, jolterhead, numskull, blockhead, oaf, dullard, lout): caudex

• gurdōnicus

• gurdus in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• gurdus in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883–1887)
• gurdus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Hachette, page 728/1
• “gurdus” on page 778/2 of the Oxford Latin Dictionary (1st ed., 1968–82)
• De Vaan, Michiel (2008) Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill