英语词汇balmy的起源、历史背景-英语词源词典

balmy. Balmy, in its sense of silly, foolish, eccentric, is the Americanized version of the British barmy, and may derive from the name of St. Bartholomew, patron saint of the feeblem- inded. Most etymologists, however, trace the word to the Old English barm, the froth on fermenting beer, which could in- deed make one act balmy. Still another theory is that the word derives from the Barming lunatic asylum at Kent in England, meaning that a barmy or balmy person is “one fit only for Bar- ming.” This overlooks the fact that the Oxford English Diction- ary gives the first use of barmy as 1535, whereas Barming was established in the early 19th century, but it may be that the popularity of the word was enhanced by the asylum.

词汇	balmy
词源	balmy. Balmy, in its sense of silly, foolish, eccentric, is the Americanized version of the British barmy, and may derive from the name of St. Bartholomew, patron saint of the feeblem- inded. Most etymologists, however, trace the word to the Old English barm, the froth on fermenting beer, which could in- deed make one act balmy. Still another theory is that the word derives from the Barming lunatic asylum at Kent in England, meaning that a barmy or balmy person is “one fit only for Bar- ming.” This overlooks the fact that the Oxford English Diction- ary gives the first use of barmy as 1535, whereas Barming was established in the early 19th century, but it may be that the popularity of the word was enhanced by the asylum.
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