| 词源 |
oaf. Oaf is a corruption of the Old Norse alfr, which became aulf and ouph in Old English and was recorded as oaf by 1625. An alfr was a child supposedly left by fairies in exchange for a child they had stolen, the changeling held to be an idiot, an abnormal child worse than the stolen one. Oaf softened in mean- ing over the years until it came to refer to a clumsy, foolish, or stupid person, most commonly used in the expression a big oaf. |