Etymologically
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sloth

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /slɒθ/, /sləʊθ/ (UK); /slɔθ/, /sloʊθ/ (US)[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English slouthe, slauthe,[2][3][4] formed from slou, slowe (“slow”) (see slow) and the abstract noun suffix -th.[5][2][3][6][4] It replaced the earlier sleuthe, from Old English slǣwþ (“sloth, indolence”), from slǣw, a variant of slāw (“slow”);[3][4][7][8] the modern form may also be the old word with its vowel conformed to the adjective.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Physical or mental inactivity; idleness, laziness (c. 1175 in the OED; before 1150 in Barnhart; late 12th century in Etymonline).[9][2][3]

Semantic evolution

As one of the deadly sins it translates Latin accidia,[3] spiritual apathy and neglect of virtue.[6][10] The literal sense “slowness, tardiness” is recorded from about 1380 and is now archaic.[9][2][10] In the 15th century it appears as a term of venery for a company of bears.[9][5] From 1613 it names the slow-moving tree-dwelling mammal of South and Central America,[9][2][4] a translation of the Portuguese name preguiça “laziness” or Spanish perezoso “slothful”, given by early explorers.[11][12][13] In southern India the name was sometimes transferred to the loris.[14]

Timeline

  • c. 1175 – idleness, laziness.[9]
  • c. 1380 – slowness, tardiness.[9][2]
  • c. 1452 – a company of bears.[9]
  • 1613 – the South American mammal.[9][2]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. Unwillingness to work or exert oneself; laziness, indolence.
  2. Spiritual apathy and inactivity, counted as one of the seven deadly sins.
  3. Any of various slow-moving arboreal mammals of South and Central America that hang upside down from branches by long hooked claws and feed on leaves, such as the three-toed and two-toed sloths.
  4. A company of bears.
  5. (archaic) Slowness, tardiness.

Word family

  • slothful
  • ground sloth
  • slow
  • sloth bear
  • acedia
  • sluggard

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
  3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  6. ^ a b Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  7. ^ Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
  8. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  10. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  11. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  12. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  13. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  14. ^ Yule, Henry; Burnell, A. C. (1903), Hobson-Jobson: A Glossary of Colloquial Anglo-Indian Words and Phrases, new ed. by William Crooke, London: John Murray