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In fact, gorm derives from the old Norse word gaum which means, to the best of my understanding (my old norse is a bit rusty) "thermal underwear". And, as we all know, wandering out into the wilds of Old Norse without your thermal underwear is one of the classic blunders, the most famous of which is "Never get involved in a land war in Asia".

Anyway, over time gaum-less (lacking thermal underwear) turned into gormless, and the meaning drifted from the literal to the figurative - let's face it, wandering around without thermal underwear in Old Norse is a particularly stupid thing to do.



James.

Originally Posted by sharptonn

I have been studying the term 'gormless'. It would seem that the term 'gorm' in old Northern England was used to describe a foolish person. As in 'Bruce is a gorm'. However, it seems to also be used to mean a trait which would be described as attentive and alert. As in 'Bruce has his gorm on.
With this in mind, as Bruce the gorm's wife has lost him, she could be said to be gormless or without an idiot.

On the other hand, If Bruce has become gormless, the meaning could be that he has ceased to be attentive and alert.
As in 'Bruce had 4 pints and is now totally gormless'.
I do suspect the latter is the meaning of the word in Jimbo's post!

Regards,
Bruce


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