kimetadj.

Etymology: Origin uncertain. Perhaps the reflex of an unattested Old English *cȳmed, past participle of *cȳman to bewilder, confuse, stupefy, a factitive verb < cȳme , adjective (see comely adj.), in the unattested sense ‘feeble-minded, stupid’. The Old English adjective is attested only in sense ‘fine, comely, handsome’ (compare also the derivative cȳmlic ); however, this seems to show a semantic development, via a sense ‘fragile, delicate, fine’, from an earlier sense ‘weak, feeble, sickly’, both of which senses are attested in the Old High German and Middle High German cognate adjectives; compare discussion at comely adj., and see further F. Heidermanns Etymol. Wörterbuch der germanischen Primäradjektive (1993) 345–6. For a somewhat similar semantic development compare the apparently cognate Old Icelandic (in late sources) kýminn merry, playful, full of fun (15th cent.), kýmiligr amusing, funny, comical (15th cent.), Icelandic kýma (also kíma ) to smile at, poke fun at (17th cent.). Compare earlier bekimed adj., akimed adj., and later kime n., and discussion in S. R. T. O. d'Ardenne & E. J. Dobson Seinte Katerine (1981) 242–3.The rhyme-word in quot. a1450 suggests that the original version of the poem may have had kyme , i.e. an earlier instance of kime n. In senses ‘perverse, obstinate, intractable’, ‘awry’ (and perhaps also in some forms and pronunciations, e.g. kemmet) probably influenced by cam adj.; compare also kim-kam adj. Compare also (with alteration of the ending) English regional (Herefordshire) kimist, kymist foolish, stupid, befuddled, intoxicated (20th cent.).