Schelm

First attested as een beemd de Schelm genaamd in 1606. Likely cognate with dialectal scheluw (“crooked, askew”).

• IPA^(key): /sxɛlm/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: Schelm
• Rhymes: -ɛlm
• Homophone: schelm

Schelm n

1. a hamlet in Deurne, North Brabant, Netherlands

• van Berkel, Gerard, Samplonius, Kees (2018) Nederlandse plaatsnamen verklaard (in Dutch), Mijnbestseller.nl, →ISBN

From Middle High German schelme (“pest, plague; those who have fallen in battle”), Old High German scalmo (“plague”). Cognate with Middle Low German schelm (“carrion, cadaver”), Dutch schelm, Icelandic skelmir (“rogue”).^[1]

This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term.

• IPA^(key): /ʃɛlm/

• Audio:

  (file)

Schelm m (strong, genitive Schelmes or Schelms, plural Schelme, feminine Schelmin)

1. imp, rogue, prankster
   • 1808, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, “Marthens Garten”, in Faust: Der Tragödie erster Teil [Faust, Part One]‎^[1]:

     Hab ich vor dem Menschen ein heimlich Grauen, / Und halt ihn für einen Schelm dazu! / Gott verzeih mir's, wenn ich ihm unrecht tu!

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

• schelmisch

• → Polish: szelma
• → Russian: ше́льма (šélʹma)

• “Schelm” in Duden online
• “Schelm” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache