Scratching or using your noodle.

Theranged | 12:38 Fri 23rd Jul 2010 | Word Origins

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Why do we use the word noodle as head? What's the origins and link?

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squarebear

The noodle which means "head" is actually older than the noodle which means "one of those limp dough strips steeped in hot liquid". In the form of noodle it has been around since at least 1753 whereas the edible kind of noodle dates only from about 1790.

It seems, however, that noodle (the head) comes from a much earlier word - noddle. Originally, it meant just the very back of the head, anatomically the "occiput". A Middle English text of 1425, reports that St. Elizabeth of Spalbeck used to smite herself "in the nodel of the hede byhynde".

Various spellings occur in Middle English - nodyl, nodle, noddel, even nolle but that's as far back as anyone's managed to trace it. There are no known related words in any language so noodle turns out to be a splendid old word with a mysterious past.

Theranged

Question Author

Amazing stuff! Thanks very much squarebear.

squarebear

No problem.

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