Talk:snob

Etymology

may the word come fron the latin expression "sine nobilis" abbreviated s.nob. and afterwards written as an only one word "snob" ?

No, not that. The origin is unknown, but it originally means "shoemaker" or "shoemaker’s apprentice", and had nothing to do with nobility or superiority/inferiority. It didn’t begin to take on its modern meaning until after William Thackeray’s "Book of Snobs" was published in the mid 1800s. By 1911 it had acquired its current meaning. —Stephen 18:04, 25 July 2006 (UTC)

Chambers 1908 suggests that it "probably" comes from the dialect word snap, a boy, from Icelandic snápr, a dolt; Swedish dialect snopp, a boy. Equinox ◑ 18:48, 22 November 2018 (UTC)