barmy

English

WOTD – 26 June 2023

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈbɑːmi/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈbɑɹmi/
• Homophone: balmy (RP)
• Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)mi

Etymology 1

From barm (“foam rising upon beer or other malt liquors when fermenting, and used as leaven”) +‎ -y (suffix meaning ‘having the quality of’ forming adjectives). Barm is derived from Middle English berm, berme (“foam rising upon ale or beer fermenting; leaven, yeast; foam or head of beer produced by pouring”) [and other forms], from Old English beorma (“foam or head of beer; leaven, yeast”), from Proto-West Germanic *bermō (“barm; yeast”), from Proto-Germanic *bermô (“yeast”); further etymology uncertain, perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *bʰrewh₁- (“to boil; to brew”) or *gʷʰer- (“warm; hot”).

Adjective

barmy (comparative barmier, superlative barmiest) (archaic)

1. (also figuratively) Containing, covered with, or pertaining to barm (“foam rising upon beer or other malt liquors when fermenting, used as leaven in brewing and making bread”).
   • 1601, Ben Jonson, Poetaster or The Arraignment: […], London: […] [R. Bradock] for M[atthew] L[ownes] […], published 1602, →OCLC, Act V, scene iii, signature L4, recto:

     [T]each thy Incubus to Poëtize, / And throvve abroad thy ſpurious Snotteries, / Vpon that puft-vp Lumpe of Barmy froth, […]

   • 1697, Virgil, “The Third Book of the Georgics”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 113, lines 582–585:

     Their jovial Nights, in frollicks and in play / They paſs, to drive the tedious Hours avvay. / And their cold Stomachs vvith crovvn'd Goblets cheer, / Of vvindy Cider, and of barmy Beer.

   • 1907, Arthur Machen [pseudonym; Arthur Llewellyn Jones], chapter I, in The Hill of Dreams, London: E. Grant Richards, →OCLC, page 2:

     [H]e stood for a while on the quivering footbridge and watched the rush of dead wood and torn branches and wisps of straw all hurrying madly past him, to plunge into the heaped spume, the barmy froth that had gathered against a fallen tree.

   • 1997, Margriet S. Westerterp-Plantenga, Anne Algers, Chris K. Leach, editors, Food in Europe: Food Production, Processing and Consumption (Food in Europe; 1), Heerlen, Limburg, Netherlands: Open Universiteit Nederland, →OCLC, page 105:

     Here the yeast is added to convert the sugars to alcohol, also producing carbon dioxide. After about 24 hours the fermentation has created a thick head of barmy foam […]

2. (figuratively) Bubbling with activity or excitement; active, excited.
   • 1786, Robert Burns, “To J. S****”, in Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect, volume I, Kilmarnock, Scotland: […] John Wilson, →OCLC; reprinted Kilmarnock, Scotland: […] James M‘Kie, 1867, →OCLC, page 70:

     Just now I've taen the fit o' rhyme, / My barmie noddle's working prime, […]

Translations

containing, covered with, or pertaining to barm

• Bulgarian: пенест (bg) (penest)
• Finnish: vaahtoinen
• Galician: please add this translation if you can
• Macedonian: пе́нлив (pénliv), пе́нест (pénest)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: please add this translation if you can

  Roman: please add this translation if you can

bubbling with activity or excitement — see active,‎ excited

Etymology 2

Probably an alteration of balmy (“foolish; slightly crazy or mad, eccentric”), influenced by barm (“foam rising upon beer or other malt liquors when fermenting, and used as leaven”) (see etymology 1).

Adjective

barmy (comparative barmier, superlative barmiest) (British, Ireland, informal)

1. Crazy, mad; also, eccentric, odd, strange.

   Synonyms: (US, informal) balmy, dotty, goofy, wacko; see also Thesaurus:eccentric, Thesaurus:insane

   Antonyms: see Thesaurus:normal, Thesaurus:sane

   • 1872, Mrs. Edward Millet [i.e., Janet Millett], chapter XIV, in An Australian Parsonage; or, The Settler and the Savage in Western Australia, London: Edward Stanford, […], →OCLC, page 330:

     [T]he exercise yard of the "barmy fellows," as he called the madmen, (meaning, I suppose, that their brains were in an unnatural state of working,) was but a stone's throw from himself and his rational companions, […]

   • 1897, W[illiam] Somerset Maugham, chapter 9, in Liza of Lambeth, New York, N.Y.: George H[enry] Doran Company, published [1921], →OCLC, page 142:

     "Bli'me if I know wot yer all talkin' abaht. You're all barmy on the crumpet," said Liza indignantly, and, turning her back on them, made for home.

   • 2013 September 13, Russell Brand, “Russell Brand and the GQ awards: ‘It’s amazing how absurd it seems’”, in Alan Rusbridger, editor, The Guardian‎^[1], London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-04-07:

     I thanked John [Bishop], said the "oracle award" sounds like a made-up prize you'd give a fat kid on sports day – I should know, I used to get them – then that it's barmy that Hugo Boss can trade under the same name they flogged uniforms to the Nazis under and the ludicrous necessity for an event such as this one to banish such a lurid piece of information from our collective consciousness.

2. Very foolish.

   Synonyms: (US, informal) balmy; see also Thesaurus:foolish

   Antonyms: see Thesaurus:wise

Usage notes

• In US English, balmy is usual; elsewhere this is occasionally found but some authorities consider it erroneous, despite the fact that barmy was probably derived from it.

Derived terms

• barmily
• barminess
• Barmy Army

Translations

crazy, mad — see crazy,‎ mad

eccentric, odd, strange — see eccentric,‎ strange

very foolish — see foolish

Etymology 3

Borrowed from Russian бармы (barmy).

Noun

barmy

1. plural of barma (“a regal Russian mantle or neckpiece made of gold, encrusted with diamonds and other gems”)

Anagrams

• Byram, Mabry, ambry