cumbrous

cumbrous

English

WOTD – 10 January 2023

Etymology

From Late Middle English combrous (“causing obstruction; clumsy; obstructed; bothersome, difficult; burdensome, onerous; serious; causing trouble, troublesome; dangerous; immoral; unjust, wrongful; upset”) [and other forms],[1] from combren (“to annoy, harass, trouble, worry, vex; to conquer, defeat; to harm, ruin; to overcome, overwhelm, possess; (reflexive) to burden oneself, do wrong”)[2] + -ous (suffix forming adjectives).[3] Combren is possibly an aphetic form of acombren (“to annoy, harass, vex; to burden; to cause distress; to defeat, overwhelm; to bewilder, confuse, perplex; to tire; to upset”)[4] (whence accumber (obsolete)) or encombren (“to annoy, trouble, vex; to assault, beset, harass; to block, hinder; to burden or be a burden; to choke; to defeat, overcome, overwhelm; to ensnare in sin, tempt to do wrong; to get stuck; to bewilder, confuse, perplex”)[5] (whence encumber), though the Oxford English Dictionary notes that combren is first attested earlier than those words.[6]

If that derivation is correct, encombren is from Old French encombrer (“to annoy, bother, irritate; to burden”) (modern French encombrer), from Late Latin incombrāre, the present active infinitive of incombrō (“to burden; to hinder, inconvenience”), from Latin in- (prefix meaning ‘into, on, upon’) + combrus (“barrage, barricade; obstacle”), and combrus is either:

• from cumulus (“a heap, pile”),[7] ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ḱewh₁- (“to swell”); or
• ultimately from Proto-Celtic *kombereti (“to bring together”), from *kom- (prefix meaning ‘together; with’) + *bereti (“to bear, carry”) (from Proto-Indo-European *bʰéreti (“to be carrying”)).

The English word is analysable as cumber +‎ -ous.[8]

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /ˈkʌmbɹəs/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: cumbr‧ous

Adjective

cumbrous (comparative more cumbrous, superlative most cumbrous) (literary)

1. (also figuratively) Unwieldy because of size or weight; cumbersome.

   Synonym: (obsolete) encumbrous

   Antonym: uncumbrous

   • 1727, Jonathan Swift, “Desire and Possession”, in Thomas Sheridan and John Nichols, editors, The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, […], volume VII, new edition, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], published 1801, OCLC 1184656746, page 370:

     Possession's load was grown so great, / He sunk beneath the cumbrous weight: […]

   • 1751 December 14, Samuel Johnson, “No. 179. Tuesday, December 3. 1751 [Julian calendar].”, in The Rambler, volume VII, Edinburgh: […] Sands, Murray, and Cochran; sold by W. Gordon, C. Wright, J. Yair, […], published 1752, OCLC 702676921, page 149:

     He therefore came to a ſudden reolution of throvving off thoſe cumbrous ornaments of learning, vvhich, as he imagined, hindered his reception; and vvith no other images than arcs and angles, commenced a man of vvit and jocularity.

   • 1813, Walter Scott, “Notes to Canto Fifth”, in Rokeby; a Poem, Edinburgh: […] [F]or John Ballantyne and Co. […]; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown; by James Ballantyne and Co., […], OCLC 1015424868, note X, page ciii:

     The rest of the furniture is in a suitable style, particularly an arm-chair of cumbrous workmanship, constructed of wood, curiously turned, with a high back and triangular seat, said to have been used by Judge Popham in the reign of Elizabeth.

   • 1840, Thomas De Quincey, “Style”, in Critical Suggestions on Style and Rhetoric with German Tales and Other Narrative Papers (De Quincey’s Works; XI), London: James Hogg & Sons, published 1859, OCLC 6497971, part I, page 183:

     [W]e, upon a large experience in the French literature, affirm that it would be nearly impossible (perhaps strictly so) to cite an instance of that cumbrous and unwieldy style which disfigures English composition so extensively.

   • 1946, Bertrand Russell, “The Rise of Greek Civilization”, in History of Western Philosophy […], London: George Allen and Unwin, OCLC 15553500, book 1 (Ancient Philosophy), part 1 (The Pre-Socratics), page 22:

     In each country writing began with pictures of the objects intended. […] In the course of thousands of years, this cumbrous system developed into alphabetic writing.

   • 1961 November, “The Development of ‘P.R.S.’ on the French Railways”, in Trains Illustrated, London: Ian Allan Publishing, ISSN 0141-9935, OCLC 35845948, page 664:

     This class of apparatus, often called today the "poste classique", gave first-class service in every respect but became cumbrous if a large layout had to be controlled.

   • 1966, Frances A[melia] Yates, “The Art of Memory in Greece: Memory and the Soul”, in The Art of Memory, London: Pimlico, published 2007, →ISBN, page 41:

     Evidently the imagines agentes, fantastically gesticulating from their places and arousing memory by their emotional appeal, seemed to him as cumbrous and useless for practical mnemonic purposes as they do to us.

2. (obsolete)
   1. Causing hindrance or obstruction.

      Synonym: cumbersome

      • 1659, T[itus] Livius [i.e., Livy], “[Book XXI]”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Romane Historie […], London: […] W. Hunt, for George Sawbridge, […], OCLC 12997447, page 329:

        But aftervvards, the Gauls ceaſed to moleſt and trouble, and the Romans gave over to fear, ſo ſoon as they vvere paſſed, and eſcaped the rough, cumbrous, and unpaſſable forreſts.

   2. Giving annoyance or trouble; troublesome, vexatious.

      Synonyms: cumbersome, wearisome

      • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto I”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, OCLC 960102938, stanza 23, page 9:

        A cloud of cumbrous gnattes doe him moleſt, / All ſtriuing to infixe their feeble ſtinges, / That from their noyance he no vvhere can reſt, / But vvith his clovvniſh hands their tender vvings, / He bruſheth oft, and oft doth mar their murmurings.

      • 1667, John Milton, “Book X”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […], OCLC 228722708; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, OCLC 230729554, lines 544–548:

        Henceforth I flie not Death, nor would prolong / Life much, bent rather now I may be quit / Faireſt and eaſieſt of this combrous charge, / Which I muſt keep till my appointed day / Of rendring up.

Alternative forms

• combrous (obsolete)

Derived terms

• cumbrously
• cumbrousness
• uncumbrous

Related terms

• accumber
• cumber
• cumbered (adjective)
• cumberer
• cumberground
• cumbering (adjective, noun)
• cumberless
• cumberment
• cumbersome
• cumberworld (obsolete)
• encumber
• encumbered (adjective)
• encumberer
• encumbering (adjective)
• encumberment (archaic)
• encumbrance
• encumbrancer
• encumbrous (obsolete)
• incumber (archaic)
• incumberment (archaic)
• incumbrance
• unencumbered

 

Translations

unwieldy because of size or weight — see cumbersome

References

1. “cǒmbrǒus, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
2. “cǒmbren, v.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
3. “-ǒus, suf.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
4. “acǒmbren, v.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
5. “encǒmbren, -ien, v.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
6. “cumber, v.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, December 2022; “cumber, v.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
7. “encumber, v.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, December 2022; “cumbrous, v.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
8. “cumbrous, adj.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, March 2022; “cumbrous, adj.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.