köken: From Middle High German schelme (“pest, plague; those who have fallen in battle”), Old High German scalmo (“plague”), from Proto-West Germanic *skalmjan, umlauted derivation from *skalman (“plague, epidemic, corpse”), of uncertain origin, but possibly from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kelH- (“to split, part, divide”) or *(s)kelh₁- (“to parch, wither”). Cognate with Middle Low German schelm (“carrion,…
aile: ein Schelm, der Böses dabei denkt, Schelmenroman, schelmisch
Hab ich vor dem Menschen ein heimlich Grauen, / Und halt ihn für einen Schelm dazu! / Gott verzeih mir's, wenn ich ihm unrecht tu!
Das große Wort führt ein Junge, Lasso (Emil Vandersee), ein Schelm in gestreiften Hosen.
to play truant, to play hooky, to skip class, to ditch, to bunk, to mitch
köken: Literally, “make school (hidden) in bushes”. Where the idiom comes from is quite unclear. * It could be related to buissonner (verb), and metaphorically going on an adventure in the forest among shrubs and bushes instead of attending school. * According to Swiss philologist and lexicographer Walther von Wartburg, the idiom is related to Martin Luther and Lutheranism. In the 16th century, Lutheran…