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Dear Word Detective: I recently had a bit of a debate with my officemate as to the origin of the word "nincompoop." He said that it originally came from a Latin phrase (which he conveniently could not remember), but my best guess was that the word is now and always has been a "nonsense" word, actually meaning nothing. Who's right? -- Robert Pincus, New York, NY.
I'd hardly say that "nincompoop" means nothing -- call your boss one and see what happens. "Nincompoop" may be a silly sounding word (alright, it is a silly sounding word), but it has meant (according to the Oxford English Dictionary) "a fool, blockhead, simpleton or ninny" since the 17th century. Unfortunately, the origin of "nincompoop" is a mystery, as most dictionaries declare simply "origin unknown", and even the more adventurous authorities are divided.
But it seems reasonable to speculate, as Dr. Samuel Johnson did in 1755, that "nincompoop" might be a mutation of the Latin term "non compos mentis," meaning "not of sound mind." This is probably the phrase your friend was trying to remember. While "non compos mentis" is a rather esoteric term to most people, it has actually long been commonly used in both the legal and medical professions, often shortened simply to "non compos" by doctors and lawyers in casual speech. It seems a short and plausible leap to imagine non-Latin-speaking folks, perhaps relatives of an afflicted client, rendering the term as "nincompoop."
On the other hand, the Oxford English Dictionary points out that Johnson's theory fails to explain earlier forms of the word ("nicompoop" and "nickumpoop") that bear considerably less resemblance to "non compos mentis." The Oxford lexicographers surmise that "nincompoop" is probably, as you guessed, a nonsense word.
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