What is the origin of the word snob?

lanfranco

The Oxford English Dictionary indicates that this word, in its social context, began as a Cambridge slang antonym to "nob," meaning noble or upper-class. A "snob" in late 18th-century English was a plebeian or "townsman" as opposed to student. Over time, interestingly enough, the word metamorphosed into a term for someone who wanted to imitate the upper classes and then, by the early 20th century, began to refer to someone who looked down upon presumed inferiors. Outside of the social context, the word has been a colloquial term for cobbler and also has a connection to sheep-shearing and a variation of cricket. Jan 16 06, 1:36 PM

_princess_007

"Snob" first appeared in English around 1781 meaning, of all things, a shoemaker, or sometimes a shoemaker's apprentice. One authority (Hugh Rawson, in his book "Wicked Words") raises the possibility that "snob" may have begun as essentially the same word as "snub," which came, interestingly, from an Old Norse word meaning "to cut short." Perhaps, notes Rawson, the "snob" (shoemaker) was so called because he "snubbed" (cut) leather. Today, of course, snobs "snub," or cut short, the rest of us all the time. Whatever its actual origin, by the late 18th century, "snob" had been picked up by university students in England, who used it to mean "townsman," as opposed to a "gownsman," or student. By the 1830s, "snob" was slang for an ostentatiously vulgar commoner, and in 1848 the novelist William Thackeray expanded the term yet further in his "Book of Snobs," where he used the term to denote a kind of grasping, pretentious social climber. And by the early 20th century, "snob" was being used in its modern sense to describe a person who derives satisfaction from disdaining those of lower social rank. http://www.word-detective.com/091400.html Nov 16 06, 8:08 PM