The story
- Old Norse · derived from*klumsa
- Middle English · inherited fromclumsen
- English todayclumse
From Middle English clumsen, clomsen, cloumsen, from Old Norse *klumsa (compare Old Norse klumsa (“lock-jawed”)), whence also dialectal Norwegian klumsa (“to make speechless or benumbed”), dialectal Swedish klumsen (“numb with cold”). Compare related Low German verklamen, Dutch kleumen, verkleumen, German verklomen.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.