An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Schmeer

by Friedrich Kluge

Schmeer, masculine, ‘fat, grease, smear,’ from the equivalent Middle High German smër (genitive smërwes), Old High German smëro (genitive smërwes), neuter; compare schmieren. From the root smër, contained in these words, are derived Gothic *smaír-þr, neuter, ‘fat, fatness,’ Dutch smeer, ‘fat, grease, tallow,’ Anglo-Saxon smeoro, English smear, Old Icelandic smjǫr, ‘butter’; also, with a different meaning, Gothic smarna, ‘dirt, excrement’ (compare its relation to Schmeer and schmieren), and, in a figurative sense, Old High German and Anglo-Saxon bismer, ‘contumely.’ In the non-Teutonic languages the word has been compared, probably without any justification, with Greek μὕρω, ‘to trickle,’ μῦρον, ‘salve.’