_Does "Wurm," in modern German, ever mean Serpent?_ (Vol. viii pp. 465.
624.).--F. W. J. is quite right as regards his interpretation of the word
_Wurm_, used by Schiller in his _Wallenstein_ in the passage spoken by
Butler.
_Wurm_ is not used in German to mean a serpent. Serpents (_Schlangen_) are
vertebrata, and are therefore not confounded with _Würmer_ by the Germans.
The language of the people frames proverbs, not the language of science.
The Germans apply the word _Wurm_ to express pity or contempt. The mother
says to her sick child, "Armes _Würmchen_!" signifying poor, suffering,
little creature. Man to man, in order to express contempt, will say
"Elender _Wurm_!" meaning miserable wretch; an application arising out of
the contemplation of the helpless state and inferior construction of this
division of the animal kingdom. The German proverb corresponds to the
English.