Why “clumse” is a great word
CLUMSE — [Adjective, Noun, Verb] As an adjective, benumbed, especially with cold, or idle and loutish; as a noun, a stupid fellow; as a verb, to numb or be numb with cold or fear. From Middle English clumsen, clomsen, cloumsen, from Old Norse *klumsa (compare Old Norse klumsa, "lock-jawed"), related to dialectal Norwegian klumsa ("to make speechless or benumbed") and dialectal Swedish klumsen ("numb with cold"). First attested in verb form circa 1360 and as an adjective in 1611. Unlike "clumsy," which denotes physical awkwardness, or "torpid," which suggests general sluggishness, clumse captures a specific paralysis of mind and limb imposed by an external force. It is the leaden fumbling for a key in freezing rain, the vacant stare of a mind dulled by dread, and the mute, rooted terror of a creature caught in sudden light—a surrender not to sleep, but to a creeping, physical oblivion.