The term earworm originated in 1598, referring to the earwig insect. However, its modern meaning of a catchy tune stuck in your head comes from a 1978 translation of the German phrase Ohr wurm. This concept likens music to insects burrowing into your mind, a somewhat unsettling analogy. Ohr has roots in Old High German ora and Proto-Germanic auso, ultimately tracing back to Proto-Indo-European hows, meaning “ear”. On the other hand, wurm is related to English words like worm and wyrm, with origins in Middle High German wurm, Proto-Germanic wurmiz, and Proto-Indo-European wrmis, all of which also denote “worm” and may stem from the verb wer, meaning “to turn” or “bend”.
