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in a nutshell

The origin and history of in a nutshell.

Etymology

Calque of New Latin in nuce, derived from an anecdote in Pliny the Elder, who ascribes to Cicero the claim that the whole Iliad was once written on parchment and enclosed within a nutshell (Naturalis Historia 7.21.85). Compare typologically Czech stručný, stručně (< struk).

Origin: New Latin

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Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA.