golem

golem - n., in Jewish folklore, an artificial being created in the shape of a human from inanimate matter; an automaton; a clumsy and stupid person, blockhead.


From Yiddish גולם (goilem, meaning golem, lump, clod, fool). There is considerable disagreement over what the Hebrew root of this is: I can find citations for gelem (raw material), gōlem (embryo, larva, cocoon), and gālam, (either to wrap up or he wrapped up, folded).

---L.