The origin of the Latin words $bardus$ ‘stupid’ and $gurdus$ ‘stupid’ is examined. It is shown that $bardus$ cannot be borrowed from Etruscan, as previously claimed. It is probably a borrowing from Oscan and is cognate with forms like Greek βραδύς, Lithuanian gurdùs ‘slow’. While $gurdus$ could be a loanword from some unknown language, it could also be the regular result in Latin of * g ord-o-, an o-stem adjective derived from the same root as the u-stem that lies behind $bardus$.