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slug1 sluggard XV; †slow-sailing vessel XVI; slow-moving shell-less land-snail XVIII. Based on a stem slug-, repr. also by slug vb. be slow or inert (XV) and earlier by, e.g., †sluggy sluggish (XIII); prob. of Scand. orig. (cf. Sw. dial. slogga be sluggish, Norw. dial. slugg large heavy body).
So sluggish (-ISH1), sluggard (-ARD) XIV, slugabed XVI.

The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology

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