Scurrilous - the act of being a squirrel?

Scurrilous is curious,

I muse as I read.

What can this be,

This word that’s foreign to me?

At a glance, scurrilous looks remarkable like the word ‘squirrel’. I picture things turning into squirrels, or at least squirrel-like beings. I can see the bushy tails starting to pop out of everything. Suddenly, my backpack has a tail, and it’s making noises. Okay, not really, but it’s funny to imagine what it would be like if that happened. Does it even have anything to do with squirrels, I wonder as I look up the definition. No, I find, it doesn’t. Far from it, in fact. It has nothing to with squirrels at all! (See definition below.)

Therefore, knowing the proper definition of scurrilous, I can imagine almost a medieval image, one knight saying to another, “How now! Thou art a scurrilous cad!”

scurrilous

adjective scur·ri·lous \ˈskər-ə-ləs, ˈskə-rə-\

Full Definition of SCURRILOUS

1a :  using or given to coarse language

1b :  vulgar and evil <scurrilous imposters who used a religious exterior to rob poor people — Edwin Benson>

2 :  containing obscenities, abuse, or slander <scurrilous accusations>

from: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/scurrilous

scurrilous, adj.

Pronunciation:  /ˈskʌrɪləs/

Forms:  Also 15 skurulous, 16 scurulous, scurrillous.

Etymology:  < scurrile adj. + -ous suffix.

  ‘Using such language as only the licence of a buffoon can warrant’ (Johnson); characterized by coarseness or indecency of language, esp. in jesting and invective; coarsely opprobrious or jocular.

1576   G. Gascoigne Needles Eye in Wks. (1910) II. 419   What shall we thinke of skurulous, deceyptfull, byting, slanderous..wordes?

1597   R. Hooker Of Lawes Eccl. Politie v. Ded. sig. A5,   The scurrilous and more then Satyricall immodestie of Martinisme.

a1616   Shakespeare Winter's Tale (1623) iv. iv. 214   Forewarne him, that he vse [use] no scurrilous words in's tunes.

1651   T. Hobbes Leviathan ii. xxi. 110   Sometimes a scurrilous Jester, as Hyperbolus.

1716   J. Addison Freeholder No. 23. ⁋1   They are grown scurrilous upon the Royal family.

1828   T. B. Macaulay Hallam's Constit. Hist. in Edinb. Rev. Sept. 105   They might be violent in innovation, and scurrilous in controversy.

1874   J. R. Green Short Hist. Eng. People vii. §2. 359   The old scurrilous ballads were heard again in the streets.

From: http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/173941?redirectedFrom=scurrilous#eid

(words 141 - not including definitions)