"Nerd" etymology (speculative only)

[Douglas G. Wilson]

Here are a couple of examples of "nerd" from a comic strip ("Freckles [and
His Friends]") in 1954:

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_Portsmouth Herald_ (Portsmouth NH), 22 April 1954: p. 20:

<<I SAY, OLD SPORT, I COULD DO WITH A BIT OF HELP TRANSLATING THIS JOLLY
TEEN CHATTER! PRECISELY WHAT IS A _GASSER?_ / QUITE SIMPLE, NEPHEW! IT
MEANS SOMEONE A BIT ON THE OBNOXIOUS SIDE -- A SQUARE BEAR -- ODDBALL -- AN
ALL-OUT CREEP OR NOGGLEHEAD! / SOMETIMES KNOWN AS A HANK OR A FRATCHIMO ...
A TRAPEZOID. OR IF HE IS REALLY OUT TO LUNCH, A NERD OR A BENT FENDER.>>

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_Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune_ (Wisconsin Rapids WI), p. 5:

[Two teenagers are making a square shape in the air with their hands behind
the head of another. The soda shop proprietor explains.]

<<THAT'S THE SIGN OF THE SQUARE THEY'RE MAKING -- / -- OBVIOUSLY THIS LAD
IS CONSIDERED A NERD BIRD -- A TRUE CUBE, OR SLIGHTLY TRAPEZOIDICAL!>>

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In these items and in several others from the 1950's (including the
earliest citation known to me [M-W, 1951]), "nerd" is explicitly equated
(at least roughly) to "square".

Here we have some other alternatives derived from "square": "cube",
"trapezoid". Also "nerd bird", analogous to "square bear".

Here is a hypothetical etymology: apheresis from "four-cornered". This has
a kind of likely ring to it: just as you can make a square sign in the air
referring to a nearby person (snicker, snicker) who (because he's a square,
and also because he isn't paying any attention to you) won't understand it,
you can outright say "'Nerd" (= "[He's] four-cornered") (point and giggle)
without the nerd understanding it (although the hip cats know what it
means) (even the nerd would understand "square", which would spoil the fun
and might even cause injury).

I cannot refute the proposed Dr. Seuss etymology, although I find it only
marginally plausible.

IMHO the "Mortimer Snerd" alternative remains in contention. (But where did
the "S" go? Maybe apheresis for the same purpose as in my current notion.)

Has "four-cornered" definitely been used for "square" in the appropriate
sense? Yes, but I can find only a few examples and none from as early as
the 1950's.

-- Doug Wilson