Etymologically Speaking...  What follows is list of some curious word origins. Some of these are English, but some are French and German words from which we get some English words. Enjoy, and please let me know if you know of any other cool etymologies that I ought to add to the list! Also, you might like my brand new web site, Smugopedia: Pretend you know better.The sense of humor is a bit intellectual but if youlike etymologies, then you are probably nerdy enough to enjoy it, too. For some of my favorites, see Companion, Kopf, Porcelain, and Tennis. Abacus Comes from the Greek word abax, which means "sand tray."Originally, columns of pebbles were laid out on the sand for purposes ofcounting. See calculate and exchequer. AllegoryFrom Greek allos meaning "other" and agora meaning gathering place(especially the marketplace). In times past, it was common to do one'schatting at the marketplace. Some of the topics discussed were clandestinein nature and when people spoke about them, for fear of being punished, theywould speak indirectly. That is to say, they would speak about one thing insuch a way as to intimate the actual information to the listener. Thus, thepersons discussing clandestine matters were said to be speaking of "otherthings" in the marketplace. Eventually the words joined and becameassociated with the act of speaking about one thing while meaning another. Apple (Eng.)/ Pomme(Fr.) /Manzana (Sp.) These words, which all mean the same thing, should be explained one at a time, as they come fromdifferent sources. In regard to apple, all European languages otherthan the Romance languages, ie., the great majority of Indo-Europeanlanguages, including the Celtic tongues, use a word with a root ap, ab,af or av for apples and apple trees: aballo (Celtic), apple(Eng.),Apfel (Germ.), aeppel (Old Eng.), abhal (Irish Gaelic), epli(Icelandic), afal (Welsh), jabloko (Russian), and jablko (Polish). Inregard to pomme, this French term comes from the Latin pomum, whichoriginally referred to all fruit. Before Christianity was adopted asthe official religion of the Roman Empire some time in the 4th. Century,the Latin word malum (melon in Greek) meant "apple." After the adoptionof Christianity, however, and due to the important symbolism of theapple in the bible (ie, the Garden of Eden), the general term pomum,"fruit," was used to describe the apple as "the fruit of fruits." Inregard to manzana, this Spanish term comes from the Iberianpronunciation of matiana, a Gallo-Roman translation of the Latin wordmatianum, which was a scented, golden apple first raised by and namedafter Matius, a friend of Caesar's who was also a cookbook author["Apple" Footnote: The French village of Avallon (in the Yonne area),where there are a lot of apple trees, received its name from the legendof the sacred island of Avalon or Abalon, meaning "AppleOrchard"--incidentally, the "-on" suffix is an "augmentative" andexplains the origin of the name of the Pacific shellfish "Abalone"--thatis, "big apple."]. Apricot This term, which comes from the Frenchabricot--and wasaubercot until the Fifteenth Century--does not have one simpleetymology, but rather a combination of several, involving a considerablejuxtaposition of ideas. On the one hand, we have Portuguese albricoque,Spanish albaricoque and Italian albicocca, which all stem from theArabic al barqouq or al birquq, for the Iberian Peninsula owed much tothe Arab gardeners of Southern Spain (Andalusia). The Arabic word means"early-ripe," and itself derives from the Latin praecox or praecoquummalum (in Greek, praecoxon), meaning "early-ripener" and "early-ripening'apple,'" respectively (see the etymology of "apple"). This was thename given by the Roman legionaries when they first brought the fruitback to Rome, as they were returning from the Near East in the firstcentury. Being easy to eat, it also was called aperitum, "fruit whichopens easily," and there is an association with Greek abros, "delicate,"for it does not travel well and ripens very quickly. The idea thatthere was a connection with Latin apricus, "ripe," may have given riseto the "p" in English "apricot," which combines with the French -cotending. Incidentally, the fruit is Aprikose to the Germans and abrikosto the Russians, but all these roads lead to Rome, from where theterm--and the fruit--first spread throughout Europe. Addict Slaves given to Roman soldiers to reward them for performancein battle were known as addicts. Eventually, a person who was a slaveto anything became known as an addict. Alarm From the Italian, "All'arme" -- "To arms!" Alcohol This word comes from the Arabic al-kuhl, which originally meant a very fine powder of antimony used as eye makeup. Itconveyed the idea of something very fine and subtle, and the Arabalchemists therefore gave the name of al-kuhl to any impalpable powderobtained by sublimation (the direct transformation of a solid intovapor, or the reverse process), and thus to all compounds obtainedthrough the distillation process. Algebra This term, which means "the science of equations" inEnglish--and which conjures up fear in the hearts of most fifth andsixth graders--comes from the title of one of al-Khowarizmi's (see"algorithm") treatises, "Hisab AL-JAHR w'almuqaBAlah" [emphasis added],which means, "Science of Transposition and Cancellation. Algorithm This term, which means "rules for computing" in English,comes from al-Khowarizmi (Try saying it fast), an Arab mathematicianliving around A.D. 825 who completed the earliest known work inarithmetic using Arabic numerals. He was the first to establish rulesfor adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing with the new Arabicnumerals. Appendix In Latin it means "the part that hangs." A humanappendixhangs at the end of the large intestine; appendices come at the end ofbooks. Assassin From the old Arabic word "hashshshin," which meant, "someone who is addicted to hash," that is, marijuana. Originally refered to a group of warriors who would smoke up before battle. Aaron White adds: You may want to explore the fact that the hashshshins weresomewhat of a voodoo-ized grand conspiracy scapegoat cult (the very factof their existence is impossible to confirm). They supposedly were asecret society (a la the FreeMasons) which was influential in every middleeastern court from Persia to Bangladesh. They were supposedly abrotherhood of assasins, devoted to their caballa and its secrecy,protected by an unlimited number of fanatical followers and unlimitedmaterial wealth. Assassination was their favorite method of institutingtheir power (see the Zoroastrian lore of the eunich priest Arachmenes andhis assistance to Darius and Xerxes in their rise to/fall from power).Rumor has it that only the hashshshins were able to survive the hordes ofmongol invaders that massacred all people, governments, instituions, etc.in its path, and this only because they were able to infiltrate the asianarmy's ranks as it surged east and threaten the lives of many importantofficers and virtually every general (no small feat for an organizationthat does not exist from several subjugated countries). Usually theirthreat of death to anyone who opposed them, no matter how powerful, wasenough to ensure anyone's complicity with their plans, especially whenconsidering their influence and thus the impunity with which they couldact. Also cross-reference that Persian was a mystical, legendary form ofmarijuana/hashish, rumored to be of unparalleled quality. It is sopowerful as to become hallucinogenic and surreal and is said to be on ofthe ways to attain full-blown buddha-like enlightenment. Even JerryGarcia and the Grateful Dead had a worhipful reverence/fear for Persian. This substance was used by the hashshshins in their intiation rites as anarcotic to overwhelm and produce complacency in their recruits. Also,having an army of fanatics was even better if they were all addicted to apotent intoxicant of which you are the only source. Paul Graham adds: The assassins were a sect of warriors who controlleda number of fortified towns in Persia for about 200 years. On 19 Nov 1256 their leader, Rukn ad-Din, negotiated a surrender with the besieging Mongols. (He was killedsoon after.) I know of no evidence that the Assassins infiltrated the Mongol armies and intimidated the commanders. In fact it is hard to see how it would work to threatena commander of an army in the field. The Mongols did not stay that much longer in Persia anyway. Asthma From the Latin, "asthma," meaning both "asthma" and "oppression." The Latin was derived from the Greek meaning the same. Avocado From "awa guatl," a South American Indigenous word for testicle. The Spanish took this term and used to to refer to what we now call the avocado. Sinister From the Latin "sinister" for "left." Hence, left is evil. Sherry; and Jerez(Spanish) The word "sherry" is named after "Jerez" in Spain, but the waythe name was pronounced in 1600. "X" was used in Spanish and is still usedin Catalan, to represent an "sh" sound. When the "sh" sound changed to anaspirate "h" sound the Spanish Academy changed the spellings to "j"--buttoday the "j" is pronounced more gutterally (the "archaic 'j'" (x) vs. the'modern 'j'" (j)). So we continue to spell it "Mexico" while the Spaniards(but not the Mexicans) spell it "Mejico." This shift had occurred by thetime Cervantes wrote Don Quixote de La Mancha. It is interesting tonote that at one time almost every Spanish word that you can think of whichcontains the letter "j" used "x" in place of "j" (ie., "Xerez", "Xuan","Ximena", "Mexico", "Quixote", "trouxemos" and "baixo" became "Jerez","Juan", "Jimena", "Mejico", "trajimos" (we are bringing) and "bajo" (low;short; beneath), with "Quixote" remaining unchanged as it is a propernoun.). Slave After large parts of Slavonia (the current Yugoslavian Federation province of Serbia, as well as portions of surroundingcountries) were subjugated by the Holy Roman Empire in the Middle Ages,a Slav became synonymous with someone who lived in servitude.Eventually Slav became slave. Sleazy The Eastern European region of Silesia was known for its fine cloth. Eventually, so many low-quality imitations wound up on themarket that Silesian turned into sleazy. Slogan from 2 Celtic words: "slaugh" and "gheun" whichmean, respectively, "battle" and "cry". Soleil (French) and Solell (Catalan) Sun From the Latin "Soliculus", meaning, "a little sun"; "sol" meant just "sun." Soup; Soupe (French);Sopa (Spanish); Zuppa (Italian) From the Old Low Latin term suppa, meaning "soaked [in wateror some other liquid]." The original sense of this word survives in onlyDutch (soppen, "to soak") and English (sop, as in "sopping wet"). TheOldLow Latin for "soaked" originally came into use to describe a populardish, which consisted of a piece of bread soaked in water or some otherliquid and then flavored with whatever was handy. Starve From the Old English "steorfan," meaning "die." Related to the German for "die," "sterben." Spill From the Old English "spillan," meaning, "destroy." Stool From the Old English "stol," meaning "throne." Strawberry (Eng.); Fraise (Fr.); Fresa (Sp.)/ Fragola(It.); Erdbeer (Germ.--"earth berry"); Eper(Hung.) The fruit's name differs in thevarious European languages, although those names deriving from Latinstill suggest the exquisite fragrance that caused the small, scentedberry to be termed fragaria vesca, "fragrant berry," in Latin. TheEnglish "strawberry" refers to the layer of straw placed around theplants to keep the fruit off the soil, a particularly good idea in dampclimates, such as that typically found in Great Britain and Ireland. Suede Gants de Suede is French for "gloves of Sweden." It was in Sweden that the first leather was buffed to a fine softness, and theFrench bought the gants de Suede. Suede now refers to the buffingprocess--not to any particular kind of leather. Sugar; Candy; Caramel All come from the Greek saccharon and the Romansaccharum, which are both distortions of the Sanskrit sarkara. Aroundthe year 1000, after conquering a good portion of the southernMediterranean, the Arabs installed the first "industrial" sugar refineryon the island of Crete, which they renamed Qandi, which in Arabic means"crystallized sugar." This is how the word "candy" made its way intoEnglish. Shortly thereafter, the Arabs also invented "caramel," whichcomes from the Arabic phrase kurat al milh and means "ball of sweetsalt." Sweet From the same Indo-European root as the Latin "suavis." Sycophant From the Greek "sykon," meaning "fig"; a sycophant was thus originally someone who makes figs appear. There are a few suggested etymologies: fig smuggling was illegal in ancient Greece, so a sycophant could have been a telltale for a reward; or, it could be from the shaking of a fig-tree, which moved the figs from the hidden heights to the ground where all could see it; or, it could be from "the sign of the fig," which is the gesture of making a fist with the thumb in-between the index and middle fingers, which represented female genitalia;--this gesture was used to indicate an accusation of wrong-doing. Tag (German) Day Originally meant, "The time during which the sun burns." See also, Nacht. Tarjeta (Spanish) Card From the French "targette," for, "a little shield." Tennis "Tennis," a sport which first developed in France, was originally "tenez" (pronounced tuh-nay) which is the French verb "tenir" conjugated at the second person of the plural as a polite imperative verb (translated in this case by something like "there you go"). They were saying "tenez" when they hit the ball so as to say :"there, try to get this one". But tennis lost popularity in France and gained popularity in England at the same time. So, English people were still using the word "tenez" each time they hit the ball, but saying it with the English accent which sounded more like tennis, and which eventually took this new spelling. Then the sport gained popularity world wide and got picked up by many languages, including French. Tête (French) Head See Kopf Thermostat "Therma" (hot) is from the Greek city of Therma, known for its hot springs. Third Degree A "Third Degree," also known as a "Master Mason," is the highest rank within the Free Mason (and has been since 1772). To become a Third Degree, you must undergo a series of questions. A reader adds: Your definition of "Third Degree" is close, but not exact. There areactually 33 degrees within Freemasonry, of which the first 3 are used forinitiating a new member. Once the initiate has completed all 3 ceremonies of initiation they aretermed a "Master Mason", yet they may undertake more study and progressfurther still with respect to rank and level of degree. However, nofurther study is required of a Master Mason, and they may remain a thirddegree Master Mason for as long as they please. The first degree is termed the "Apprentice" initiation. The second degree is termed the "Entered Apprentice" initiation. And the third degree is correctly termed, as you have mentioned, the"Master Mason". The reason it is such a well coined phrase lies in the fact that theinitiate, whilst enduring the "Third Degree" initiation, undergoes aseries of stressful and unpleasant happenings, much more so than the first2 degrees. I.E. The phrase : "That poor bugger is getting the third degree." Thesis From the Greek of the same, meaning, "to put, place, set." From the same Indo-European root as do, deed, doom, the -dom of kingdom and serfdom (etc.); fact, facility, the -fy of nullify and rectify (etc.). Threshold "Threshold" originated in the middle ages when houses withstone floorswere covered with threshings to keep the floor warm and to prevent it frombeing slippery. As threshings were added during the winter, they would bescattered and thinned near the door, so people added a wooden board tohold the threshings in -- a threshold. The OED defines thresholdoriginally as, "The piece of timber or stone which lies below the bottomof a door, and has to be crossed in entering a house; the sill of adoorway; hence, the entrance to a house or building. Tide and Time See Zeit Tilde (The ~ mark in Spanish and Portuguese); Title From the Spanish for the same, an alteration of an obsolete Catalan title, which was from the Latin "titulus," meaning superscription -- from which we also get "title." Tomato (Eng.); Tomate(Sp.); Pomodoro (It.) The English and Spanish terms both stem from the Nahuatl(the language of the Aztecs) "tomatl,"a vegetable (technically, a fruit) first introduced to Europe by theSpanish. For its part, the Italian term literally means pomo de oro,"golden apple." Incidentally, it was first introduced into Italy by theSpaniards in the Sixteenth Century via Naples (not the island of Sicily,whose cuisine most heavily relies on tomato-based sauces). The reason isthat Naples was a Spanish possession during the reign of the HabsburgEmperor Charles V of Spain (I of Germany)(r. 1516-1556). Trabajar (Spanish); Travailler (French); Trabalhar (Portugues) Work Travailler, trabajar and trabalhar all mean "to work" in French, Spanishand Portuguese, respectively. They originally came from the Latin word"tripullare" which was the three-sectionedwhipthat was used by Roman soldiers to encourage conscripted laborers inthose provinces of the Roman empire (Gaul, Hispania and Lusitania) towork harder, and thus was used to mean "to torture."This ocurred during the last two or three centuries of theEmpire, when oftentimes naked aggression was deemed to be necesary toprevent a complete meltdown of control in the West. Before this timethe Latin term "laborar" was used in these provinces, which survivestoday in Italian as "lavorar" and in English as "to labor." Travel From the French "travail," meaning, "work." Daniel Boorstin has argued that this came about because, at one time, "traveling" entailed working: learning the language and local customs, etc. Boorstin contrasts this with "tourism" which does not entail any work on your (the tourist's) part. Trivia The derivation of the word trivia comes from the Latin for "crossroads": "tri-" + "via", which means three streets. This is because in ancient times, at anintersection of three streeets in Rome (or some other Italian place), theywould have a type of kiosk where ancillary information was listed. You mightbe interested in it, you might not, hence they were bits of "trivia." Tsar or Czar The Russian term "tsar" (or "czar") originally came from the Latin term "caesar," which was adopted as a tile by RomanEmperors after the death of Julius Caesar, as a means of underscoringthe legitimacy of their claim to power and of connecting themselves toCaesar's legacy. This term would eventually make its way into Russianand why it did reveals a very deep insight into how Russians viewed thepath of historical development, from the fall of the Roman Empire totheir independence from 200 years of Mongol rule in the FifteenthCentury. When the Western half of the Roman Empire collapsed in thewake of barbarian invasions around A.D. 479, many of the rulers of theformer Eastern half of the Roman Empire (which became the ByzantineEmpire) regarded themselves as the torchbearers of the legacy of Romeand of Ancient Greece. However, their rule would also come to an endalmost 1,000 years later, when in 1453 they were conquered by a nomadicband of warriors from the Steppes of Russia, the Turks. The Byzantineswould leave their mark, however, for in prededing 1,000-year period,their influence had spread over most of the surrounding area (mostlyundone in the Middle East after the rise of Islam in the Seventh CenturyA.D.), most notably in Russia (the Cyrillic alphabet is based on theGreek alphabet and the Russian Orthodox Church was based on the GreekOrthodox Church, intially established by the Byzantines). As a result,when the Byzantine Empire itself fell, the Russians themselves as thesecond torchbearer and, due to the religious significance of the number"three" (Rome, Constantinople, Moscow), the Muscovite rulers regardedthemselves as the final torchbearers of civilization before the secondcoming of Christ. In order to capture this feeling in a single title,they expropriated the title "caesar." Note that the German "Kaiser" comesfrom the same. Tyranny From the Greek "tyrannos," for "usurper," without a necessary negative implication. Umpire From French 'non partiere' (impartial, neutral). Theoriginal word was nunpire, but morphed from "a nunpire" to "an umpire". Orso I've heard. Usted (Spanish) You (formal) As any second-level Spanish student knows, this is the polite version of the second-person, singular pronoun which means "You;"however, although it is a second-person pronoun, verbs associated withit are conjugated in the third person (ie, "He," "She," "It"). Thereason is that "Usted" is actually a contraction of "Vuestra Merced,"which means "Your Grace" (which turned into "usted" via "vuested" then"vsted" then finally "usted"). Apparently, by the late Seventeenth Centurythe Spanish Crown was so desparate for cash--as it was off fighting warsin the Netherlands and Central and Southern Europe--that it startedselling titles of nobility, especially in the New World Colonies; as aresult, the pre-existing nobility became increasingly "incensed" at theprospect of being addressed as "Vos"--the previous polite form ofaddress--that they felt that they needed a newer, more elevated form ofaddress to differentiate them from the "pretenders" of noble status.They, therefore, came up with "Vuestra Merced" ("Your Grace") as themore refined alternative as did not DIRECTLY refer to the person inquestion, but rather INDIRECTLY to the person's state of grace. It isnoteworthy that "vos" is still used in Argentine Spanish today. Utopia Greek for "no where." Viande (French) Meat; and Vivir (Spanish) To Live Viande is from the Late Latin "vivanda," meaning, "that which is living." Thus related to Vivre (French) and Vivir (Spanish). Victim From the Latin "victima," meaning, "an animal destined to be sacrified." Villain From "Villaneus," meaning, "inhabitant of a villa," i.e., a "peasant." Vinegar Comes from the Latin vin aigre, meaning "sour wine." Walk In Old English, "wealcan" meant "to roll"; by Middle English meant "to move about, travel"; and only in Modern English came to mean "walk" as we know it. Wedding From the pre-Christian, Germanic term "wed" or pledge.Weird From the Proto-Indo-European*wer, meaning "to turn." From this same root, we also get theEnglish words: -ward (toward, inward), worth (from the Old German*werthaz, meaning "opposite," thus "equivalent"), pervert,extro/introvert, divert, controversy, invert, verse, versatile, revert,tergiversation, malversation, anniversary, vertex, vertigo, vertebra;wreath, wrath; worry (from the Old English wyrgan, to strangle),wrong (from the Old Scandanavian *vrang, for "crooked"); verge,converge, diverge; wry, wriggle, wrist, wrestle; warp; rhapsody; worm,vermin; the Latin prefix "re-". Welt (German) World Welt is a contraction of the Old High German words, "Wer" and "alt," where "Wer" meant "Man" (From the Latin "Vir" for "Man"--think "virile") and "Alt," which in Old High German, meant "time" but now means "old." So, Welt is Wer + alt, which is "the time of man." Werewolf (German and English) Wer + Wolf; "Wer," in Old High German, was "man" (related to the Latin "Vir" for "Man"). Thus, literally, "Wolfman." Whiskey (Ireland); Whisky(Scotland) This term originally came from uisge beatha (Scottish Gaelic)and uisce beatha (Irish Gaelic), which both mean "water of life." Theword entered English as "whiskey" or "whisky" when Henry II invadedIreland. Window From the Anglo-Saxon "vindr" eage," meaning the "wind's eye." Wine Comes from the Greek word for wine, oinos (Cretan dialect),which itself was taken from the name of the Greek god who was supposed tohave first revealed the secret of wine to the ancient Cretans, Dionysus(Pronounce it without the "Di."). Wit From the Old English "witan," meaning to know; intelligence. Witness From the pre-Christian, Germanic term "witan", which means wise, tribal elders (literally, those who follow the way of the Norsegod "Wodin" or "Odin"). Woman From the Old English "Wyfmon," meaning, "wife." See Queen. Work; and Werk (German) Work; Warm; Worm; and Wurst Work is from the German "Werk" (meaning the same), which is etymologically related to the "warm" and "wurst" (Sausage). "Worm," in turn, comes from "wurst." Worm From the Old English "wyrm," meaning "dragon." Yankee From the Dutch "Jan-Kees" etc. Jan= short for: Johannes (=John), Kees=short for Cornelis (=Cornelius). All three names were very common in thosedays (and still are): Jan, Kees and Jan-Kees. Zeit (German) Time Related to the German (and English) "Tide." In Old High German, Zeit also meant "to divide, separate." Zero The centerpiece of the Hindu-Arabic numerical system was theinvention of zero--sunya as the Indians called it, and and cifr as itbecame in Arabic. The term has come down to us in English as cipher,which means "empty" and refers to the zero column in the abacus orcounting frame (see "abacus")(The term has also comedown to us as "decipher," which means "to determine the meaning ofanything obscure"). The Arabic term survives even in Russian, where itappears as tsifra, which is the word for number. Sources used include, The Oxford English Dictionary; le Dictionnaire Étymologique et Historique de la Langue Française (par Emmanuèle Baumgartner et Philippe Ménard); the spok+bookpeople@cs.cmu.edu listserv; the assiduous German research of Matthias Erdbeer. Special thanks to Rebecca Tanner, Hugh Sainty, George Eddington, Arend Rietkerk, Philippe Cartier, Jay Huyling, Christopher R. Chagnon, Suzy Nylund; Alexander and Nicholas Humas(Alpha to Omega: The Life& Times of the Greek Alphabet); Rebecca Posner (TheRomance Languages: A Linguistic Introduction); Links Alain Pechon Questions? Suggestions? E-mail Morgan at morgan@westegg.com |
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