Archive for Etymology
I learned some years ago that the kiwifruit was formerly known as the Chinese gooseberry; I had read that sales in the US went way up when importers started using the new name. More recently, I was in the supermarket and I happened across a fruit labeled as goldenberries. I had seen them for the […]
Turns out that the word farthing, for the coin once worth a quarter-penny, derives ultimately from the Old English fēortha, meaning one-fourth. (According to MW11.)
Occurred to me recently to wonder about the word cooties. According to Wikipedia: “The word [cooties] is thought to originate from the Austronesian language family, in which the Philippine languages, Maori and Malaysian-Indonesian word kutu refers to a parasitic biting insect. The earliest recorded uses of the term in English are by British soldiers during […]
I was surprised just now to learn that the word heroin derives from the trademarked name Heroin, and that the latter name was based on the Latin for “hero,” because the drug made users feel like heroes. I initially assumed that that was folk etymology (remember: etymology by sound is not sound etymology), but the […]
As I’ve been slowly learning Spanish via Duolingo, I’ve found the large number of cognates between Spanish and English very useful. Sometimes, false cognates get in the way; the most common example I see of that is the word embarazada, which English monoglots may assume means “embarrassed,” but which instead means “pregnant.” But setting aside […]
Such a great sounding word, too. Shonky.
esculent: edible, fit to be eaten According to dictionary,com, it originates in the 1620s, from L. esculentus, from esca “food,” from PIE *ed- “to eat” (see eat). (Link and usage examples here) I saw it a while back and hadn’t gotten around to following up on the idea that it would make a great first […]
When I was a kid, I occasionally listened to my father’s LP of Oscar Brand’s Bawdy Songs and Backroom Ballads. One of the songs on the album was “Sam Hall,” which included this line: You’re a bunch of muckers all, damn your eyes. At some point, I asked my father what muckers meant, and he […]
Interesting discussion from 2013 of the in-universe etymology of the word hobbit, along with some discussion of differing ideas of how translation should be done.
I’ve heard characters described as foils of other characters since I was a kid, but I think I always figured that meant that one character could foil another character’s plans or something. It wasn’t until a few years ago that I learned the real etymology: Jewelers often put shiny metal foil underneath a gem to […]