Author Topic: The random etymology of the day (Read 222536 times)

Jonathon · « **Reply #450 on:** March 29, 2007, 08:45:46 PM »

Ah, yes. I thought of a few off the top of my head and rediscovered another in my research, but I was sure that I was missing a lot.

Jonathon · « **Reply #451 on:** March 31, 2007, 05:48:10 PM »

Macaroon comes to English from the Middle French macaron, which was in turn borrowed from the Italian maccherone. The plural form maccheroni, is the origin of the English word macaroni. The Italian word originally referred to dumplings or gnocchi and later came to refer to the type of pasta.

JT · « **Reply #452 on:** April 01, 2007, 08:39:20 PM »

I read that the word 'dog' just sort of appeared out of thin air a few centuries ago, almost totally replacing the word 'hound' (which has been around, in some form or another, for a really long time) -- what up with that?

Tante Shvester · « **Reply #453 on:** April 01, 2007, 09:11:47 PM »

You ain't never caught a rabbit and you ain't no friend of mine.

Jonathon · « **Reply #454 on:** April 02, 2007, 09:58:03 AM »

Quote

I read that the word 'dog' just sort of appeared out of thin air a few centuries ago, almost totally replacing the word 'hound' (which has been around, in some form or another, for a really long time) -- what up with that?

It's true. The word hound comes from a Proto-Indo-European word, the same one that also evolved into the Latin canis. This means that it goes back at least 5,000 years. The word dog (or forms of it, anyway) appeared about 1,000 years ago and were typically just restricted to breeds of powerful hunting dogs. But by the 1700s the word had displaced hound, leaving it with the more specialized sense it has today. The origin of dog is still very much a mystery, though.

Porter · « **Reply #455 on:** April 05, 2007, 10:10:13 AM »

Philadelphia.

I know this is supposed to be the city of brotherly love, but the only root I can pick out is phil, as in philanthropy or necrophilia. I'm guessing that means love, making a philanthrope the opposite of a misanthrope. But what about the rest of Philadelphia? Where's the brother?

Jonathon · « **Reply #456 on:** April 05, 2007, 10:18:29 AM »

In the adelphia bit. The Greek word for "brother" was adelphos.

Porter · « **Reply #457 on:** April 05, 2007, 10:35:09 AM »

What are some other English words which use adelphos as a root?

Jonathon · « **Reply #458 on:** April 05, 2007, 10:37:36 AM »

None, as far as I can tell. The city gets its name from a Greek city, and most English "brother" words of foreign origin come from Latin (like fraternity).

Porter · « **Reply #459 on:** April 05, 2007, 10:45:47 AM »

What Greek city? Delphi?

Jonathon · « **Reply #460 on:** April 05, 2007, 10:55:00 AM »

No, there was an ancient Greek city called Philadelphia.

Porter · « **Reply #461 on:** April 05, 2007, 10:56:08 AM »

I knew that. :wallbash:

Jonathon · « **Reply #462 on:** April 05, 2007, 10:57:25 AM »

I learned that from playing Civilization.

Tante Shvester · « **Reply #463 on:** April 05, 2007, 01:23:23 PM »

The county where I live in New Jersey is called "Middlesex". Huh? Middlesex? Middle Sex? What's up with that? I understand the words "middle" and "sex", but I can't figure out why you'd put them together and call it a good place to raise a family.

Insights?

Jonathon · « **Reply #464 on:** April 05, 2007, 01:43:03 PM »

It's the name of a region of England (along with Wessex, Essex, and so forth). The names were originally names of Saxon kingdoms, and in the dialects there, the pronunciation changed from sax to sex.

Jonathon · « **Reply #465 on:** April 11, 2007, 12:49:37 PM »

Thanks to the Merriam-Webster word of the day, I just learned that akimbo likely comes from Old English or Old Norse. Unfortunately, it can only be traced back to 1400 or so, so its origins are still quite murky. If it's from Old English, it is possibly a contraction of "in keen bow," or basically "at a sharp angle." If it's Norse, it probably just means "bow-bent." Either way, I never would've guessed by the looks of it that it's Germanic in origin.

Jonathon · « **Reply #466 on:** April 19, 2007, 01:40:20 PM »

I just learned the origin of t'other (as used by Mal in Firefly and Serenity). I assumed at first that it was a contraction of the other, but that didn't make much sense, phonetically speaking. We don't change a voiced /th/ sound to a voiceless /t/ in any other contexts.

But apparently that's not exactly where it came from. It's actually from that other, which in casual speech was pronounced more like the tother. Eventually it began to appear on its own without the. There is also a word t'one that arose the same way.

Porter · « **Reply #467 on:** April 19, 2007, 01:57:30 PM »

I totally don't remember the word t'other.

Jonathon · « **Reply #468 on:** April 19, 2007, 02:01:43 PM »

Maybe he only said it once. It's definitely in the beginning of Serenity.

Capt. Malcolm Reynolds: Bit of a rockety ride. Nothing to worry about.
Dr. Simon Tam: I'm not worried.
Capt. Malcolm Reynolds: [mocking Simon's seriousness] Fear's nothing to be ashamed of, Doctor.
Dr. Simon Tam: This isn't fear. This is anger.
Capt. Malcolm Reynolds: Well, kinda hard to tell one from t'other, face like yours.
Dr. Simon Tam: Yes, well, I imagine if it were fear, my eyes would be wider.
Capt. Malcolm Reynolds: I'll look for that next time.

link

Tante Shvester · « **Reply #469 on:** April 19, 2007, 03:15:51 PM »

I've never heard t'other, but I often hear nother. Especially referencing ballgames, but in other instances as well.

I'd guess it is a contraction of "another". "That's wholly another ballgame" sounds too dippy, but "that's a whole nother ballgame" fits better in the mouth.

Please don't tell me that this is another regional Esther thing, like "appetizing", "calling out", and standing "on line".

Porter · « **Reply #470 on:** April 19, 2007, 03:24:17 PM »

N'other sounds very familiar to me, Tante.

Jonathon · « **Reply #471 on:** April 19, 2007, 03:46:44 PM »

"A whole nother" is a nationwide thing, I believe. Maybe even international. The "correct" form would be "a whole other," but that just sounds so stiff and weird. I can't figure out why "a whole nother" is so appealing, though.

Tante Shvester · « **Reply #472 on:** April 19, 2007, 03:48:27 PM »

Hey, some of my English is mainstream!

Jonathon · « **Reply #473 on:** April 19, 2007, 03:53:53 PM »

I would guess that nearly all of it is.

Jonathon · « **Reply #474 on:** April 27, 2007, 11:34:07 AM »

The word serif (meaning the little strokes on the ends of letters in certain fonts) probably comes from the Dutch schreef, meaning "line or stroke." This comes from the Dutch verb schrijven, meaning "to write," which was borrowed from the Latin scribere.