Author Topic: The random etymology of the day (Read 238116 times)

BlackBlade · « **Reply #1375 on:** March 03, 2011, 03:48:22 PM »

Quote from: Jonathon on March 03, 2011, 09:59:54 AM

Hmm. The OED and Etymonline.com are not being very helpful. They trace it back to a Proto-Germanic klingg- meaning "to freeze or congeal". It later came to mean "to stick" in a more generic sense. But neither traces the etymology further back than that, so I'm not sure if it's somehow related to clifian. I'd guess it's not related, though, based on the very different endings of the words. I think the f/v and ng are parts of the stems, not endings, which would mean they're different roots.

But it looks like clench is related to cling, coming from a causative form of the word. Basically, it would've originally meant "to cause to cling".

Would clamp also come from there?

Jonathon · « **Reply #1376 on:** March 05, 2011, 06:06:20 PM »

It looks like the etymology of clamp is unclear. It might come from an old past-tense form of climb, clamb, or it might come from the word clam. Unfortunately the etymologies of both of those words are unclear, too, but they might somehow trace back to cleave. So this might be a whole network of related words, or it could be that they are unrelated roots that have influenced each other over the centuries.

dkw · « **Reply #1377 on:** March 05, 2011, 08:18:52 PM »

Yesterday I came across "fane" used as the opposite of "profane." I thought that was kind of odd, so I looked it up and found reference to it as a noun meaning temple or shrine, but not as an adjective.

Tante Shvester · « **Reply #1378 on:** March 05, 2011, 11:41:59 PM »

It makes sense that the opposite of profane is antifane.

You want to hear profanity, go to the movies. You want to hear antifanity, go to church.

BlackBlade · « **Reply #1379 on:** March 14, 2011, 12:37:19 PM »

So I heard the word "Chaps" while watching a British show and I started thinking about it. While looking up its etymology I keep getting stuck with "chaps" as in the clothing. I want to know about "Chaps" as in the synonym for "fellows". Could anybody find me that?

Jonathon · « **Reply #1380 on:** March 14, 2011, 12:48:52 PM »

I think the problem is that you're looking up "chaps", not "chap". Etymonline.com says that it comes from "chapman", an obsolete word meaning "customer". It broadened to mean "fellow" in the early 1700s.

BlackBlade · « **Reply #1381 on:** March 14, 2011, 12:52:33 PM »

Quote from: Jonathon on March 14, 2011, 12:48:52 PM

I think the problem is that you're looking up "chaps", not "chap". Etymonline.com says that it comes from "chapman", an obsolete word meaning "customer". It broadened to mean "fellow" in the early 1700s.

Any idea where "chapman" comes from?

Jonathon · « **Reply #1382 on:** March 14, 2011, 01:15:10 PM »

Yes! It comes from an Old English verb ceapian, meaning "to trade". The noun ceap meant "trade" or "purchase", so a ceapman (later chapman) was someone who made a purchase. A "god ceap" was a good purchase, which gave rise to the use of cheap to mean "affordable".

rivka · « **Reply #1383 on:** March 14, 2011, 02:05:57 PM »

Ah, so cheap and chap are related. Interesting!

BlackBlade · « **Reply #1384 on:** March 14, 2011, 05:37:24 PM »

Hey thanks Jonathon!

Jonathon · « **Reply #1385 on:** April 03, 2011, 08:43:19 PM »

I just learned (thanks to Merriam-Webster's word of the day) that doff and don are simply contracted forms of the phrasal verbs do off and do on, respectively.

Tante Shvester · « **Reply #1386 on:** April 03, 2011, 08:56:32 PM »

Who knew?

rivka · « **Reply #1387 on:** April 03, 2011, 08:57:15 PM »

Quote from: Jonathon on April 03, 2011, 08:43:19 PM

I just learned (thanks to Merriam-Webster's word of the day) that doff and don are simply contracted forms of the phrasal verbs do off and do on, respectively.

The Genuine · « **Reply #1388 on:** April 03, 2011, 09:19:11 PM »

That's awesome.

Marianne Dashwood · « **Reply #1389 on:** April 03, 2011, 09:36:49 PM »

Weird.

Brinestone · « **Reply #1390 on:** April 04, 2011, 06:27:11 AM »

Quote from: Jonathon on April 03, 2011, 08:43:19 PM

I just learned (thanks to Merriam-Webster's word of the day) that doff and don are simply contracted forms of the phrasal verbs do off and do on, respectively.

Huh. I learned this from Dr. Chapman in his History of the English Language class. For the first time, I knew an etymology you didn't!

Jonathon · « **Reply #1391 on:** April 04, 2011, 10:14:51 AM »

Maybe he told me and I just forgot. Yeah. That's probably it.

Jonathon · « **Reply #1392 on:** May 06, 2011, 03:41:17 PM »

Turquoise is apparently from the Old French word for "Turkish", because the stone was first brought to western Europe from Persia by Turkish traders.

pooka · « **Reply #1393 on:** May 06, 2011, 03:56:28 PM »

Cool, I would have guessed it was a french spelling of a native American word.

rivka · « **Reply #1394 on:** May 06, 2011, 04:08:36 PM »

Quote from: pooka on May 06, 2011, 03:56:28 PM

Cool, I would have guessed it was a french spelling of a native American word.

Actually, me too.

Marianne Dashwood · « **Reply #1395 on:** May 07, 2011, 12:41:13 AM »

I knew that one, actually.

BlackBlade · « **Reply #1396 on:** July 08, 2011, 04:11:04 PM »

Is there a relationship between "per" as in, "$5 per head." and "person"? I get the gist of what 'per' means, but does person literally quantify people based on sons?

Jonathon · « **Reply #1397 on:** July 08, 2011, 08:25:57 PM »

Nope. Per is related to a whole family of Indo-European prepositions and prefixes, including para-, peri-, pro-, for-, and fore-. By itself the preposition is basically just equivalent to for.

Person is obscure but may have been borrowed into Latin from the Etruscan phersu, which means "mask". It then came to mean "character in a play" (i.e., someone who wears a mask) before broadening to its current meaning. It was then borrowed into English.

BlackBlade · « **Reply #1398 on:** July 09, 2011, 08:40:47 PM »

Interesting!

BlackBlade · « **Reply #1399 on:** July 27, 2011, 04:27:00 PM »

What activity was originially being reference with the phrase, "Pulling out all the stops?" I keep trying to think of some activity that would involve unstopping things, and the only thing I can come up with is expensive wines being uncorked for a special ocassion.