Author Topic: The random etymology of the day (Read 238537 times)

sweet clementine · « **Reply #1875 on:** August 11, 2015, 11:38:35 AM »

cool! Thanks!

Tante Shvester · « **Reply #1876 on:** September 11, 2015, 10:55:54 AM »

You'd think that the opposite of adultery is infantry, but you'd be wrong.

Jonathon · « **Reply #1877 on:** September 11, 2015, 11:01:26 AM »

I think I've talked about both of those at some point. Adultery is from ad- + alter and isn't related to adult. Infantry is related to infant and came from the sense 'youth', because young men were used as foot soldiers. In similar fashion, knight originally meant 'boy' or 'youth'.

Tante Shvester · « **Reply #1878 on:** September 11, 2015, 11:28:57 AM »

It is true, however, that the opposite of Little Rock, Arkansas is Boulder, Colorado.

Annie Subjunctive · « **Reply #1879 on:** September 11, 2015, 02:58:45 PM »

Quote from: Tante Shvester on September 11, 2015, 11:28:57 AM

It is true, however, that the opposite of Little Rock, Arkansas is Boulder, Colorado.

Ha! Can confirm.

Annie Subjunctive · « **Reply #1880 on:** September 11, 2015, 03:00:12 PM »

I was in need of a little sig refreshing.

pooka · « **Reply #1881 on:** September 22, 2015, 07:53:18 PM »

:just barely notices:

Tante Shvester · « **Reply #1882 on:** September 27, 2015, 12:26:17 PM »

I can't figure why "bangs" is a word for hair cut short in front so it stops before it gets to your eyes. I looked on Etymology Online, which didn't really clarify it for me. It seems like such an odd word for that hairstyle.

Jonathon · « **Reply #1883 on:** September 27, 2015, 01:16:59 PM »

The OED says basically the same thing: that it's probably from "bang off", meaning "immediately" or "without delay".

Annie Subjunctive · « **Reply #1884 on:** September 28, 2015, 12:00:16 PM »

I like that in Australia, it's a "fringe." Having a fringe sounds way cooler than having bangs.

Tante Shvester · « **Reply #1885 on:** November 10, 2015, 09:52:55 AM »

Huh. A "muggle" is old-timey slang for a marijuana joint.

And I thought the muggles were all square.

pooka · « **Reply #1886 on:** November 13, 2015, 12:02:57 PM »

This ought to move HP up in the banned books ranking!

Tante Shvester · « **Reply #1887 on:** December 05, 2015, 11:39:11 PM »

How did the fingers get their names? Middle finger makes sense, and so does ring finger, but what about Index, Pinky, and Thumb?

rivka · « **Reply #1888 on:** December 06, 2015, 12:40:59 AM »

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/index_finger
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_finger

Can't find anything useful for thumb. The internet is abuzz with so much debate over whether the thumb is a finger or not, it's hard to find anything else about it.

Jonathon · « **Reply #1889 on:** December 06, 2015, 09:06:31 AM »

Thumb apparently comes from a root meaning 'swollen' or 'thick'. It looks like it's the same root as tumor.

link

rivka · « **Reply #1890 on:** December 06, 2015, 10:28:04 AM »

And so is thigh?

Jonathon · « **Reply #1891 on:** December 06, 2015, 11:26:04 AM »

So it would seem.

rivka · « **Reply #1892 on:** December 06, 2015, 12:01:11 PM »

Real etymology is so much wackier than any of the fake ones people make up.

Jonathon · « **Reply #1893 on:** December 06, 2015, 03:52:14 PM »

True. Which is why people accept fake etymologies so much of the time. How can a layperson tell a crazy real etymology from a crazy fake etymology?

rivka · « **Reply #1894 on:** December 06, 2015, 04:49:55 PM »

Good point.

Annie Subjunctive · « **Reply #1895 on:** January 14, 2016, 02:20:22 PM »

Quote from: Tante Shvester on December 05, 2015, 11:39:11 PM

How did the fingers get their names? Middle finger makes sense, and so does ring finger, but what about Index, Pinky, and Thumb?

Just for fun, these are the Japanese names for the fingers:

Thumb - Big finger
Index - Pointing at people finger
Middle - Middle finger
Ring - Medicine finger
PInky - Little finger

Incidentally, it's really rude to point at people with your index finger in Japan.

Farmgirl · « **Reply #1896 on:** January 21, 2016, 06:14:04 PM »

Okay, the term "medicine finger" has me curious now...

Annie Subjunctive · « **Reply #1897 on:** January 22, 2016, 04:08:32 PM »

Quote from: Farmgirl on January 21, 2016, 06:14:04 PM

Okay, the term "medicine finger" has me curious now...

According to Japanese Wikipedia, it's because medicines used to be primarily sold as powders and people would use the ring finger to mix and apply them.

Jonathon · « **Reply #1898 on:** January 26, 2016, 10:06:22 AM »

The other day I was wondering about the etymology of strait and straight. I knew they weren't related, but I couldn't remember where each one came from. Strait was borrowed from French, and it came from the Latin strictus, the past participle of stringere. This root also gives us not only strict but stringent and strain.

Straight comes from an old past participle of stretch, making it analogous to other pairs like teach/taught and catch/caught.

Annie Subjunctive · « **Reply #1899 on:** January 28, 2016, 03:32:31 PM »

I tried to look up calf the baby cow vs. calf the part of your leg, but it was unsatisfactory. Basically, the part of your leg comes from an Old Norse word but is unknown from there. It's possibly related to the same Germanic root as calf the baby animal. I'm trying to figure out any logical way that could have derived.