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Etymology

Magdalena
Spartalena
Tyrant of Words
Wales 62awards
Joined 21st Apr 2012
Forum Posts: 2993

I was wondering if etymology has ever been discussed here or if many writers even think about the origin of words.

So I thought I would raise the topic and post some of the more interesting words and their origins.



Avocado, which comes from Nahuatl, a language spoken by the Aztecs. Their name for it, ahuacatl, also meant ''testicle".



Onslaught, from the Dutch aanslag - related to a word in Old High German for a shower.



Sabotage. Supposed to derive from the tendency of striking workers to damage machinery by throwing shoes into it - sabot being an old French word for a wooden shoe.



Tattoo, Captain Cook saw Polynesian islanders marking their skin with dark pigment. Long before that the word signified a signal or drumbeat, a Dutch expression for 'Close off the tap', used to recall tippling soldiers.



Got some? Please add.



Magdalena
Spartalena
Tyrant of Words
Wales 62awards
Joined 21st Apr 2012
Forum Posts: 2993

Addict
Slaves given to Roman soldiers to reward them for performance in battle were known as addicts. Eventually, a person who was a slave to anything became known as an addict.



Nice
From the Latin "nescius," for "ignorant," and, at various times before the current definition became established meant "foolish" then "foolishly precise" then "pedantically precise" then "precise in a good way" and then our current definition.

Magdalena
Spartalena
Tyrant of Words
Wales 62awards
Joined 21st Apr 2012
Forum Posts: 2993

Cunt (many origins for this word online, I went for the oldest recorded)

"Cuneiform (the sign of the cunta)", the most ancient form of writing, derives from "kunta" meaning "female genitalia" in Sumerian of ancient Iraq. "Kunta" is "woman" in several Near Eastern and African languages and a Mother Tongue that is being compiled by linguists today. It was also spelled "quna," which is the root of "queen." Since priestesses were known to be accountants/administrators of Temple of Inanna in Sumeria c.3100 B.C. when Cuneiform was first used, it is highly likely that cuneiform was "the sign of the kunta" who kept the books (clay tablets) for the temple economy/redistribution of wealth that evolved from communal economics of ancient mother-cultures.

So when an abuser calls a woman a "cunt" he is actually calling her a "queen who invented writing and numerals." Girls and women can thus reclaim the words in our language that have been used as weapons against us in emotionally explosive situations. The word "prostitute" (law giver of the temple) and "whore" (houri, Persian, which means a gorgeous semi-divine female that awaits men in the 7th Heaven) are some of the finest compliments a woman can be given.


Astyanax
Ceejay
Fire of Insight
United Kingdom 9awards
Joined 23rd Feb 2010
Forum Posts: 748

Bus
Comes from the Latin word 'omnibus', which means 'for everybody'. Thus, since a bus was a vehicle for everyone to travel on, that's how it got its name. Up till about the 1940s, the word was printed in books and newspapers as 'bus, to show that letters had been missed off the beginning of the word.

Companion
A companion is a person you share bread with, and comes from the Latin words for 'with' - cum, and 'bread' - panis.


Magdalena
Spartalena
Tyrant of Words
Wales 62awards
Joined 21st Apr 2012
Forum Posts: 2993


Magdalena
Spartalena
Tyrant of Words
Wales 62awards
Joined 21st Apr 2012
Forum Posts: 2993

Poppycock

The OED reminds us, the word is actually American in origin, first turning up there about 1852. The OED is firm in dismissing one often-heard view of its origin, from the Dutch word pappekak for soft faeces. It says firmly “no such word appears to be attested in Dutch” but points to the very similar word poppekak, which appears only in the old set phrase zo fijn als gemalen poppekak, meaning to show excessive religious zeal, but which literally means “as fine as powdered doll shit”. The word was presumably taken to the USA by Dutch settlers; the scatological associations were lost when the word moved into the English-language community.

Magdalena
Spartalena
Tyrant of Words
Wales 62awards
Joined 21st Apr 2012
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Regret
From the French "regretter," which originally meant, "lament over the dead."



Slogan
from 2 Celtic words: "slaugh" and "gheun" which mean, respectively, "battle" and "cry".

Magdalena
Spartalena
Tyrant of Words
Wales 62awards
Joined 21st Apr 2012
Forum Posts: 2993

Window
From the Anglo-Saxon "vindr" eage," meaning the "wind's eye."


Genuine
Originally meant "placed on the knees." In Ancient Rome, a father legally claimed his newborn child by sitting in front of his family and placing his child on his knee.

Tacete
who-isthe-silence
Twisted Dreamer
Australia 1awards
Joined 24th Nov 2013
Forum Posts: 205

Silence

The Italian word Tacere; derived from the Latin word Tacete - to be silent, pass over in silence; leave unmentioned.


poet Anonymous

SLUT

Although the ultimate origin of the word "slut" is unknown, it first appeared in Middle English in 1402 as slutte (AHD), with the meaning "a dirty, untidy, or slovenly woman". Even earlier, Geoffrey Chaucer used the word sluttish (c. 1386) to describe a slovenly man; however, later uses appear almost exclusively associated with women. The modern sense of "a sexually promiscuous woman" dates to at least 1450.

Another early meaning was "kitchen maid or drudge" (c. 1450), a meaning retained as late as the 18th century, when hard knots of dough found in bread were referred to as "slut's pennies". A notable example of this use is Samuel Pepys's diary description of his servant girl as "an admirable slut" who "pleases us mightily, doing more service than both the others and deserves wages better" (February 1664). "Slut" and "slutishness" occur in Shakespeare's comedy As You Like It, written in 1599 or 1600. In the nineteenth century, the word was used as a euphemism in place of "bitch" in the sense of a female dog.

And so I ponder anew why someone once said I look like a "retired lunch lady" LOL.

Magdalena
Spartalena
Tyrant of Words
Wales 62awards
Joined 21st Apr 2012
Forum Posts: 2993

Good one Artina.


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.

poet Anonymous

Author

c.1300, autor "father," from O.Fr. auctor, from L. auctorem (nom. auctor) "enlarger, founder, master, leader," lit. "one who causes to grow," agent noun from auctus, pp. of augere "to increase" (see augment). Meaning "one who sets forth written statements" is from late 14c. The -t- changed to -th- on mistaken assumption of Gk. origin. The verb is attested from 1590s.


Stanza

1580–90;  < Italian:  room, station, stopping-place

Not so mind blowing, but interesting nonetheless...

Viddax
Lord Viddax
Guardian of Shadows
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Joined 10th Oct 2009
Forum Posts: 6672

Terrible

The word's roots lie in great or awe-inspiring rather than the modern common use as in fear-causing or shocking or bad.


I also like to think about a word's use and toy with the idea of a new use. Still, there's always slang...

LakedNunch
Jr
Twisted Dreamer
United States
Joined 23rd May 2013
Forum Posts: 88

These are awesomeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.


Selfcomplexity
Strange Creature
United States
Joined 7th Mar 2014
Forum Posts: 2

Hahaha I love this odd amusement especially the comments

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