Odd Origins of Words / Odd Words

A big fight or riot used to be known as a donnybrook, from the annual Dublin fair of that name where a ruckus would likely kick off.

Shampoo and bungalow and orange are all Indian words brought in from the british empire days. Assassin is also from india as a hindu(afair) cult was purported to smoke weed, hashish before going on murderous rampages.

Roman soldiers were often paid in salt, hence the modern word salary latin for salt sal.

"Grammar" has an interesting side. The original comes from the greek, based on the word "draw" It became "grammatica" in latin. Not that interesting but... The word "glamour" which in its original (Scots) context meant to put a spell on someone and magic in general, may well have come from mishearing the word grammar. Written language was felt to hold a special power. So let it be written, so let it be done kinda thing.

Lunatic comes from luna the word for the moon. As the idea of the moon affecting peoples minds was common in the past. Hysterical comes from the greek word for womb(hysterectomy etc) and used to only be used in the context of women. It was thought female madness originated in the womb. Ancient doctors were of the opinion that unwed women, especially ones who were childless would go mad as the humours would build up in the womb and affect their minds. Even today some people working with animals think dogs, horses etc should have some offspring before they are spayed.

Plumber comes from the latin word for lead, which was what pipes were made from back in the day. Another example is the weighted(lead) plumb line used by builders to check verticals.

Alcohol is an arabic muslim word ironically enough. Algebra is too, but not ironically at all as the feckers were bloody brilliant at the old counting and such:) Oh yea and coffee.

Denim comes from the name of a french town that made canvas cloth. Nemes I think? so De Neme from Neme = Denim.

Dandelion plant comes from dent de leon, teeth of lion. Look at the serrated leaves.

Mistress actually means wife or bride funny enough. Husband originally meant man with house. Nada to do with marriage per se.

An Irish/celtic one. When I was learning Irish the word for car was carr. They gussied it up to gluastain(sp?)(fast thing pretty much, like Luas). Presumably because they wanted to distance it from english. Thing is its not an english word, its an ancient celtic/irish word for any wheeled vehicle. Chariot, cart. Indeed chariot comes from the latin Carrus and in latin a war chariot was called a car. a further aside... the romans drove on the correct left hand side of the road like us(bloody french screwed that one )

Temple_Grandin wrote: »

San Diego, from the Spanish for 'A whale's vagina'.

welll......... though that leads to the pejorative term for people of latin origin, "Dago". Thought to come from captured spanish soldiers loudly repeating prayers to San Diego/Saint Diego/Saint Didicus.

We've already had "sinister" which equated to the lefties, so on to "dexterous/dexterity" which of course means fine control etc. Which comes from dexter the latin for right. Even if you're ambidextrous, the righties still win.

To give or the word "gift" means a dowry or price for a wife. Both have similar meanings, so to say "I gave a gift" is like a doubling of it.

"Ketchup" comes from a Chinese word for a sauce.

Clock comes from the middle latin for bell. Welll actually it doesnt. In Irish bell = cloch and we added so many words and grammar to middle latin. Many think this irish word for bell spread with our monks who brought much of the learning back to europe after Rome fell. The word in latin for bell is very different(hyponym). So when you look at the clock on the wall, or say its X o'clock(X of the clock) think on the various mad micks who brought much of the light back to europe where it had been lost. Oh and BTW disregard some explanations that clock is an olde english/saxon word. It shows up in Irish literature many centuries before it shows up in english texts.

Anyhoo, the monks required good timing to keep track of prayer duties throughout the day. So were always open to new tech when it came out. They were also the keepers of knowledge and science at the time. First they muddled through with sun dials. Useful in southern europe, but as much use as a chocolate teapot in the north. Water clocks were the next big leap forward, but they could freeze in the winter. Interestingly the very first reference to a clock as a timekeeper comes from the annals of a church in germany(started by a mick btw ) where a fire broke out. They report the monks ran to the clock to fight the fire. A water clock. No use throwing pendulums at a fire I suppose

Thinking more on my previous example of the term "Dago" as an insulting term for latins, another word, "Wop" comes from "Guapo" in spanish(same in italian IIRC) which actually means cool/cute/good looking. The "Irish are ugly" types should find that somewhat ironic.