Etymology is the history of the origin of words and phrases.
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Is “Dutch wife” one of those “Dutch words”?
The term "Dutch wife" is listed as having several somewhat related meanings. Wiktionary describes it as meaning 1) a body-length pillow, 2) a wicker or bamboo tube that someone sleeps in (also called ...
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3answers
983 views
Suffixing by “-rama”, “-orama” or “-arama” — how did this begin?
Suffixing by -rama, -orama or -arama — how did this begin? I mean words like futurama, foodarama, etc.
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“Stick it in the boot.” “Er, don't you mean the trunk?”
Does anyone know the etymological history or the reason behind the different names that British and American speakers use to refer to the automobile's largest storage receptacle, or more plainly, the ...
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{wend, went, went} changed into {go, went, gone}
I have heard that the verb go used to be wend in olden days. I am curious if there is any historical or other explanation why the past form of wend, i.e. went, is still in use while the simple present ...
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150 views
What is the origin of “newbie”?
Also seen as "noobie", "n00b", etc.
Etymonline gives an origin by 1969, possibly in the military. Is there a more definite origin anywhere? I know it is was also common on the Usenet, but of course ...
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1answer
792 views
What is the etymology of “business” and “busyness”?
Did the word business originally mean “the condition of being busy” as the word busyness currently means?
Why did it change? It was surely a very useful word, since the awkwardly-spelt word busyness ...
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“Pretty please with sugar on top”
Where does this expression come from?
I understand when it's used, but I was wondering about its origin.
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Is it true that “tuppence” refers to a woman's vagina in British English slang? If so, why?
I was looking up a definition online, as I often do, in this case the British slang word tuppence; I got the standard "a slang reference to a coin denomination" definition from Wikipedia, but stumbled ...
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624 views
Where does the term “cold calling” originate from?
Did it exist before The Telephone - has it always been associated with 'sales'?
Here is an example.
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377 views
History of the phrase “break wind”
The choice of the verb "break" seems a strange choice for the phrase. Does anybody know where this phrase originated?
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Origin of the meaning of “à la mode”
In American English, à la mode means:
in fashion, up to date.
with ice cream.
(of beef) braised in wine, typically with vegetables.
While the first meaning matches the French meaning, the other ...
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Origin of the word “cum”
What is the origin of the word cum? I'm trying to find the roots for its prevalent usage, especially in North America.
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Why is the spelling of “pronounce” and “pronunciation” different?
Why is the spelling of pronounce and pronunciation different? If one originally did not know the spelling of pronunciation, one would when hearing it verbally deduce its spelling to be pronounciation, ...
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253 views
Is the usage of “service” as a verb a recent phenomenon?
I am finding that people use the word "serviced" in place of other verbs such as served, repaired, helped, etc. Has the use of the word service always been acceptable as a verb? Or is that a more ...
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3answers
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How did the term “Mistress” take on two rather different connotations?
One meaning of the word is "female master." The Latin equivalent would be Domina.
Another connotation is "lover." Not quite what one associates with "Domina."
Or was there a connection between the ...
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1answer
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Where did the phrase “diddly-squat” come from?
It sounds like something Ned Flanders would say.
I believe it just means "nothing at all". But what are the origins of the phrase? Is it common in the US as well as the UK?
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Why does someone “pull my leg”?
Someone was pulling my leg the other day (meaning, attempting some mild or humourous deception), and I wondered about the etymology of this phrase. Does anyone know when it originated, and why it ...
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5answers
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What does the phrase “ungodly hour” really mean?
When I hear people speak of "this ungodly hour" they are usually complaining about being awake (or especially working) earlier than they are accustomed.
But why is this called ungodly? It would seem ...
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3answers
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What do I call a word with roots from multiple languages?
As best as I can tell, a good example is sociopath:
sociopath — from socio- on model of psychopath
socio- — combining form of [Latin] socius
pathos — from [Greek] ...
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1answer
661 views
Are “tomorrow” and “morning” etymologically related?
I know this is true for German and Spanish:
Morgen morgen
and
Mañana por la mañana
both mean "tomorrow morning". There may well be other examples too.
I wonder- since these languages ...
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3answers
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Why is it “I better not (+verb)” instead of “I better don’t (+verb)”?
This question will seem weird to a native speaker because “I better don’t” sounds inherently wrong and unusual. But if you think about it, it’s an irregularity; normally when a verb is negated and ...
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1answer
741 views
Literal breakdown of the phrase “case in point”
A "case in point" is something like a relevant example. How does the phrase break down literally, though? For example, "with bated breath" makes sense because "to bate" means to hold, so "with bated ...
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Origin of “I see, said the blind man, as he waved his wooden leg”
"I see", said the blind man, as he waved his wooden leg.
is an expression used by someone on whom comprehension has just dawned, or a catch-phrase addressed to that person. Sometimes it can be ...
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2answers
219 views
What's the etymology of “props”?
Props can mean compliment / respect / credit, for example:
Erika gets props for the great work she did on the music.
Wiktionary states that props is:
(slang) proper respect or proper ...
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What is the origin of the term “Couch Potato”?
I know the meaning of "couch potato" is a person living a mostly sedentary lifestyle who likes to watch TV while lying on the couch, but why potato?
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Where does “Going out on a limb” come from?
I know that the phrase, "I'm going out on a limb here" means either to take a risk or hazard a guess, but where does it come from? As in, what did it originally refer to before it became an idiom?
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Where did the “art” in “Our Father who art in Heaven” go?
What happened to the art in "Our Father who art in Heaven"? And why is it art, and not is?
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“Cheese and rice”?
A new girl started at the office, and she's quite a peculiar character. She moved here from Alabama and is definitely the excitable type. Every office has one I guess.
One thing she says every now ...
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2answers
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Origin of idiom “wearing the < role > hat?”
What is the origin of the idiom "wearing the < role > hat"?
Here is an example from the post Getting things done when you wear multiple hats in PookieMD's Blog:
I wear many hats, and I ...
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The all-powerful “to have”
"To have" seems to fill a lot of different needs in the English language, apart from its literal meaning of possessing something.
It's an integral part of perfect and perfect progressive verb tenses: ...
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2answers
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Origin of “y” or “ie” diminutive suffix to denote intimacy/tenderness? (ie Bob->Bobby, Dad->Daddy, Doug->Dougie)
Many names seem to get a "y" or "ie" at the end when the speaker wishes to denote a hint of familiarity, intimacy, or tenderness. Examples can be seen not just in names, but in terms like "Puppy", ...
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4answers
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Origin of “canoodle”
There have been times in my life where I've enjoyed kissing and cuddling. I'm sure many of you can think of times you've enjoyed canoodling on the couch. Especially in these colder months.
Now I'm ...
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Origin and scope of “cruft”
I just had to look up "cruft" (jargon for software or hardware that is of poor quality), as used in a comment to an earlier question.
But I can't find any details of etymology, and I don't know how ...
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1answer
178 views
Are “money” and “mind” cognates?
Wiktionary gives me these pieces of information:
[money] [1]
From Middle English moneie, moneye, from Old French moneie (“money”), from Latin monēta, from the name of the temple of Juno Moneta in ...
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4answers
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Origin of “one man's trash is another man's treasure”
This might be tough considering the gesture is iterated so many ways, but it's worth a shot. What is the origin of the expression one man's trash is another man's treasure?
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Origin of “eye teeth”
Today in a UK court Mr Justice Cooke, in passing judgement over three disgraced cricketers, said
The image and integrity of what was once a game but is now a business
is damaged in the eyes of ...
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2answers
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What is the etymology of the word “snooker”
I have heard that the word "snooker" originally meant "beginner" and was coined at the time when the game was first invented.
Is there any truth in this theory?
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1answer
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Origin of the term 'bastard sword'
In many computer games (usually role playing games), there is an item called a bastard sword. Why is this name used, and does it bear any relation to the usual meaning of the term bastard?
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“Practise the piano” vs. “practise medicine”
Someone who practises medicine is a professional.
Someone who practises the piano is still learning.
How have these two apparently opposite senses of the word practise arisen?
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What is the origin of the term “back to back”, meaning to follow one after the other?
Presumably items would follow each other back to front?
There is such a thing as 'back to back' agreements; for example when you have an agreement with a bank to fund a purchase but contingent on (or ...
6
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1answer
505 views
Is the expression “showed it what for” or “showed it one for”?
For some reason I thought the expression was "showed him one for" but someone I know just said "showed it what for". Which is it? I have also heard the idiom as "give it what/one for".
If anyone has ...
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1answer
150 views
Are there other verbs like “be” and “go”?
The verbs be and go have the nice peculiarity that their various forms (be/was and go/went) come from originally distinct verbs. Are there other such verbs?
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How was 'Sundae' derived from 'Sunday'?
On Sunday, April 3,2011, Google displayed a commemorative graphic for the 119th anniversary of the first documented case of the Ice Cream Sunday.
(Image comes from: ...
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Why are the “donkey” and the “butt” both named “ass” the same? [closed]
Is there any similarity between them that they have the same name, or is the reason something different of having a physical similarity?
I found different meanings for both, but none of them ...
5
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1answer
253 views
OED Appeals: Antedatings of “blue-arsed fly”
The OED has made a public appeal for help in tracing the history of some English words, including:
blue-arsed fly
noun earlier than 1970
The first evidence for the metaphorical ...
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2answers
250 views
Origin of “to be into [someone] for [a sum of money]”
"He's into me for fifty quid" means "He owes me fifty pounds". It's common enough in the UK, but I'm fairly sure I've heard it in American movies too (bucks or grand there, not quid, obviously), so I ...
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Why do people use “bone” in the phrase “bone stock” to emphasize that a car is unmodified?
"Bone stock" or "stock" means that a car is unmodified. Where did "bone" come from? Why does it emphasize the condition of being stock?
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1answer
200 views
Was Christian a proper name before Pilgrim's Progress?
I was going to ask this on Christianity.SE but it's not really a Christian Doctrine question; hope it fits here.
I was reading John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress where almost everyone is named for a ...
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2answers
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Merging words into one. When is it allowed?
There are several words in the English which have been created as a "merging" of multiple existing words.
e.g. Insofar- Merged from words "in, so, far".
How do such words come about?
It surely ...
