Questions tagged [etymology]
Questions about tracing out and describing the elements of an individual word, as well as the historical changes in form and sense which that word has experienced over its history. Please use the 'phrase-origin' tag for phrase/expression origins.
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Earlier sources or identity of person who coined the term "neutrois"?
A lot of work I've been doing recently has been around the emergence of various gender identities. "Neutrois" recently came to my attention, with more information about it here:
Nonbinary ...
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Term for/etymology of the opposite of a nosism (using 'we' to mean 'you')
A nosism is the term for using 'we' to refer to oneself. I am looking for a term for/etymology of using 'we' to mean 'you'.
EDIT: Another way of putting it is that I'm looking for the proper term ...
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Easier said than done vs. Easier to say than do
As a speaker of English as a second language, I've long been curious to know why English speakers would choose to say "Easier said than done" over "Easier to say than do".
Why ...
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How did English final /əl/ come to usually be spelled "le"?
English has suffixes spelled "-le" and pronounced /əl/ with several meanings. However, they variously come from Old English -el, -ol, -ul, and -lian. Of these, only -lian has a vowel after ...
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How did "as" amass all its confusing "broad and vague meanings"?
From Bahrych, Merino. Legal Writing and Analysis in a Nutshell 5th edition (2017). 343:
as. Do not use the conjunction as when you mean “since,” “because,” “when,” or “while.” Its broad and vague ...
user409391
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History of "dummy" as adverb?
The meme-y term "dummy thicc" uses "dummy" as an intensifier modifying "thicc" (meaning curvy). How common is this usage of "dummy"? How long has it been around?...
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Was 'without' always the opposite of 'with'?
It seems that the word without was constructed as the opposite of within (or vice versa, but either way, they're a pair). However, we also use the word to mean the opposite of with, and that poses a ...
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What's the meaning of the phrase "Sunday afternoon name"?
In a computerphile video, professor Ross Anderson says that
EMV is the Sunday afternoon name for chip & PIN, it's Europay / Mastercard / Visa protocol.
As I understand this phrase means ...
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What is the etymology of the term 'hunch'?
Oxford states the etymology as:
late 15th century: of unknown origin. The original meaning was ‘push, shove’ (noun and verb), a sense retained now in Scots as a noun, and in US dialect as a verb. [...
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What's the origin of the phrase "build bridges?"
I often come across the phrase "build bridges" and I'm keen to know the origin of this phrase.
I've done a lot of research on the Internet (plus in some books). Neither [Theidioms.com]( ...
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Which words have historically had a final n only before a vowel?
In Modern English, the only word that has a final n only before a vowel is a/an:
a face
an eye
In Middle English, there was the pair my/mine:
my face
mine eye
Also, the was then before a vowel. ...
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Usage and origin of the expression “nice and”
According to the following dictionaries the expression nice and is an adverbial locution which is used to give more emphasis to the adjective that follows:
According to M-W nice and is synonym of very
...
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Is staubert a slang term for stylish? And what is its origin?
A listener to Words to the Wise [audio at wtcmradio.com] shared that his family used the word staubert to describe something stylish, such as a new suit. I speculate that it is derived from the ...
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Origin of "Indent" as in inventory or request
I have recently moved to an institution run by the British government where staff use the term "indent" as a noun to refer to an inventory exercise done to work out what they need to buy.
...
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Is there a connection between "Having a chip on one's shoulder" and "Knock it off"?
After reading the Wikipedia article I was wondering about a possible connection between these two idioms.
Quoted from Wikipedia: Chip on shoulder
This idiom traces its roots back to a custom that was ...
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etymology of "trammel / tramming" as used in metalworking
Tramming or to tram in is a technical term used in a machine shop. A simplified definition is the process of accurately aligning the workpiece, the cutting tool and the various parts of a lathe or ...
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Where does the subcontinental usage of 'one' to mean 'named' come from?
Sometimes, when reading texts published in India, written by authors of Indian origin, I notice a usage of the word one in the sense of 'named,' or 'is called.' For instance, it's present in this ...
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Etymology/origin of the term 'blazes over'?
In soccer (football), commentators often exclaim that "Player X blazes over the goal" or "...just blazes it over, really poor shot..."
It's also found in written form, either in ...
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What is the reason for quasi-modals existing and why do they imply different meaning than the modals themselves?
What I mean is - Why do we have collocations such as "be supposed to", "have to", "be able to"? I understand that modals are defective, but maybe more fundamentally, why ...
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What is the etymology or history of "Your" for addressing a noble?
There are several ways of noble addressing, such as:
Third person - female (Her)
Third person - male (His)
Second person (Your)
e.g : Your Highness
But, what are the meanings behind that?
Why it ...
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Connection between "wiseguy" and the Cantonese slang 古惑仔
"Wiseguy" can mean a made man in the mafia or a smart ass who acts like they are smarter than others. What I find interesting is that the Cantonese/Chinese slang term 古惑仔 (Gu Wac Zai) has ...
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Is a "camelopard" part-camel, part-leopard or part-camel, part-pard?
I'm honestly not sure if this belongs more on Mythology.SE, but I think it's (just) more of an etymology question.
The English word 'giraffe' derives from the Arabic word zarāfah (زرافة) which ...
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What is origin of the phrase "as gay as cheese"?
A little while back, I was trying to find an old Hitchcock anthology story that turned out to be Joan Aiken's "As Gay as Cheese" where the eponymous phrase is one of many that the main ...
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Inverse of "Decimate" (not really a duplicate)
Historically, the word "decimate" means to "reduce/ destroy by one tenth"... i.e., a decimated army of 100 soldiers would have lost 10 soldiers.
Is there a word that means the ...
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Where does the word "scrub" come from as another word for "scroll"?
It seems like only within the last year I've noticed this usage, as a verb to view various parts of a digital resource. Dictionary.com does not have any definition for scrub that is similar to the ...
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'up' meaning each/apiece in sports?
I often hear sport scores being mentioned as '5 up' meaning the score is tied at 5 each/apiece.
AHD gives:
up adv.
...
Each; apiece: The score was tied at 11 up.
Can anyone ...
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What does the phrase 'Throw your Cap on It' mean and where did it originate?
In watching a recent soccer match, the commentator stated that the goalkeeper should 'throw his cap on that'.
This was immediately preceded by a relatively comfortable save by the goalkeeper from a ...
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What is the history of the Australian slang word "sleeps" (meaning days)?
What is the history of the Australian slang word "sleeps" to mean 'days'?
I lived in Sydney many years ago and the term was not used then. For the past three years or so I've increasingly ...
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From Black Friday to Cyber Monday!
Sources available on line say that the expression “Cyber Monday” is just a few years old, dating its coinage to 2005:
The term "Cyber Monday" was dreamt up in 2005 by a marketing team at ...
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What is the origin of the drafting term "screened back"?
In engineering/architectural drafting, many people consider grey lines - usually used to indicate existing work or reference work belonging to other disciplines - as "screened back".
When older ...
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equivocal vs. unequivocal vs. unambiguous vs. ambiguous
The word "equivocal" sounds like "talking with the same (one) voice". But in the English language it seems to mean explicitly "ambiguous" (= "talking with two voices/tongues/meanings").
How can ...
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wrought/wring for cloth vs iron
Wrought iron is characterised by how it has been squashed/beaten into shape.
Also, one could wring water from a cloth by strong physical manipulations.
I assume these words have a common origin, but ...
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On the right track -> to distract
It sounds that distracting and being on the right track are related not only by meaning but also by common roots. Is the track that we see in distracting related etymologically to the track in the ...
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For 'also', how is ' the demonstrative sense of "similarly" weakened to "in addition to" '?
also (adv.)
Old English eallswa "just as, even as, as if, so as, likewise," compound of all + so. The demonstrative sense of "similarly" weakened to "in addition to" in 12c., replacing eke. [...]...
user472688
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After verbs, how does 'from' compare with 'of'?
(TL;DR) 1. I've been plagued by the postverbal use of the preposition 'of'. After verbs, when describing attributes like origin or source, what are the differences between 'from' and 'of'?
The verbs ...
user50720
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How did 'circumscribe' evolve to mean 'Restrict (something) within limits'?
What's an intuitive derivation behind ODO's definition 1 that helps to remember its meaning:
1. circumscribe = Restrict (something) within limits:
Etymonline: late 14c., from Latin circumscribere &...
user50720
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Term for a word with opposite meaning to its root?
I remember coming across a term for a word which has an opposite (or at least very different) meaning from its etymological root word's meaning. Does anyone know what this term is?
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Would not 'armistice' be a better word to use than 'pause' in present discussions of 'ceasefire'?
In the current situation, there are calls for a 'ceasefire' and calls for a 'pause'.
Humanitarian pauses and ceasefires – what are the differences?
Chatham House org
But there exists a better word ...
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What is the origin of the phrase "toothless wonder" and what's the meaning of this?
Google says just that "toothless wonder" is an individual in the public who is lacking a single front tooth. Well, that's logical. But what's the purpose of word "wonder" then?
If ...
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Locating collocated "and" and "four" ("and four")
Pretext: The etymology of the number word four is difficult. The development of Proto-Indo-European *kʷetwor- → Proto-Germanic *feđwōr > Old English feower, Old Saxon fi(u)war, fior, Old Norse ...
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Alternate meaning of “sleep with” – sharing the same barracks/bunkhouse?
I am watching the 1943 western The Ox-Bow Incident which is set in Nevada territory in 1885. Early in the film, the bartender is discussing some touchy issue and he says,
They don't like to talk ...
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In which dialects is "knowed" the past tense of know?
In some folk songs, such as Woody Guthrie's "Hard Traveling" and Townes Van Zandt's "Poncho and Lefty," the word "knowed" is used as the past tense of "know."
...
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Does "reclaiming" only apply to group-identity derogatory words (turned into terms of empowerment)?
I have a follow up to this question,
Is there a term or word for the process of a group of people taking (or attempting to) an insulting word/phrase and making it their own?
which received the ...
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What is the origin of the British phrase "Rough as houses"?
I'm preempting the usual comments by saying: If you're not British, you probably won't have heard it before.
But it is a fairly well known phrase in BrE.
For instance, in this book:
Unfortunately, it ...
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When searching for the origin of "bootlegger" has anyone considered foreign origin? Namely the low German/Saxon/Norwegian "utlegger"
As boots are hardly satisfactory to transport alcohol, the explanations based around boots or legs seem doubtful. Immigrants from northern European coastal areas would be familiar with both smuggling ...
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Why does ou change to o when adding the suffix -ous in words such as ‘humorous’?
Background
I realised today that humour when made an adjective by adding the suffix -ous, loses its -ou- spelling to -o-. There are some other words which have a change in spelling, such as miracle → ...
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Usage of 'fit' as tight
In Indian languages I have seen the usage of the word 'fit' as being used to imply something is too-tight. In a Gujarati the sentence would use the word 'fit' to describe a garment that is too tight ...
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What factors over time have affected the most common word used to mean "woman who flies a plane"?
I was looking at this thread:
Has the suffix "-trix" acquired a pejorative meaning in recent years?
And I became curious about the popularity of the words aviatrix, aviatrice, aviatress and ...
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Where did the snowclone "X-Complete" come from?
I'm familiar with the phrases "Turing-complete" and "NP-complete" from the field of computing science. (Along with less common variations similar to NP-complete such as EXP-...
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Origin of the quote "Sadness is caused by intelligence"?
In social media (1)(2)(3), I have found:
"Sadness is caused by intelligence, the more you understand certain things, the more you wish you didn't understand them."
— Charles Bukowski.
But yet ...
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