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Quean and queen are in fact related. Both are related to Proto-Germanic *kwenon or similar, "wife, woman"; Proto-Germanic is the ur-language that later gave rise to English, German, Dutch, Scandinavia …

Cess- is the supine stem of Latin cedo, "to go, give way". Words on -io(n) are generally derived directly from the supine stem of a verb, so se-cession means "going away and apart from somewhere", wit …

The etymologies of vestigo "to track" and vestis "clothing" are most probably not related, according to Lewis & Short: vestis, is, f. [Sanscr. root vas-, to put on; Gr. ἑσ-, fεσ-; cf. ἕννυμι, ἐσθής], …

I believe the etymology of dog is still unknown. The following is from Etymonline.com: O.E. docga, a late, rare word used of a powerful breed of canine. … dogue (16c.), Dan. dogge), but the origin remains one of the great mysteries of English etymology. …

There are two prefixes in- in Latin. In- meaning "not", related to the large family of nasal negations in the Indo-European languages, such as Latin non/ne/num/negatio, English un/not/never/no/negat …

The Latin word consisto already had this (additional) sense, according to Lewis & Short: 2. (According to I. B. 2.) To be or remain firm, unshaken, immovable, steadfast, to be at rest, to stand one's …

This term became current with Thomas Kuhn's The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (1962): if you Google "paradigm shift was first used", all results confirm that it was first used in that work. He d …

Because we can trace the origin of English bi- to Latin bis "twice", and from there back to Proto-Indo-European; and we know many cognate Indo-European words, such as Latin duo and English two. In Pro …

The -i- just happens to be there because it is part of the words they were derived from, i.e. secretarius and commissarius. The ending -at(e) describes either 1) an office, function, or abstract entit …

There is filial, from Latin filius "son" and filia "daughter". So filial love should work in most contexts.

I think that this intuition that made some people think that Saxon words are better for expressing emotion, though a rather vague one, is not so rare. Before the invasion of the French with William t …

It seems that the Brits use this and consider it typically British: Alan Townsend, a British teacher of English, used this phrase in an ESL idiom test he made. Mister Micawber, an American teacher o …

The OED also gives the same etymology as Kiamlaluno's NOAD does: from Greek ἱστός (/histos/), mast, upright beam. …

If you miss your mother, you do not have what you want (her). If you miss your target, you do not have what you want (a hit) either. This use of the mental conception of "having something" has apparen …

Both come from Latin contumax, "haughty, stubborn", which in turn comes from tumeo, "to swell, be swollen". (See Etymonline.com — not related to contemno.)