Etymology
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Merriam-Webster's word of the year definitely wasn't picked by AI
If what we search for is any indication of what we value, then things aren't looking great for artificial intelligence.
"Authentic" was selected as the 2023 word of the year by the Merriam-Webster dictionary, landing among the most-looked-up words in the dictionary's 500,000 entries, the company said in a press release Monday.
- www.bonappetit.com The Etymology of the Word 'Cantaloupe'
All are responsible, if legend is to be believed, for why we call a canteloupe a canteloupe
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Why is the English language packed with nautical slang?
Our salty vocabulary dates back to a time when English speakers were fascinated with life at sea
- www.lootpress.com ‘Blood thicker than water’—a lesson in etymology
The commonly used “blood is thicker than water” is a proverb in English meaning that familial bonds will always be stronger than other relationships. The oldest record of this saying can be traced back in the 12th century in German by the philosopher Evan Franklin. The well-known idio...
The commonly used “blood is thicker than water” is a proverb in English meaning that familial bonds will always be stronger than other relationships. The oldest record of this saying can be traced back in the 12th century in German by the philosopher Evan Franklin.
The well-known idiom “blood is thicker than water” is used to say that someone’s family and blood ties are more crucial in their life than any other person, relationship, or need.
- www.merriam-webster.com Etymologies for Every Day of the Week
The sun, the moon, four gods, and a goddess.
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What factors led to the adoption of the term "Holocaust" in portraying the Jewish genocide?
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Why do people say "she is a lesbian" and not "he is a gay"?
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Most words ending with -vious are from Latin via, "road, way*, including "obvious" (in the way), "impervious" (no way thru), "devious" (off the way, cf. deviate), and "previous" (before on the way)
The similarity of "envious" and "oblivious" is coincidental:
- envious is just envy + -ous, where envy is from Latin invidia "envy".
- oblivious is from Latin obliviosus, from oblivium "forgetfulness" + -osus "-ous".
Edit: changed the title from "previous" (ahead on the way) beacause I apparently forgot what pre- means lol
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Garlic came from Old English Garleac, a combination of Gar (an archaeic word for spear) and Leac (Leek, which referred to all alliums at the time)
Other onions used to be called leeks too Ynneleac -\> Onion Crawleac -\> Crowleek (Allium Vineale) Ryscleac -\> Rushleek (Chives)
Unfortunately, there's a bunch of -leacs that we don't know what they referred to
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The word "alone" comes from a compound of "all" + "one"
Yep! Surprising but true!
Alone is first attested as Middle English allone, and earlier as two words, all oon.
Lone comes from a later shortening of alone (Apheresis is the technical term).
Alone and one don't rhyme anymore because of the irregular change from /oːn/ to /wʊn/ in Late Middle to Early Modern English. See also only, which comes from one + -ly.
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As Latin became Old French, /vi/ & /bi/ between vowels unusually became /dʒ/ (the "j" sound). This has given English pairs like rabies/rage, lobby/lodge, salvia/sage, ruby/rouge, subservient/sergeant
- rage comes from Old French rage, from Late Latin rabia, a regularization of Classical Latin rabies.
- lobby and lodge are both from Late Latin laubia, a loanword from Frankish laubija, meaning "arbour" or "shelter".
- sage (the plant) comes directly from its Latin name salvia. (As a sidenote, the psychedelic salvia is one of many salvia/sage species and is native to Mexico).
- rouge is from Latin rubeus ("red"), while ruby is from Latin rubinus. This means that while ruby and rouge are closely related, they're not a neat doublet like the others.
- The latter half of (sub)servient and sergeant are both from Latin servientem meaning "serving".
Other pairs include sapient/sage (meaning wisdom, as in sage advice) and cavity/cage (the latter from Latin cavea > \*cavia).
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"Butterfly" is more literal than you think
Even without the common story that it's flutterby anagrammed, there have been many suggestions, and a lot are at least somewhat interesting.
One suggestion is that it's about the color of certain butterfly species, like the brimstone butterfly. Another suggestion says that it reflects a belief that butterflies excrete butter, as per Middle Dutch boterschijte, or a reflection of the belief that butterflies eat milk and butter like with the old German words Botterlicker, Milchdieb and Molkendieb.
As an aside, the German term Falter is from Proto Germanic fifaldo, probably from reduplication of PIE pel "feel, shake", which connects it with papilio of Latin and fiðrildi of Icelandic.