Category: Word Trivia

naked

gymnasium – A school where Greek youths were given athletic training while naked (gymnos). More…

hare, rabbit, jackrabbit – Hares live in the open and bear young that have fur at birth, while rabbits live in burrows and bear young that are naked at birth; jackrabbits are hares, not rabbits. More…

stark naked – A corruption of start naked, from Anglo-Saxon steort, “tail” —as it described being naked to the tail. More…

stag – To go in stag meant to “go naked,” which influenced the later “stag party.” More…

sack

sachet – Etymologically, a “little sack”—a small packet of perfumed matter. More…

cul-de-sac – Literally French for “bottom of a sack,” it also means “situation from which there is no escape”; it can be pluralized as cul-de-sacs or culs-de-sac. More…

gunny – From Sanskrit goni, “sack,” it is the material used for sacks, made from jute or sunn-hemp. More…

haversack, knapsack, rucksack – Haversack is from German Haber, “oats,” and Sack, “bag, sack”; knapsack is from German knapper, “to bite (food)” and zak, “sack”; rucksack comes from German Rucken, “back,” and sack. More…

please

amuse-bouche, amuse-guele – Amuse-bouche and amuse-guele both mean literally “something to please the mouth,” and both refer to an appetizer or pre-meal tidbit. More…

like – Comes from Germanic likam, “appearance, body, form”; the verb came from likojam, which, as like, originally meant “please.” More…

love – From Old English lufu, connected with Sanskrit lubh, “to desire,” and Latin lubere, “to please.” More…

please – Descends from Latin placere, “please.” More…

servants

livery – A company’s distinctive color scheme or emblem on vehicles is called the livery; livery first referred to the dispensing of clothes, food, or provisions to servants. More…

gardyloo – A warning cry derived from French gare de l’eau, “beware of the water”—referring to the water and slops that were once thrown by servants from higher stories of a building onto the street. More…

servants’ quarters – In Victorian days, they were usually referred to as below stairs; above stairs was the realm of the family. More…

family – First referred to the servants of a household and then to both the servants and the descendants of a common ancestor. It comes from Latin familia, “household; household servants,” which came from another Latin term, famulus, “servant.” It was not until 1667 that the term was used specifically for parents and their children. More…

sailing

aloof – Comes from sailing, in which ships keep clear of coastal rocks by holding the vessel “luff”—”to the windward”; so, to hold “a-luff” means to “keep clear.” More…

jibe – Meaning “be compatible, consistent,” it may come from the earlier jibe, “to shift a sail from side to side while sailing in the wind.” More…

plain sailing – Probably comes from plane sailing, a way of determining a ship’s position based on its moving on a plane (flat surface). More…

aback – Originated in sailing, as a ship was taken aback when a strong gust of wind suddenly blew the sails back against the mast, causing the ship to stop momentarily. More…

herd

cutting horse – One trained to cut cattle out of a herd. More…

pointer, point man – A pointer or point man was first a cowboy riding at the front of a herd of cattle. More…

egregious – First meant “remarkably good” and “standing out or apart from the flock or herd; eminent”; its later derogatory sense is probably an ironical use. More…

herd – As a verb, it first meant “keep safe, shelter.” More…

shout

hue and cry – Somewhat redundant, as hue means “shout, make an outcry”; hue and cry was a medieval law requiring that all citizens within earshot give chase to a fleeing criminal. More…

jubilate – From a Latin word meaning “shout for joy.” More…

slogan – From Scottish-Gaelic slaugh, “army,” and gairm, “shout”—since the first slogans were actually battle cries. More…

claim – The etymological notion behind claim is “calling out,” from Latin clamare, “cry out, shout.” More…