3 ms·
The etymology of words and phrases can be very interesting IMO. One of my favourites is the origin of the word 'school': https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/School
by ZenoArrow 9y ago
The etymology of words and phrases can be very interesting IMO. One of my favourites is the origin of the word 'school':
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/School https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/School
"The word school derives from Greek σχολή (scholē), originally meaning "leisure" and also "that in which leisure is employed"".
- pcrh 9y agoIn the same vein, one of my favorite etymologies is the origin of the word "pedant": "derived from Greek παιδαγωγός, paidagōgós, παιδ- "child" + ἀγειν "to lead", which originally referred to a slave who escorted children to and from school" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedant https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedant
- flukus 9y agoA darker one I heard recently is "boondocks", it's a Tagalog/Philipino word that came into English to basically mean everywhere outside the US concentration camps in the Philippines. http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=boondocks http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=boondocks
- tinyrick2 9y agoI am also interested in etymology. For those who don't know you can type in "define xxx" on Google and get the etymology tree for word/phrase xxx. It is remarkable how easy it is to find out an English word's etymology, which is very hard if not impossible in most other languages.
- dingaling 9y agoCNTRL have a decent website for etymology of French words: http://www.cnrtl.fr/etymologie/h%C3%B4pital http://www.cnrtl.fr/etymologie/h%C3%B4pital En français, naturallement!