Etymology facts about 10 English words that will blow your mind
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Most people learn new words throughout their lives and simply add them to their vocabulary. Not us language nerds, though — we like to analyze, dissect, and question. Discovering a new fact about the history of a word (also called: etymology) is like finding a little treasure and a new opportunity to show that editors don’t just ‘erase misspellings’.
What is etymology?
Etymology is a linguistic science that studies the origin of words and their historical development in relation to other languages. And since we’re at it: The word etymology derives from the Greek word etumos, which means true. Etumologia studied the true meaning of words.
And if you’re not yet bored, keep reading. We have some fascinating facts about English words that you probably didn’t know about!
1. Blacklist vs. whitelist
The idea for this article came about when I read this announcement about the software development platform Github renaming any words associated with slavery, such as ‘master’. Also, the words blacklist and whitelist will be renamed, and after a discussion with my colleagues, it turned out that none of us had thought about the origin of these words.
While a blacklist has been used from the 1880s on by employers to refer to workers who were considered troublesome (usually for union activity), individuals on a whitelist are given access to a particular privilege or are simply considered to be trustworthy.
2. Goodbye
Do you also think that “goodbye” is just another greeting like “good morning” or “good night”? Well, that’s what people assumed when they heard the phrase “God be with ye” in the 1500s. Because of this misunderstanding, the term slowly evolved into ‘goodbye’.
3. Avocado
They’re delicious, beautifully shaped, and associated with guacamole. Well, maybe not any longer. The origin of “avocado” is the Aztec word ‘ahuacatl’, which means testicle. It’s not only that the shape that was associated with the male genitalia, but also that the fruit was believed to be an aphrodisiac. Let that sink in when you devour your next avocado toast! ;-)
4. Clue
The word ‘clue’ derives from the Germanic ‘clew’, meaning a ball of thread or yarn. According to Greek mythology, Theseus unraveled a ‘clew’ when entering a Labyrinth to kill a minotaur (a half-man, half-bull), so he could find his way back. Next time you see your children watch Blue’s Clues, you can interrupt their fun with some fascinating etymology facts.
5. Robot
‘Robot’ is derived from the Czech word ‘robota’, meaning ‘forced labor’ and first occurred in the 1920 play ‘R.U.R.’ (‘Rossum’s Universal Robots’), by Karel Capek. Does anyone else feel bad for robots now?
6. Disaster
Many European languages use a version of the word ‘disaster’, which has Greek origins (Italian: disastro, French: désastre). The prefix dis- and aster (“astron” meaning “star”) is interpreted as a bad star, or an ill-starred event. Fascinated with astronomy and the cosmos, the ancient Greeks believed in the influence of celestial bodies on their lives. Thus, a disaster was an unfavorable alignment of the planets resulting in a misfortune.
7. Handicap
The word ‘handicap’ has its origins from the 17th Century English trading game ‘hand-in-cap’:
‘a game whereby two bettors would engage a neutral umpire to determine the odds in an unequal contest. The bettors would put their hands holding forfeit money into a hat or cap. The umpire would announce the odds and the bettors would withdraw their hands — hands full meaning that they accepted the odds and the bet was on, hands empty meaning they did not accept the bet and were willing to forfeit the money. If one forfeited, then the money went to the other. If both agreed either on forfeiting or going ahead with the wager, then the umpire kept the money as payment.’
Over time, the name became ‘handicap’ and was used to refer to any kind of equalization or balancing of a contest or game. It is still used in golf and horse racing, where a handicap defines the umpire’s instruction to add more weight to a horse so that it runs equally to its competitors. This resulted in the association of being burdened or put at a disadvantage, and in the early 20th century, the word handicap started being used to describe people with a disability.
8. Salary
Imagine it’s payday, and instead of getting a paycheck, your boss just unloads a truck of salt at your front door. In ancient Greece and Rome, salt was referred to as white gold and used as a method of payment.
Even in the Egyptian Empire, laborers were paid with salt that they could use to preserve their food. The Roman Empire then continued to use this form of payment and it took on the name ‘salary’.
9. Cappuccino
‘Cappuccino’: delicious espresso with steamed milk foam, consumed strictly before 11:00 am by Italians. If you order multiple of them, don’t put your foot in your mouth and say ‘cappuccinos’ — Italians get just as upset as they do about pineapple on pizza. The correct plural is ‘cappuccini’.
The word stems from ‘cappuccio’, which means ‘hood’ in Italian. The brown hoods of the Capuchin Monks reminded of the color of a good cappuccino, which gave the beverage its name!
In Vienna, this was translated to ‘Kapuzinerkaffee’, which you can still order in some cafes today.
10. Personality
The word ‘personality’ has its origins in the Latin word ‘persona’ (mask), where it originally referred to a theatrical mask.
In the spacious theaters of Ancient Rome, it was difficult for spectators to see the actors’ facial expressions or hear their words. To make sure the audience could hear the actors, they used masks with megaphone-like mouthpieces called ‘personae’, derived from per, “through” and sonare, ‘sound.’
Over the years, the word ‘persona’ developed from a character in a play into a person, a general word for a human being.
