2359: fellow Jun 3, 2021
The word 'fellow' has both casual and general connotations as would 'guy' but can also convey some level of union and equality, not to mention its use for academia and professional endeavors. It is from the original notion of a peer in a union that the other meanings arise. In fact, the original meaning was of a partnership but specifically one of joint properties from the Germanic word 'félag’ via Old Norse. This itself is from 'fé' (livestock) and 'lag' (cohabitation; guild) and these roots also led to 'fee' and 'law' eventually, the latter initially just the plural form of 'lag'.
2358: pollen Jun 2, 2021
The word 'pollen' is part of plant reproduction, but that's not exactly the original sense of the root. In Latin, this meant 'flour' to refer to its fine powdery quality. Even when modern taxonomic categories came into effect in the Modern Age, Linnaeus kept the term and used it to describe spores. From then on it the word stuck in an official capacity.
2354: gamut May 29, 2021
'Gamut' referring to the whole range of something originates with music. In fact, this really began as a phrase, from the medieval Latin 'gamma ut' with that being the lowest note on a G scale. This is from the Greek Γ (gamma) originally denoting the last a medieval scale in a hexachord—gamma appears 6th in Greek's alphabet—which was associated with the sound 'ut' in solfège i.e. ut, re, mi, fa.... Eventually this was applied to other scales with more notes and then ranges of anything.
2351: crane & grouse May 26, 2021
The word for a crane in Latin is ‘grus’. In fact, despite the apparent differences these names for the lanky bird are actually cognates, sharing an older root found in many indo-european languages. One might think that the bird known as ‘grouse’—a lot more similar in sound—would be related but it probably has no connection to the Latin ‘grus’. Before it went by its modern name, the grouse was called a 'moorhen', though now this term usually applies to a small, black water-fowl related to the coot.
2349: Aluminum vs. Aluminium May 24, 2021
It's well known that the North American spelling and pronunciation of 'aluminum' differs from that of Britain's 'aluminium', but whether to use -i- or not may not really be the most interesting part of this spelling: it was originally just 'alumium' with no -n-. This is because the word is from Latin 'alumen', a name not for the metal but for the chemical compound known in English as 'alum' (not directly etymologically related) and into the 19th century it was the English, not Latin, where the name was taken from for a resultant 'alumium'.
The difference between the North American and British spellings came after the name was changed to keep with the convention of using Latin roots. For some time the -um and -ium were used interchangeably even by the same individuals, but the British scientific opinion was that it didn't appear to sound as classical, but in America -ium was at first actually more popular anyway. Both of these terms had variant levels of popularities in the respective regions but the current situation was more or less established by the turn of the 20th century.
2347: philanthropy vs. philandery May 22, 2021
Both 'philanthropy' and 'philandery' are doublets, coming from the very same Greek root of φίλ- (phil-) for 'love (of)' and while the latter halves may differ, the Greek ἄνθρωπος (anthropos) and ἀνήρ (andros) are understood to be variants cases of the word meaning 'man'. These had fairly similar meanings—certainly compared to today—in the past, but starting in the 18th century the term (or really name) was used for a lover in drama, poetry etc. with the word eventually meaning basically 'a flirt'. In the 20th century, the word gained even more serious way denoting a man with more serious romantic involvement with women than just flirting, with ''philanthropy' retaining its sense of 'charity'.
2339: top-notch May 14, 2021
Origins of phrases are notoriously hard to gauge and are often subject to a number of rival folk-etymologies. The phrase 'top-notch' for instance has been used at least since the mid-19th century but where it comes from is not entirely clear. While the association between 'top' and 'best' is long-established, also seen in 'top-shelf' which may have influenced it, it is not clear what is the notch in question. Some have connected this to mountaineering both in the sense of the mountain itself (more likely) or in the notching to denote the difficulty of the trail (less likely). Others have pointed to phrases like "being knocked down a peg" and other sporting references with the idea that this comes from measuring sticks or even bow-strings, but these have their own problems, especially the archery idea which traced the origin back too far reasonably. While it may have been influenced by lots of factors (probably hiking mostly) phrases and slang is notoriously hard to trace and will be fraught with fiction.
2338: Natural Rights vs. Human Rights May 13, 2021
There has been a decline in the use of the phrase 'natural rights' in favor of the phrase 'human rights'. This switch in preference really only occured around the year 2000 in literature though in common parlance may have been earlier. 'Natural rights' as a concept with slight variance in language occured in Greek and Roman philosophy as something innate and inalienable which all humanity have. This phrasing however has long had a theological understanding with the idea of people having been "endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights" (US Declaration of Independence). This constitutes one way in which the notion of natural- and human rights differ, though some state the difference with natural rights being negatively defined (things not to be infringed upon) and human rights positively (things requisite to be given freely). In common use this positive-negative distinction is not always made however.
2336: Original Description of Double Negatives May 11, 2021
There is a common understanding of double negatives in Standard English resulting in a positive. This is not nearly as simple as the case in reality, but that's because the initial analysis of the phenomenon is often misunderstood. When Bishop Robert Lowth described this in 1762, he was discussing words to convey one's point of view, such as saying
"I don't disagree" to imply either:
• "I certainly agree"
• "I agree"
• "I sort of agree"
• "I don't understand your point of view" / "I have no opinion"
He called these 'weasel words' because one might weasel out of a situation with this linguistic vaguery around a double negative, but he did not mean this as a rule for the whole language.
2334: Holy Grail May 9, 2021
There are lots of words for types of drinking vessels (cup; mug; glass; clalace; goblet; flute, etc.) but 'grail' really only appears in the context of the Holy Grail. The word 'grail' itself does not have any particular religiously significant etymology, coming from the Medieval Latin 'gradalis' meaning 'dish' and possible related to the word 'crater' though this is less certain. In Middle English the phrase 'Holy Grail' was 'seint gral' or 'sangreal' (same root as 'saint' which just means 'holy') and this is often contrasted with 'sang real' meaning 'royal blood'. This phrase definitely isn't the origin, but certainly could have influenced the word.
2333: flange May 8, 2021
A group of monkeys is traditionally called a 'congress' (in more ways than one) but another word has been growing in popularity. In a British comedy sketch with Rowan Atkinson the word 'flange' was used as a term for a group of baboons and since then the word has stuck. The term is now used both informally but even in academic work it has cropped up as a way to describe groups of monkeys.
2332: Double Negatives for A.I. May 7, 2021
The phrase 'double negative' is pretty vague considering how negatives really operate, and this fact might be increasingly used as a test to see what's a human and what's a computer. For instance, "I ain't got no satisfaction" is a perfectly legitimate, albeit informal phrase which contains two negatives with a negative and emphatic meaning. Moreover, "it's not unusual to be loved by anyone" is also a double negative but with a basically neutral connotation because this is not the same meaning as "it is usual". Indeed it was a description of this structure which led to the understanding of a rule of two negatives in English establishing a positive if vaguer meaning. Likewise, it has been observed that phrases like "there isn't no other way" can be interpreted as either positive or negative depending on tone and other context. This is still and likely will always be difficult for a computer to intuit, and may be used as a tool for discerning man or machine.
2330: prehensile & get (*ghend-) May 5, 2021
The word 'prehensile' is from the Latin 'prehēnsus' (ultimately from prehendō) meaning 'to grab' denotes something with gripping capabilities such as in the phrase 'prehensile tail'. It is also from the same root that we get 'apprehend' and 'apprehensive' the latter of which lost its physical meaning and now is used only in the mental sense. Further back though, the root *ghend- has led to all sorts of words, including but not limited to these just in English: get; guess; depredation; and enterprize. Moreover, some less obvious ones include: comprehensive; comprise; and reprehend.
2327: 'To Pit Against' & 'Cockpit' May 2, 2021
Although in many places cock-fighting is illegal now, in medieval Europe one might find them in any small town even. This had led to a number of phrases in English, including the phrase "to be pitted (up) against", but also the more innocuous term 'cockpit'. This was eventually used for nautical purposes, and later for cars and planes, with the original sense being a tight, enclosed space.
2326: gymnasium #2 May 1, 2021
The word 'gymnasium' in English is usually refers to a place where exercise is done, and in German it is the name for a type of a lower school usually at a high academic standard, but in Greek γυμνός (gumnós) means 'naked'. Indeed this word belongs to a larger family of European words descended from the Proto-Indo-European root *nogw- meaning 'naked'. In Ancient Greece, it was a standard community feature to have an open-air area for sports, all done in the nude, but eventually this developed into a place of training the body and even the mind, hence the English and German senses.
2323: auspice, auspicious, & augur Apr 28, 2021
'Auspice' on its own is a legitimate albeit rare word, but referring to a prophetic object or sign, but in the phrase "under the auspices of..." meaning "with the support and oversight of..." it's fairly common. It is in the first way, unsurprisingly that we see its semantic relation to the word 'auspicious', meaning 'sign of success'. Originally though, rather than the general meaning those have now, this was particular to divination, and is related to the word 'augur' which initially was an actual Roman officer whose job was as a diviner.
2321: Drunk-Driving vs. Drink-Driving Apr 25, 2021
In the US, driving under the influence (DUI) of alcohol is often referred to as 'drunk-driving' while in the UK and Australia it is 'drink-driving'. While the phrases themselves are somewhat random of course, one theory on the difference is that of different connotations to 'drunk', with consideration to the fact that something can be considered DUI without necessarily being as drunk as one might associate with that word, and could include someone who appears more clear-headed. Either way these are not usual for laws and other official purposes and if the aforementioned theory is true, 'drunk-driving' can't be so easily changed now that has embedded itself in the cultural lexicon.
2320: mortar Apr 24, 2021
'Mortar' exists in the context of "mortar and pestle", "brick and mortar", and "mortar cannon" which all have fairly different meanings. This is because of the original French 'mortier' meaning both 'mixed cement/concrete' and 'a bowl to mix cement' which led fairly clearly to two of the senses of this word mentioned above, with a mortar meaning both a bowl for a mixture and then a mixture itself, both for spices and obviously cement. In the case of the explosives, this is from the meaning as a bowl, describing the shape of a cannon barrel, even those these are more cylindrical than some ways, but at least it was to describe shorter cannons and in that way offers some clarity.
2314: Cat=Dog, Lamb, and Goat?—Wanderwort Apr 17, 2021
The word for 'dog' in Latin is 'canis' (hence English's 'canine') but the word for 'puppy' is 'catulus'. This also led to its own derivative word in English: 'cat'. This gets stranger however, with more distant relation to the Russian око́т (okót) meaning 'lamb', and Old Irish 'cadla' for 'goat'. Others go on still to connect this to the Arabic قِطّ (qiṭṭ) (i.e. 'cat) and other Semitic words to classify this root as a wanderwort across Indo-European, Uralic, and Semitic languages without one clear origin. The original idea seems to involve however young, often small animals, or sometimes more generally animal fertility.
2308: Nuns vs Sisters Apr 11, 2021
Christian nuns and sisters (in the ecclesiastical sense) may have more or less the same roles, they actually are different. Nuns take solemn vows while religious sisters take simple vows, one main difference of which is that sisters can own property and other capital. This means they are free to make endeavors in certain vocational areas like charity, education, and health. Nuns—the term for which comes from the Latin 'nonna': literally (female) monk—tend to live in the enclosure of an order and are not involved in those affairs.