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.

2348: wright and macIntyre May 23, 2021

Many surnames derive from occupations, even though those terms are not really in use anymore, such as with 'Baxter'. This is so with the name 'Wright', from the Old English 'wryhta' meaning 'worker' specifically regarding wood. Hence this is where names like Shipwright and Cartwright come from as these are just compounds using that. The Norman French 'carpentier' eventually replaced this, but in some parts of Scotland the word is still used for tradesmen and they have a surname 'MacIntyre', literally 'son of a wright' from 'saoir' (carpenter).

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'.

2346: barcelona May 21, 2021

The name of the city 'Barcelona' originally was 'Baŕkeno', as has been attested on ancient coins and found in Ancient Greek and Latin. Where this name comes from however is slightly more contentious. One theory holds that this name comes from the Carthaginian general Hamilcar Barca who lived in Iberia when parts of it were under Carthaginian rule. That said, it's not clear that that area was itself a settlement of the Carthaginians. It is also not clear if its ancient name of Baŕkeno was really related to him, since there are also a number of other cities around the Mediterranean with similar names, like Barca in Libya related to 'Benghazi'.

2343: carthage May 18, 2021

Carthage, the capital or the Carthaginian Empire and now the city of Tunis, is known in Arabic as قرطاج (Qarṭāj). The Carthaginians were a Phoenician people who spoke a Semitic language, so it might sound obvious that Arabic would use this, but actually it is a loan word from French replacing an earlier 'Cartagena' which was from Latin. That said, the ancient city was known as qrt-ḥdšt ('new city') in reference to the older 'Tyre'.

2342: guy & gai May 17, 2021

There is a Hebrew name גיא‎ (gai) but this is unrelated to the English name 'Guy'. For one thing, the Hebrew name is not Biblical as one might expect with English names originating in Hebrew, but also they mean totally different things, with גיא‎ meaning 'raven'. 'Guy' is actually from the same root as 'Guido' or the Old German 'Wido' which means 'wood' though others trace this back further to a root meaning 'guide' related to the English 'wit' and 'witness' as it relates to seeing. It is also through this that the saint Saint Vitus is also known as Saint Guy. He was from Sicily, and while Guido is associated with Italians in America, the name and its variations are found throughout Europe.

2341: shavuous May 16, 2021

The holiday of Shavuos (associated in Christian theology as 'Pentecost'), one of the major Jewish holidays, goes by many names in the Bible is first mentioned as חג הקציר (Chag haKatzir) literally 'holiday of the reaping' as it is based around a grain harvest festival followed shortly after with the name used today חג השבועות (Chag haShavuos) meaning "holiday of the weeks" since it is measured by 7 weeks after the second day of Pesach. This term is also used more often in the Bible. Later after that though there is יום הבכורים (Yom haBikkurim) which is often translated as 'First Fruits' but this word is used for any first-born offspring including for sons and doesn't relate to 'fruit' per se. Outside of the 5 Books also, it is referred to as עצרת‎ (Atzeres) meaning 'conclusion' as it is a conclusion of a 50-day counting process and זמן מתן תורתנו (Zman Matan Toraseinu) or 'Time of Giving of Our Torah' as this is the date for the revelation on Mount Sinai.

2337: get, nascent, and a word family of birth May 12, 2021

The words 'beget' and 'nascent' both relate to birth (as of course do a great many other words) but these can be proven to be related by a common root. The word 'get' is related to a root *ghend- meaning 'to take; to grab; to hold' is also related to *ǵenh₁- and *gene- both meaning 'to give birth' or 'produce' leading to the Latin gnāscor (hence 'nascent') and 'get' along with 'generate' and all its derivatives, also 'gene', 'genealogy', 'pregnant', ‘beget‘, 'kind', 'naive', 'indigenous', 'gonad', and so many more.

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.

2331: narwhal May 6, 2021

The word 'narwhal' unsurprisingly has the root of 'whale', but the spelling comes from Old Norse. The name really originates with the Old Norse 'náhvalr' which likely metathesized from 'nár' meaning 'corpse' in reference to its white-gray skin. This root 'nár' is related to the English 'need' which connotes lacking, and historically meant a severe shortage or extreme poverty. This is related to Old English 'ne; neo' and the Old Irish 'naunae' (famine).

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.

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.

2325: nanny goat Apr 30, 2021

The term 'nanny goat' has been used to refer to a child's nurse and a domestic she-goat. It would be reasonable to assume that the term for the occupation existed either first or independently of the goat especially considering there were plenty of other terms from the 17th and 18th century that use 'nanny' in a variable sense but this is not true. The goat was an actual goat who would act as a sort of wet-nurse to a child who didn't have a mother, or whose mother couldn't or wouldn't lactate. When this term mostly replaced 'she-goat', 'billy goat' emerged to mostly replace 'he-goat'.

2324: manna Apr 29, 2021

The Biblical substance known as 'manna' in English is מָן (mon) in Hebrew, and I likewise in Arabic does not have this added [ə] at the end. This was definitely added in by the time of introduction of Greek to the region (which happened long before Arabic even existed) with the Greek μάννα (mánna) using this extra vowel and long [n]. This was probably not from Aramaic nor especially an Aramaic phrase though many early writings have claimed this origin for the word and particularly the added extra syllable from Greek.

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.

2322: coconut Apr 27, 2021

Coconuts have nothing to do with not cocoa etymologically*, but does have to do with skulls. In Spanish and Portuguese, 'coco' means 'grinning face', 'grimacing face', or alternatively 'skull'. This is in reference to the three depressions on the outside of a coconut which were said to resemble the face of a person.

* 'Cocoa' was originally 'cacao' but the spelling was influenced from 'coco-'.

2321: cormorants & corvids Apr 26, 2021

Cormorants are not corvids, and yet the name for this bird comes from the Latin 'corvus marinus' meaning 'sea raven'. 'Corvus' led to the word 'corvid' denoting the family of crows, ravens, jays, and so on, but this is not the only linguistic similarity to taxonomically distant birds. For one thing, 'cormorant' as an adjective is a synonym of 'ravenous' which of course comes from 'raven' as both birds are known for eating a lot, voraciously.

'Corvus' (Latin for 'raven') led to the word 'corvid' denoting the family of crows, ravens, jays, and so on, but is not related to 'crow' directly, despite any semantic and phonetic similarities. That said, it is believed that the names for both crows and ravens are both ultimately from onomatopoeias based off the calls they make.

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.

2318: italy Apr 22, 2021

The Italian nation is a fairly young one by European standards, but its name goes very far back. Originally it was from the Oscan language 𐌅𐌝𐌕𐌄𐌋𐌉𐌞 (víteliú) meaning "land of bulls". Oscan is an extinct language from the Italian peninsula, but this is assumed to be related with the Latin word 'vitulus' meaning 'calf'. This name for Italy is originally just for the southern tip of the peninsulina.