2261: Yiddish Masculine for Feminine Hebrew Loanwords Feb 23, 2021
Yiddish, a Germanic language, contains many Hebrew words with Hebrew plural forms, though it does not treat these the same as in actual Hebrew. For instance, the Yiddish form for both שבת (Shabbos) i.e. 'sabbath' and טלית (tallis) '[prayer] shawl' use the masculine plural ending ־ים (-im) even though in Hebrew they both pluralize with the feminine ending ־ות (Modern -ot, or Yiddish -os). In truth, these actually are masculine, and just take usually-feminine endings due to phonological reasons and a little bit of chance. Thus there is the Yiddish שבתים (Shabbossim) but Hebrew שבתות (Shabbatot). Notably perhaps, שבת clearly shows up as masculine in the Bible but only in the singular.
שבת שבתון הוא לכם
"It [masc.] is a sabbath of complete rest for you all".
2260: stocks Feb 22, 2021
Stock markets these days might use some of the fastest computers out there, but the initial sense of the word 'stock' is directly related to trees with the Old English 'stoc' meaning 'trunk' or 'block'. Unsurprisingly too, it is related to the word 'stick'. Beyond that however, the connection between foliage and finance is unclear. It could be related to the idea of futures being an outgrowth or a stable foundation, being likened to branches though no one really knows. It could possibly be influenced by tally sticks used throughout the Ancient and Medieval world to keep records for taxes and other deals.
2259: mush Feb 21, 2021
Mush as an exclamation to motivate sled-dogs is obviously associated with the Far North, but is not from any Inuit Yupik language, probably. Generally the word is understood to come from French in the mid-19th century likely from an alteration of either 'marchez' or 'marchons', both being imperative forms of 'marcher' (advance; march). That said, it has also been influenced by Michif, which is a dominantly French language but with great influence from a number of various languages native to North America.
2258: Backronyms Feb 20, 2021
There are a number of words used today that are truly from acronyms, such as 'radar' ("radio detection and ranging") but there are many more that people believe to be from acronyms and aren't, like 'posh'. A term 'backronym' was coined to describe this phenomenon when people make an acronym out of a word which was not previously an acronym. This is sometimes used for folk etymology, but also for other reasons such as legal bills or organizations, such as the First Step Act which is technically an acronym for the otherwise quite awkward and cumbersome "Formerly Incarcerated Reenter Society Transformed Safely Transitioning Every Person Act".
Write a comment with any other folk etymology backronyms you may know.
2257: ...Doe, ...Roe & Other Official Pseudonyms Feb 19, 2021
A recent post discussed the way in which generic aliases are used for legal protection or for uncertainty in identity, such as John Doe in many English speaking countries. Along with this are other variants like Jane Doe for women, Johnny Doe and Janie Doe for children, and Baby Doe for infants. Indeed, there are many variations to the -oe family, like Richard Roe and Jane Roe, though only the feminine version is common these days. In investigations with lots of press attention, other first names have been used, like Cali Doe (1979), Princess Doe (1982), and Precious Doe (2001). Likewise, these have been used in the titles for US legal cases, such as the infamous Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton, for Norma McCorvey and Sandra Cano respectively. This pattern of using Doe and Roe has been in place since the Middle Ages in England to varying official capacities.
2256: Pro-, Far, Portable, and Porous Feb 18, 2021
'Fare', 'far', and 'ferry' are all related to each other and are obviously connected semantically (the sense of 'fare' also as money initially in reference to paying for travel) but the connection spans across many Indo-European languages. For instance, all the words related to 'pro-' and 'fore-' as a prefix, as well as other words like the Latin 'per' (through). Moreover, words like the Latin 'portare' (to carry) and Greek (peran) meaning 'pass through. Indeed, that root would as well connect this to the English 'pour' and by extension 'porous'. There are many more words in this family, but even here it goes to show that there is the possibility for far-reaching roots to develop into nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs and even prefixes at once.
2255: Hebrew Contronyms Feb 17, 2021
Hebrew has a causative form for verbs which effectively reverses the meaning of the word, so הוא לומד means 'he learns' and הוא מלמד means 'he teaches', from the same root. It also has a number of contronyms that don't need to change form at all. For instance ללכת usually means 'to go' and לבוא usually means 'to come' but in certain cases that can effectively switch, such as in בא השמש (literally: the sun is coming) referring to a Sunset.
2254: Time & Space in Preposition Feb 16, 2021
There is a strong correlation between a forward direction physically as well as in time; the reverse is true with a backwards direction and the past. There are some exceptions as with in Aymara, but otherwise this is a (near-)universal rule. In Indo-European languages, this manifests not only in prepositions and adverbs (e.g. 'ahead'; 'forward'; 'backward'; toward; behind), but in prefixes. Many are indeed related to those examples before such as in 'fore-' from Old English and ultimately related to 'fare' from 'faran' (to go), along with other prepositions now like the Latin and Greek 'pro-', found in English. 'Before' is also related, and can relate to both time and space. More on this at a later point.
2253: John Doe & Other Stand-In Names Feb 15, 2021
'John Doe' is the name given to men when there is not another name given for whatever reason for law enforcement in the US. More exist in the US for other purposes such as John Q. Public, and of course around the world similar names have been created. In Ancient Rome even the name was 'Numerius Negidius' for the defendant—a play on actual given names that comes to mean "I refuse to pay"—while 'Aulus Agerius', another pun-name from the verb 'agere' meaning 'to set in motion'. In some modern European countries another Latin one is used, but it isn't a pun; Nomen Nescio (n.n.) just means "I do not know the name". In religious Jewish contexts and sometimes secular Israeli ones, the name פלני אלמני (Ploni Almoni) is used as a stand-in, which is originally found in the Book of Ruth probably as a euphemism for Boaz. More on this at another point.
2253: Intro to Pinyin Feb 14, 2021
Pinyin is the official system for transliterating Mandarin Chinese using Latin letters, designed in the 1950's. The goal was to make the language easier to teach to those unfamiliar with the language at the beginning stages. That said, as with any writing system the sounds represented will not be exactly the same. In European languages this is of course still true such as the English Z [z] compared to the German Z [ts], but pinyin established relations between letters that are otherwise related traditionally, like
J [tɕ], Q [tɕʰ], and X [ɕ] or alternatively
Z [ts], C [tsʰ] (granted Z and C these are commonly related in Slavic languages). Overall, the way the spelling is approximated does not take from any single European language, but picks certain ones out individually.
The nuances in Mandarin Chinese are also sometimes difficult to discern to the Western ear, the system does allow for a general approximation of Chinese pronunciation, especially with vowels.
2252: nova Feb 13, 2021
Along with 'novel' and 'novice', the Latin 'novus' (feminine 'nova) meaning 'new' also led to a couple literally stellar words like 'nova' and by extension 'supernova'. This is from the phrase 'stella nova' (new star) because at least in the 16th century, the sudden expanding brightness of a nova was thought to be a new star. These were only distinguished from supernovae in the 1930's which was actually the phenomenon that occurred in the 1572 description that led to the coining of the term.
2251: boor & boer Feb 12, 2021
In the same way as 'villain' has only negative connotations today but once denoted peasant farmers, the same process occurred with the word 'boor' or also 'boorish'. Though perhaps not quite as evil, it is still is by no means positive, referring to an ill-mannered person. This word is also originally borrowed, here from the Dutch 'boer' meaning 'farmer', as in the South African Boers (e.g. "Boer Wars"). This root is actually fairly far reaching and led to other words like 'bower' (i.e. birdcage) or the Dutch 'buur' ('neighbor'), the -by suffix denoting habitation (e.g. Selby, Whitby).
2249: villain & villa Feb 10, 2021
The word 'villain' has been made popular especially in fiction, but as often happens with fiction, the truth—or in this case etymology—is made more exciting. The word in entered Middle English through the French 'vilein' from the same root as 'villa', the initial sense meaning 'rustic'. More specifically, the noun referred to a farmhand or peasant, but with that came negative connotations of being boorish, clownish, or even scoundrelly. Indeed, not only did this quite pejorative sense develop in English, but also in the Modern French 'vilain'.
2250: test Feb 11, 2021
While there are a number of words surprisingly related to 'testify' or 'testimony', 'test' is not one of them. This word actually for much of history both in English and the original Latin referred to a potsherd, or another small piece of pottery. The sense which it currently holds of an examination is relatively modern, deriving from the notion of checking molten metal in a mold, which eventually superseded the original sense of the word.
2248: scythe & sickle Feb 9, 2021
'Scythe' and 'sickle' are related semantically, but the etymological connection more distant than one might expect. The word 'sickle' in Old English was 'sicol' or 'siċel' while 'scythe' from the Old English 'sīþe; sīðe', though granted both are thought to come from the Proto-Indo-European '*sek-' meaning 'cut', and which would also relate both of these word to 'saw' (as in the tool). Indeed, the fact these are two separate words is not exclusive to English among Germanic languages, but many make no distinction. The -c- of 'scythe' came in with a perceived connection to 'scissor', but these words aren't related.
2247: testis & testifying Feb 8, 2021
There are a lot of etymologies related to genitalia, such as 'avocado', the word 'testis' (of which 'testicle is merely a diminutive) has perhaps a surprising origin. Ultimately it comes from a Latin word meaning 'witness', related to 'testimony; testament' and ultimately the word 'three' from *tréyes (three) as in a third party observer. The witness in this case is as a proof of one's virility. Lest this be considered an isolated example in history, consider also the translation of the Greek synonym derives from a word meaning 'one who is present'.
2246: ham & hambone Feb 7, 2021
Ham has been strongly associated with the theatre since the late 19th century. A couple of different phrases popular at the time such as 'ham-handed' (clumsy) and 'hamfatter' (low quality) were used generically, but these became connected with low-caliber actors and performances, especially with regard to minstrel shows. This led to the sense of 'ham' or 'hammy' today as 'overacting' or just generally exaggerated, also found in the phrase 'going ham (on...)'. While this would often connote anything done in an amateur way, the term 'hambone' meaning 'inferior actor' is a remnant of this, and is still associated as a description of often exaggerated aspects of black culture.
2245: sneeze Feb 6, 2021
There is an Proto-Indo-European root *snu- that has led to a number of semantically related words including just in English ‘nose’, ‘snot’, and ‘snout’. In that, ‘sneeze’ should not be included, though its association would be obvious on first glance. Consider that the word in Middle English was ‘fnese’ from the earlier Old English ‘fnēosan’, related to a number of other Germanic words like the Dutch ‘fniezen’. Many sources will say this change over time is due to a misprint, but people don’t often cause change of common words in their own language for this sort of thing, and the change is historically attested from [f] to [s] in other words too, including ‘snore’ with all word-initial [fn] falling out of use by the 15th century. That said, once [fn] had been lost, it could certainly have been influenced both by other semantically related word (even if not etymologically related) and indeed spelling.
2244: turban and tulip Feb 5, 2021
The words 'turban' and 'tulip are related, loaned to European languages through Ottoman Turkish دلبند (tülbent), but initially the word was from Persian دلبند (dolband). These two English words are clearly related in shape‚ hence the original meaning in Persian, but not so clearly in phonology. In Italian, the word for 'tulip' in 'tulipano' retaining the '-an' ending, but this was dropped in Germanic languages, being very similar to some of the most common suffixes. Likewise, it isn't exactly clear what caused the change of -l- to -r- in 'turban', but it likely happened in a even before it was borrowed into any Romance language.
2243: lobster, locusts, and spider Feb 4, 2021
Although they do have many legs, exoskeletons, antennae etc., lobsters are not insects. That said, there is believed to be a close etymological connection between that word and 'locust' insofar as it is thought to be a corruption of the Latin 'locusta' meaning both things. It also has an Old English suffix '-estre'—as with 'spinster' and 'gangster'—making this originally feminine. Others have connected this with the Old English lobbe/loppe meaning 'spider' along with the same suffix above. It's possible that both explanations are partly true, with the word 'lobbe' influencing by the current -B- in 'lobster' exists.