2583: Latin -ere Ending Jan 9, 2022
Rhoticism in Archaic Latin did not describe the mere pronunciation of the consonant of [r] in words as that term would be used in English, but rather the process of transforming [s] and [z] into [r]. This didn't happen in every case (1), but perhaps the most notable is in the '-ere' ending, and its derivative forms -āre, -ēre, and -īre. These were originally *-ezi in Proto-Italic, reconstructed as *-esi in Proto-Indo-European.
2582: tectonic, text, and architecture Jan 8, 2022
The word 'tectonic', relating to the structure of the Earth's crust, is probably from the German 'tektonisch' of broadly similar meaning, but that is from Latin tectonicus meaning 'of an architect'. This root, from the Greek τέκτων (téktōn) for 'carpenter' doesn't seem to have much to do with geology nor related English words like 'text' or 'technician', but but its association with buildings and structures, still seen clearly in the German 'architektonisch' and indeed English 'architecture'.
2581: Bougainville Jan 7, 2022
The island of Bougainville, now in a transitory period as it gains independence from Papua New Guinea, has a French name, but was never colonized by the French. It was first a German colony, then after WWI it was handed over to Australia before its invasion by Japan. Throughout this, it retained its French-derived name from the first European explorer there, Louis Antoine de Bougainville. In the native creole, this is Bogenvil, but in 1975 they also tried to gain independence under the name Republic of the North Solomons but yet again, it didn't change.
2580: compost Jan 6, 2022
Compost really should be called decompost. After all, the root 'compose' means 'to assemble; build up' and here it means exactly the opposite, insofar as it's decomposition. What might clarify things is the word 'compote', derived from a complicated arrangement of words and their associated meanings being borrowed back and forth between English and French meaning 'condiment'. In this sense, both related words describe a mixture of things into one, often amorphous creation.
2579: charm & oscine Jan 5, 2022
One might not think so by looking, but 'charm' and 'oscine' are related to each other. 'Oscine', which means 'related to a songbird', and while he prefix 'os-' is a mutation from 'ob-' (towards), the remaining '-cine/-cen' doesn't look that similar either. Both 'charm' [1] and 'obscen', here in its nominal form, are related to the Latin 'carmen' and come from the verb 'canere' (to sing). In Latin, '-cen' is tacked onto the ends of instruments as well to denote players thereof, such as 'lyricen' (lyrist) or 'tubicen' (tubaist; trumpetist).
2578: freelance Jan 4, 2022
'Freelance' now refers to work done across several companies by a person, rather than a fixed position. That said, people nowadays would almost never have any connection to lances, but the original sense denoted mercenaries, who presumably would have. That said, this was not from a medieval word, but is from around the 19th century at least, with many ascribing it to author Sir Walter Scott. The more general sense was taken on soon after.
2577: charm & charisma Jan 3, 2022
The words 'charm' and 'charisma' are not related, though this fact is often confused in particular because of how they are used for certain Biblical translations as it pertains to the Holy Spirit. 'Charisma' is from the Ancient Greek χᾰ́ρῐσμᾰ (khárisma) for 'grace; gift', ultimately from χαίρω (khaírō) meaning 'I am happy'. 'Charm' on the other hand, both as it relates to magic and to personality types comes from the Latin 'carmen' which meant both 'song' and 'incantation', or as it were 'chant' and 'enchant'. Both terms have been used for translating ideas of speaking in tongues or other trance-like experiences.
2576: disk and tisch Jan 2, 2022
Though dishes can be concave and tables usually not, it is the idea of flatness which links the two together. Words like 'disk', but also 'desk', 'dish', and the German 'Tisch' (table) are all from the Greek δίσκος (dískos). In its original form this meant 'disk' as we use it now, and hence the Greek athletic 'discus'. This root was adopted into a Proto-Germanic language via Latin, eventually becoming German 'Tisch', Dutch 'dis' for 'table'—though this last word is far less common than tafel (table) or berd (board)—and the English 'dish'. English took a different root for 'table', but the story is similar.
2575: spanspek Jan 1, 2022
Among the various words for cantaloupe melons, there is 'rockmelon' in New Zealand, 'sweet melon', and in South African 'spanspek'. This word has been subject to some folk etymology, with the story being that it is from the Afrikaans 'spaanse spek' (Spanish bacon) since an early governor of the Cape Colony had bacon with his breakfast and his Spanish wife had melon. This word predated the governor Sir Harry Smith by some time and was originally from another colony: Suriname. There, it was named due to its thick skin and its connection to the Spanish is not from one governess.
2575: cantaloupe Dec 31, 2021
It is normal for things to be named from where they are from, but this is more complicated in the case of the cantaloupe. Cantaloupe melons, which are the same species as honeydew melons, are from the somewhere between South Asia and Africa, but are named for a place in Italy near Rome. Cantalupo is actually the name of a former Papal summer estate, and while it is not where they were first grown, this is where they were first grown when brought to Europe.
2574: honeydew Dec 30, 2021
Though the name 'honeydew' applies to a melon, the term in its generic form is more literal description of an insect-secretion deposited on plants, which is sweet and sticky. This term is due to the supposed dew being believed to have fallen from the sky, and even being likened the Biblical manna or otherwise ambrosia. This was then associated with the flesh of the melon.
2573: chutzpa Dec 29, 2021
The English word 'chutzpah' is from Hebrew via Yiddish meant, 'insolence' or 'audacity', but took on meaning more of 'grit' or 'moxie' as time went on. This is not entirely always negative, but does connote a strong sense of arrogance. Meanwhile, the Arabic cognate حصافة (ḥaṣāfah) means really the exact opposite with 'strong judgement'.
2572: milk Dec 28, 2021
The English words 'milk' and 'lactose' obviously have related meanings, but moreover they share a common root. There is a clear set of relationships across Germanic languages for milky words like Milch (German), melk (Dutch/Afrikaans), as well as in Slavic languages молоко (moloko) in Russian, or mleko/mlijeko (Serbo-Croatian/Slovenian). Conversely, across Romance languages this is less clearly related with French 'lait', Spanish 'leche', and Italian 'latte' to the Ancient Greek γάλακτος (gálaktos) from γάλα (gála), but each of these comes from the same Proto-Indo-European root.
2571: galaxy & milky way Dec 27, 2021
This galaxy is referred to as the Milky Way, but really it should not be so generic. The Ancient Greek γάλακτος gálaktos, from γάλα (gála), means 'milk'. This was used in Medieval times to refer to our galaxy only, due to the hazy, white band of light as seen in the night sky without other star-gazing devices. This was then applied to all galaxies, but that name wouldn't make much sense to describe other places.
2570: Empathy: A False Friend Dec 26, 2021
English has two words, 'empathy' and 'sympathy', that clearly share a root and have similar meaning. The Greek '-πάθεια' ending means 'suffering'—in this case describing one's ability to understand another's pain—but in Greek εμπάθεια (empátheia) means 'malice'. A more literal translation of the Greek, though lacking the necessary negative connotation, could be 'passion', but would not be a desired quality. The reason behind this apparent division is that the English version was chosen as a deliberate if imperfect attempt to translate the German 'Einfühlung', rather than being trying to capture the Greek meaning.
2569: Greek Re-Borrowing 'Cinema' Dec 25, 2021
While English has a number of regional words for movie theater, including 'cinema', and this word has permeated many other languages. Originally from Greek κίνημα (kínima) meaning 'movement' and the same root as 'kinetic' led to the German 'Kino' (from 'Kinematograph') via the French 'cinéma(tographe)'. This was the later reborrowed into Greek σινεμά (sinemá) with that same meaning.
2568: Much vs. Mucho Dec 24, 2021
Despite the obvious similarities in form and meaning, it would be wrong to assume that 'much' and the Spanish 'mucho' are unrelated. 'Mucho' is from the Latin 'multus' and while at first glance it might not seem so close, the Portuguese cognate 'muito' provides some context. The English 'much' on the other hand is from the Germanic *mikilaz (great; much), like the Old English 'michel'. The Middle English 'muchel' retained the [l] but this was eventually lost. It is related to the Spanish 'maño', no longer in use, meaning 'big'.
2567: fiance & betrothed Dec 23, 2021
Of descriptive titles for a person who is engaged, the most common include 'fiancé(e)' and 'betrothed'. Both of these, in fact have the same etymological basis even though they are from different languages. 'Fiancé(e)' is from French, though originally the root is with the Latin 'fidere' (related to 'fides') meaning 'to trust', or as a noun 'truth'. This is the same root as the English 'fidelity' as well as 'fealty' and 'fiat', which also connect the idea of 'trust' to agreements. 'Betroth' (or indeed 'troth') is from an old and now out-of-use form of 'truth', with 'troth' also having another sense of 'agreement' or 'pledge'. Unlike 'betroth/ed', English did not also take the verbal form of 'fiancé(e)' from French, which is 'fiancer', and so must use another word 'engaged'.
2566: Eastern Iranian Peoples to the West Dec 22, 2021
Although tens of millions of people speak Iranian languages like Farsi, or Pashto which is an Eastern Iranian language, far to the west of that is Ossetia where a Northeastern Iranian language is spoken between Georgia and Russia. In fact, a number of groups of related groups moved over, some even further such as the Jász in central Hungary, and the Alans who ended up in Spain and North Africa with the fall of the Romans. Now the Ossetians are the largest of these groups, each of whom are or were surrounded by unrelated languages and peoples, from Iranian groups settled to the east of those heartlands.
2565: Guinea-Bissau Dec 21, 2021
There are a number of places named for 'Guinea', a historical region of Africa. Among those, Guinea Bissau is notable because 'Bissau' is not an adjective in the same way as found with 'Equatorial Guinea'. Rather, Bissau is the capital and was named from this after formerly being 'Portuguese Guinea' because the nonspecific 'Guinea' was already taken, having itself once been 'French Guinea'.