2610: polecats Feb 6, 2022
Polecats and more related to dogs than cats, despite the name. The 'pole-' element at the beginning is not because of their pole-like weasel bodies, nor certainly ethnic poles. Rather, this is from the Middle French 'pole' meaning 'chicken', though it is not entirely clear why. The best theory is that this is what they eat. In Old English, they were known as 'folmart' literally 'foul marten' because of their bad smell. They also used to be known as a 'fitch'.
2609: Axolotls and Don Quixote Feb 5, 2022
The word 'axolotl', the name for a type of Mexican salamander, was adopted into English in the 18th century from the Nahuatl word 'atl' (water) and 'xolotl' (servant). This is fairly strange orthographically, as English tends to take spelling not from Nahuatl but from Spanish, such as in 'coyote' from 'coyotl' or 'chayote'—a type of tropical fruit—from the Nahuatl 'chayotli'. In Spanish, the name for the salamander is 'ajolote', but keep in mind also that Spanish used to use X in its orthography for the sound now represented with J, and 'axolotl' was adopted earlier than the other words. This is also why in English the book character is 'Don Quixote' but in Spanish it is 'Don Quijote'.
2608: Crib (Building) Feb 4, 2022
'Crib' usually refers to a baby's bed, especially one with slatted walls, but as MTV would immortalize, it can also refer to someone's house or crime den. In fact, the criminal sense is older than that of regular domesticity, and seems to have originated with the sense of a basket or pouch for keeping stored, stolen items, and then denoted the hideout. Certainly, other senses of this word relate to storage, like 'corn crib' or in Australia that this can refer to a lunchbox. Further, the sense of 'crib' as 'cheating', like 'crib sheet' probably comes from this.
2607: Golden Horde Feb 3, 2022
There was a reason for the naming of Black-, Red- and White Russia, only one of which survives now, but this is not the same reason for the Golden Horde. That name is disputed, but the English name for the self-titled Ulug Ulus ("Great State") either comes from a calque of the Russian Золотая Орда (Zolotája Orda) which was a reference to the color of the war-time tents of some of their troops, or alternatively was a reference to the tribute that the Slavs needed to pay. That said, the color-inspired names of the White- or Blue Horde as the name for the troops' left wing has been found in many languages and from different sources, with some evidence to believe the Mongols referred to them as well as the Blue Horde.
2606: True Blue Feb 2, 2022
The adjective 'true blue' now refers to a trustworthy and committed person, often with political connotations to national loyalty. This goes all the way back to the Medieval era with associations to both the monarchy and faith of the time. In some places this will have somewhat conservative connotations whereas elsewhere like Australia this phrase often reflects commitment to workers unions. In French, a similar phrase 'pure laine' exists meaning 'pure wool' or effectively 'genuine', but in Quebec this phrase is both politically or in some ways racially charged.
2605: Penguins are not Business Geese Feb 1, 2022
There is a rumor that goes around that the Chinese word for 'penguin' translates as 'business goose', but this is false. The idea is not so far often however, since the second character of this Mandarin word 企鹅 (qǐ'é) would in fact mean 'goose' (鹅). The initial character 企 is found in the word for business, that being 企业 (qǐyè), but that is a sort of compound itself. The first element of the word 企 has more of a meaning of 'upright'. In this way, if the word 企鹅 (qǐ'é) means anything (besides 'penguin' of course) it would be 'upright goose' or even 'tip-toe goose'.
2604: Answering a Negative Question: 3-Form Systems Jan 31, 2022
Now only a historical detail, English used to have a 4-form system for answering questions with 'yes', 'no', 'yea', & 'nay', but this is not the only way to set it up. German has a 3 form system, as do many Germanic languages with normal 'ja' (yes), 'nein' (no), but also the word 'doch' which responds contrarily to a negative question to clarify that is it isn't affirming the negative. For instance:
You didn’t go?
Doch, [in fact, I did]
Without such a feature, to answer 'yes' in English is ambiguous. In addition to Germanic languages, French has this with 'oui' (yes), non (no), and its third form 'si' (yes, contrary to the negative). This shares a root with the Spanish 'sí' (yes), which does not have the same nuance.
2603: Utility of Yea and Nay: 2- & 4-Form Systems Jan 30, 2022
Latin had a somewhat complicated way to answer questions, but English's manner used to be more thorough as well. English is now a 2 form system meaning that is has one affirmative 'yes' and a negative 'no'. It used to be a 4 form system with 'yea' and 'nay' as well. The difference is that 'yea' and 'nay' answer questions that were stated affirmatively (a.k.a. positively), while 'yes' and 'no' were for questions stated negatively
For example:
Did he go?
Yes, he went
Did he not go?
Nay, he did not go
Eventually, these were lost and are now considered to be dated, without common understanding in the difference of the usage.
2602: Echo Languages Jan 29, 2022
Latin famously doesn't have a word for 'yes', but this is not unique. Other Goidelic languages don’t have words for either 'yes' or 'no', and just repeat the verb of the question back. This would appear like
"Do you run every day"
"I run" [yes]
These are known as "echo languages". Finnish, and Chinese do this as well, as did Latvian until they got 'ja' from the Germans. Likewise, Romanian had this quality until it got the Slavic affirmative ‘da’. In addition to echoes, Latin would also employ lots of adverbs like 'sic', 'certe' (certainly), 'sane' (healthy), planē (plainly), or for negative responses, 'minime' (least).
2601: Patric(k) Jan 28, 2022
Patric(k) is a tradition Celtic & English name, associated especially in Ireland. It is not Celtic in fact but from 'Patricius' from Latin. This is was popularized by the saint, Saint Patrick though leading to its popularity in the British Isles, as opposed to elsewhere. This also led to the word 'patrician', which is true to the original meaning, denoting a noble family.
2600: Sulfur & Sulphur: Why the Difference Jan 27, 2021
British English spelling tends to represent the more traditional version, but not always. The 'PH' in 'sulphur' has no basis in English. Usually, a 'PH' to represent the [f] means that it was spelt with a φ (Phi) in Greek, but 'sulfur' is not from Greek. Moreover, the spelling in Latin or French where English adopted this spelling is also not with a 'PH'. This is where the American English spelling comes from, with the British spelling being a result of a later insert.
2599: cobbler vs cordwainer Jan 26, 2022
Despite the misconception, a cobbler is not the traditional term for a shoe-maker, but a shoe-fixer. The shoe-maker was actually referred to as a 'cordwainer'. Indeed, the fact that the shoes were, as it were, cobbled together, is why this name denotes the repair. This was considered less serious work, and did not only relate to shoes once, but to anything hastily crafted. That said, the origins of 'cobble' itself aren't entirely clear.
2598: Urchin & Hedgehog Jan 25, 2022
Sea urchins use an old word which by itself, would be obsolete. Likely, the word 'urchin' by itself would sooner conjure up images of poor Victorian children before it would a hedgehog, but that is what this once meant. The word is from the Old French dialect form 'irechon' from Latin 'ericius'. This led to Middle English 'yrchoun'. The spikes of a sea urchin give it this name, but hedgehogs have provided the name for military formations involving circles of outward facing spears just as well. It is unclear where the Victorian slang is from.
2597: Denny's Jan 24, 2022
While company names don't always have any particular source in reality, the story of Denny's is more specific. This was previously "Denny's Coffee Shop", that too being a name change as a way to distinguish from "Dan's Coffee Shop" located nearby before it was an international chain. Beforehand it was "Danny's Coffee Shop" but this too wasn't original. The original name was Danny's Donuts, but founded by no one named Danny: rather a Harold Butler & Richard Jezak who just thought the name was catchy.
2596: crab, crib, & carve Jan 23, 2022
The word 'crab' is ultimately traced back to the Proto-Indo-European *gerbʰ- meaning 'to twist; to scratch; to claw', but so are 'carve', 'crib', and 'crèche'. Much of this has to do with leading to varied understanding, such as 'crab' and 'crayfish’ from Proto-Germanic *krabbô (to crawl) as opposed to 'crib' from Proto-Germanic *kribjǭ (wickerwork, basket) from the sense of twisting & weaving material. This led to a sense of 'clump; group' and then 'crèche' was born. 'Carve' is from the sense of this word as scratching, and is related to the Old Prussian gīrbin (number) from the idea of tallying.
2595: crabapple Jan 22, 2022
Though crabapples are indeed a type of apple, they certainly don't have anything to do with crabs. This term never did in fact, and rather is from the Middle English 'crabbe' from an older Germanic root, which simply denoted any wild apple. This term, as mentioned, does now relate to a species in particular, but can still denote any wild or sour apple. Now, crab is applied to certain other names in order to indicate wild varieties of fruits.
2594: cancer & crabs Jan 21, 2022
Cancer is known to be related to crabs because of the zodiac symbol, but the relation is much deeper in fact. The word 'cancer', which now particularly associated with the disease, is because the enlarged veins around cancerous tumors were thought to look like the the legs of crabs. In Latin 'cancer' means 'crab', which itself is from Ancient Greek καρκίνος (karkínos) via metathesis. This is also where the word 'canker' is from, as well as 'chancre', both types of ulcers.
2593: Rochester Jan 20, 2022
A number of places around the world, especially in the Americas and Oceania, are named for other places in other parts of the globe. Rochester is the name of 2 cities in the state of New York and about 17 other places in the USA; there's one in Canada, and another in Australia. The namesake for all of these is, historically anyway, Rochester in Kent, England, but this no longer exists. It was absorbed into the city of Medway, and lost any status is might have had as a recognized town in the 1990's.
2592: Turkey Changes its Name | Jan 19, 2022
The nation of Turkey stated recently that they plan to officially change the name of the country to 'Turkiye' which is how it is written in Turkish, though without the umlaut for 'Türkiye'. This is not even the only country to change its official, English name in the last decade, as seen with Eswatini and Czechia, but it is certainly the biggest and most important. It may take some time to catch on, if ever, but if anything the term 'Persia' is more ingrained in the mind of an English speaker yet the efforts were successful in changing the name to 'Iran', and likewise with Siam to Thailand etc.. Many have questioned the timing as well, given the severity of the economic crisis going on there, as a way to divert media attention. Only time will tell if this will be widely used, but certainly for official purposes there will be a shift.
2593: Ç Jan 18, 2021
The letter Ç, known as C-cedilla, is used among many Turkic language along with some Romance languages like French & Portuguese. It is not, however, used for the language where this symbol originated: Spanish. Moreover, in other languages this represents the [s] sound, but in Old Spanish, this was /t͡s/ before /a/, /o/, and /u/, like a Z in German, but this is not how it was adopted later. Later by Early Modern Spanish, this represented a /θ/ or /s/ before those same letters but fell out of use altogether after. In Turkic languages however, this is usually for /t͡ʃ/ (like CH in English 'chew'), or [s] in French. A number of other languages took it on but usually in line with one of these.