286: once, twice, thrice Sep 20, 2015

The word 'once' comes from Middle English 'ones', which is the genitive of 'one'. 'Twice' comes from the late Old English word 'twiges', from the base of 'two' + -s (in the sense of pluralization). 'Thrice' is derived of the Middle English 'thries', coming from earlier 'thrie' which in turn comes from thrīga, a word which is related to the combination of 'three' and '-s'. All three of these words were later respelled in the 16th century with a '-ce' to denote the unvoiced consonantal sound. There is no other word that would fit this pattern, so English speakers must say, "four times", rather than anything else.

285: smintheus Sep 19, 2015

Many Greek gods had epithets. Apollo is the god of the Sun, but also identified with pestilence. Apollo was often referred to as 'Smintheus' derived from the 'Smintha', which is related to the word 'mouse'.

284: feasible Sep 18, 2015

'Feasible' does not mean "able to feas', as 'feas' is not even a word. This word came to Middle English through the French stem of 'faire', 'fais-' meaning 'to do'.

283: meander Sep 17, 2015

'Meander' has changed meaning over time. It came to English in the late 16th century as a noun, which is from Latin 'maeander', ultimately from Greek 'Maiandros', from the name of a river, which winds, seemingly aimlessly.

282: lo Sep 16, 2015

Some words don't have their own meanings, but are used for accentuation, such as 'confounded' and 'lo'. However these words used to mean something: 'lo' is a natural exclamation first recorded as 'lā' in Old English. This word was reinforced in Middle English by a shortened form of 'loke' meaning ‘look!’ (imperative). 'Confounded' also used to have a meaning that it doesn't have anymore. It comes from Middle English: from Old French 'confondre', and ultimately from the Latin 'confundere' which means ‘pour together, mix up’.

281: bemoan Sep 15, 2015

'Bemoan' is an uncommon word to find outside of literature or humor. It comes from the Old English word 'bemǣnan' meaning ‘complain, lament’. The change in the second half of the word was made during the 16th century due to association with moan, a word to which 'bemoan' is related.

279: jingo Sep 13, 2015

Usually, a between a word, and a phrase involving that word, the word came first, In the case of the noun, 'jingo', however, the phrase, 'by jingo', came first. It originated from late 17th century by jingo (and the noun sense) come from a popular song adopted by the people who supported sending the British fleet into Turkish waters to resist Russia in 1878. The phrase came from the chorus: “We don't want to fight, yet by Jingo! if we do, We've got the ships, we've got the men, and got the money too.”

280: stenography Sep 14, 2015

Is shorthand inherently narrow‽ Perhaps to the Greeks this was true. The word 'stenography' comes from the Greek word 'stenos' which means 'narrow' and 'graphy' meaning 'write'.

278: schedule Sep 12, 2015

The 'sch' in 'schedule might look Yiddish or German, but it is not either. This word comes from late Middle English but in the sense ‘scroll, explanatory note, or appendix’, a sense that only is used in legal documents today. This word originates from the Old French 'cedule', ultimately from late Latin 'schedula' which meant, ‘slip of paper’. The Latin word was diminutive of 'scheda', from the Greek word 'skhedē', which means ‘papyrus leaf’. Because the word has changed in meaning over time, this word only was commonly used outside of law and academia over the past hundred or so years.

277: read Sep 11, 2015

Of the 3 r's, reading, writing and arithmetic, only one actually begins with an 'r'. The word 'reading comes from Old English 'rǣdan', of Germanic origin; which is related to Dutch word 'raden' and the German 'raten' meaning ‘advise, guess.’ Early senses in Old English included ‘advise’ and ‘interpret' as in a riddle or dream

276: coo coo Sep 10, 2015

Someone who has a lot of coo coo clocks is either very German or very crazy. The word 'kook' is a word started in the 1960's to mean a crazy person, and comes from the word 'cuckoo'. Why birds inspire the idea of craziness is because insane people were thought to make the same ridiculous noises as the cuckoo bird. In this way, swirling your index finger around your ear to explain that someone is a loon is the same as a bird-call

275: school Sep 9, 2015

The noun 'school' has several meanings. It can be an institution of educational, and it can be a group of fish. Although the words are spelt the same now, they both have different etymologies. The intellectual sense of the word derives from the Old English word 'scōl, scolu', via Latin from Greek 'skholē' which means ‘leisure, philosophy, or place where lectures are given’, which was reinforced in Middle English by the Old French word for school, 'escole'. 'School in the sense of 'fish' comes from late Middle English: from Middle Low German and Middle Dutch 'schōle', and it is related to the English word, 'shoal'.

274: awkward Sep 8, 2015

From the 'wkw' in 'awkward', someone looking at this word might think that it is Germanic, or even Scandinavian. This word ultimately comes from Old Norse 'afugr' which means ‘turned the wrong way’ and the suffix, '-ward'. 'Awkward' derives from late Middle English, meaning ‘the wrong way around', or 'upside down’: from the dialectic use of the word 'awk', which means ‘backward, perverse, clumsy’. Though the 'wkw' might not look natively English, it was not always spelt this way for any reasons having to do with its adoption.

273: cold-turkey Sep 7, 2015

For phrases, it is often harder to hunt down the origins than it is for simple, single words. That is why there are a few theories about whence 'cold turkey' derives. One theory is that cold turkey is a food does not requires much effort to prepare, so "to quit like cold turkey" is to do so suddenly and lacking preparation. This would be similar to the phrase 'cold shoulder', as it originally was 'cold shoulder of mutton', which is something that poor people–people to whom one may have given the cold shoulder–ate. Another theory is that it evolved from the older (19th century) classic American saying “to talk turkey,” most likely from actual cold turkey, a simple, uncomplicated meal. To then "quit cold turkey" would be to quit in a direct and uncomplicated way.

271: team Sep 5, 2015

'Team' usually refers to sports, but this was not always the case. This word comes from Middle English, via Old English 'tēam' which means, 'offspring, or lineage' or in a sense that has survived, 'draft of animals', which is similar to the Old English word, 'to draw or pull', 'tēon'. Perhaps one of the only places where the other meaning is preserved is the television show, Family Feud, in which two families compete as teams.

272: gang Sep 6, 2015

A 'gang' now is often used to discuss an organized group of criminals. This word derives from the Old English word, 'gangan', which came from Old Norse 'gangr, ganga' which means ‘gait, course, going, or journey’. The original meaning changed later in Middle English to become ‘a way, passage,’ and then later ‘set of things or people that go together’.

270: shoo-in Sep 4, 2015

The term 'shoo-in' was originally a phrase used to say that a horse race was rigged, but in the 1930's it became used to denote anything that is certain to succeed, as originates from the simplification of the phrase, "sure thing".
Often people mistake the term, 'shoo-in' for the incorrect 'shoe-in'. The only time that might be acceptable is if you live in a shoe, such as the old nursery-rhyme:
"There was an old woman who lived in a shoe.
She had so many children, she didn't know what to do.
She gave them some broth without any bread;
And whipped them all soundly and put them to bed."

The idea for this was presented by John Stone

269: Dying Languages Sep 3, 2015

Many languages are very close to dying out all over the world. There are different factors that have led to this happening. With a more global economy, and even social contact, results in one dominant language, while others are not taught in school. Another reason includes parents not speaking the native language to their children to perhaps better their futures. In places along the Himalayas, for example, Hindi or Mandarin remove the need for peoples to stop using their native language.
To see an interactive map of endangered languages, click the link http://www.endangeredlanguages.com/

268: Afterward versus Afterword Sep 2, 2015

There are a lot of commonly misused homophones. 'Afterward' and 'afterword' are very different in meaning, but only slightly different in spelling. An 'afterword' is a concluding section in a book, typically by a person other than the author, while 'afterward' or 'afterwards' is an adverb meaning 'subsequently'.

267: september Sep 1, 2015

Happy first day of September, and may this month find you well. The word September is from late Old English, from the Latin word, 'septem' (which is not at all related to 'septum') meaning ‘seven’ as this month originally was the seventh month of the Roman year before Julius and Augustus came along.