1603: syringe and syrinx May 5, 2019
As discussed yesterday, 'syrinx' means pipes, both in the context of windpipes and pan pipes from Greek mythology, but it also lead other, less familiar looking words. 'Syringe' for instance also comes from 'syrinx'. This is a different sort of pipe, or in this case chanel, but as a medical term it is not surprising to see something from Greek. Notably, both words in question start with 'sy-', but for a short time, 'syrinx' was also spelt with 'su-'. More will be discussed about this tomorrow.
1602: larynx, pharynx, and syrinx May 4, 2019
Humans are able to make different vibrations, such as in the difference between [s] and [z] using the larynx. The etymology of this word is not totally certain, though it has meant 'upper windpipe' since the days of Latin; what is more certain is that is was influenced by the word 'pharynx', which is also a word for the windpipe, particularly in invertebrates, again from Latin. Still related though is the word 'spirynx', which is a larynx in the lower windpipe that birds have, except rather than just having Latin roots, this word comes from the name of the nymph in the story of Pan. In the story, the pursued nymph asked to be turned into reeds to escape, but Pan turned them into 'pan pipes' to play. The physiology of the syrinx will be discussed this week.
Support Word Facts on patreon.com/wordfacts
1601: snipe and sniper May 3, 2019
"Going on a snipe hunt" is another way of saying "fool's errand", or indeed "wild goose chase", and in North America is used as a way to describe a useless task. However, while their speed, size, and irregular flight paths have made them notoriously hard to catch, the snipe also gave rise to the word 'sniper', as people needed to use camouflage and high-precision rifles to get these birds.
Support Word Facts on Patreon.com/wordfacts and see more about names for birds here.
1600: The Most Insulting Bird Name May 2, 2019
1599: wealth and health May 1, 2019
The words 'wealth' and 'health' rhyme, which makes sense even just looking at the spelling, but this was less of a guarantee than it might appear now. 'Health' comes from Old English in which the vowel was 'ǣ'—like the vowel in 'pal'—but the words 'heal' also comes from this, and 'hail' is related, so these vowels have all changed independently over time. Moreover, 'wealth' comes from either 'well' or 'weal', which has a closer meaning but doesn't sound as similar. Either way, the spelling of 'wealth' and not 'wellth' was done so not in spite of but because following the pattern of the spelling for 'health'. Read about the Word Theory concerning this word in practice here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/26458445
1598: Calgary's Rivers: Elbow and Bow Apr 30, 2019
The city of Calgary in Canada is named after a town in Scotland, but its native name comes from the Siksiká word 'Mohkínstsis' meaning 'elbow'. This is true of the name in Nakota and Nehiyaw names as well, referring to the bend of the surrounding rivers, aptly named the Elbow River and Bow River. The former river is named for the same reason, but the Bow Rivers not named for the shape of a bow (or elbow), but because of the reeds that grow around it, which were used to fashion bows for archery.
1596: Territories that are Commonwealths Apr 28, 2019
As discussed yesterday, some US states are also commonwealths, and while this means little in those cases, the two are not synonymous when it comes to the commonwealths of Puerto Rico and the Mariana Islands. Unlike with the states, those territories were never British colonies, and so were not under British common law. Instead, here this recalls the definition of 'commonwealth' as in "for the wealth (i.e. wellbeing) of the community"; in other words it is a self-governing community but not an independant one. Because of the multitude of connotations however, using the term 'territories' is probably clearer.
1597: calgary Apr 29, 2019
Like many cities in Canada, and elsewhere in the anglophone world, 'Calgary' is named directly for another city in Britain. While this might be pretty cut-and-dry for Canada, British place names come from many places, usually Celtic, Old Norse, or Old English varieties. In the case of Calgary, the name is actually disputed between these. The town in Scotland was near a Viking settlement, and many believe that the name comes from 'kald' 'gart', meaning 'cold garden'. Alternatively, the name might come from the Gaelic 'Cala ghearraidh' meaning 'beach of the meadow' i.e. a pasture or field. For more on British place-names, click here.
1595: States that are Commonwealths Apr 27, 2019
1594: firm Apr 26, 2019
Word like 'note, 'bill', and as discussed yesterday, 'bank', all existed before the modern understanding of banking was invented; indeed this is true often because of how new the practice is relatively, but also how gradually it started. Often, though not always, related to financing is the noun 'firm', which unexpectedly is related to adjective, but less obviously it is also related to 'farm'. The word comes from Latin meaning 'fixed', but this has less to do with fixed location and more to do with fixed contracts for tax and rent. Eventually, the word came to mean a fixed contract in a more general sense for something with fixed transaction rates. Naturally, this moved from landownership exclusively as society evolved with the word.
1593: bank Apr 25, 2019
One might think of a bank—the institution, not the shore—today as intimidating or large, but this is not quite how it started out. While there has long been the notion of a bank as a place to deposit and keep things, such as in 'food-bank' or indeed sentiment on a riverbank, and this could include money, the word for the bank as an institution comes from the simple benches and tables that merchants, especially Italian ones used to conduct business. Indeed, while the 'riverbank' and the financial 'bank' has separate but related etymologies, the same can be said for 'bank' and 'bench'.
Support Word Facts on Patreon.com/wordfacts
1592: A Fish That Was Never a Fish: crayfish
Crayfish are not true fish, but their name is not so totally misnomered as it might first appear. 'Crayfish', and the later variant 'crawfish' come from the French 'crevice', originally from a Germanic word related to the modern word 'crab', having the natural relation to another crustacean. It was only later on that the latter syllable of 'crevice' had altered and became understood as 'fish' by association.
Check out the new Word Theory about why the word 'religion' might be so tricky to nail down.
1591: bellwether Apr 23, 2019
Some words have etymologies that require knowledge of other languages and phonology to understand, while others may be surprising simply because other related words fell out of fashion. In the case of 'bellwether', the word is usually used to mean a predictor of something, but it can also mean the goat that leads the herd. Considering the second, less common usage of the word, it is easy to see why this is, a 'wether' is another term for a ram—though generally only a castrated one—and it wears a bell. If it were not for this other meaning, it would be yet another etymology drawn from goats and sheep that has no relation to them now.
1590: Productivity of Rhyming: hobby and robin Apr 22, 2019
The word 'hobby' comes from a name for a horse breed, that in turn came from a given name, that is also the name for a bird. That might sound a little confusing, but arguably nicknaming used to be much more popular, and this led to the creation of some words that outlived the nickname. 'Hobby', meaning a fun but not necessarily productive leisure activity comes from 'hobbyhorse': a toy horse that doesn't move anywhere. However, 'hobby', and 'dobbin—the older term for 'hobbyhorse—come from the given name 'Robin', which was originally short for Robert. Moreover, the bird 'robin' also comes as a pet form of the name Robert. This may seem weird, but compare it to other rhyming names like 'Dick', 'Bill', or 'Bob', and you'll see the popularity of the rhyming trend.
1589: burrito Apr 21, 2019
The now infamous 'burrito' is pretty recognizable these days, both in name and in image, but it got its name from something else. The word 'burrito' comes from the Spanish diminutive suffix '-ito' on 'burro', which means 'donkey'. There are some different ideas as to why this is, including having it loaded with different ingredients like a donkey with packs, but given that another name for the burrito in Spanish is 'flautas' ('flute'), there is a chance that both of those words were just a description of the shape in some way.
Support Word Facts on Patreon.com/wordfacts for even more.
1588: bawl and bark Apr 20, 2019
Words like 'wail', 'woe' and 'bawl' all have their roots as onomatopoeias, they do not imitate the same thing. 'Wail' comes from 'woe', and they both were originally imitation of people crying. 'Bawl' however was originally a description for the sound of dogs. It was only when the word was used, somewhat demeaningly, to relate the crying of people to dogs that the word now is predominantly used in relation to people. Indeed, this is similar to the word 'bark', which was today mostly denotes that of a dog, but originally meant any kind of explosive sound, even from people, and has its roots in onomatopoeia.
1587: arctic Apr 19, 2019
The word 'arctic' comes from the Greek word for 'bear', but this has nothing to do with polar bears. Instead, Ursa Major, aka the Big Dipper or literally the Great Bear is the constellation that can be seen northward in the night sky, and the northern part of the word was named for that. Indeed, while nowadays the word arctic described the northern region of the globe, 'arctic' a long time ago used to refer to that part of the night sky.
Support Word Facts on Patreon.com/wordfacts
1586: dandelion Apr 18, 2019
The word 'dandelion' today simply denotes a kind of flower, but it's name used to be a bit more complex. The word has always referred to a flower, but it used to connote a lion too. The name comes from the French 'dent-de-lion', a translation of the Latin 'dens lionis', meaning 'tooth of the lion'. The name referred to the jagged leaves, and did not relate to the mane as could be imagined.
Get more from Word Facts at patreon.com/wordfacts
1585: Chicken and Fowl Apr 17, 2019
While the '-en' suffix of 'chicken' is diminutive, 'chicken' is not the small form of 'chick'. In fact, every type of baby bird is called a 'chick', and at no point was 'chicken' supposed to refer to a small baby bird. Indeed, this type of bird used to only be called a 'fowl', and then through a mostly random process through history had the name 'chicken' adopted for it.
1584: colt and filly Apr 16, 2019
These days 'colt' denotes young, especially male horses and 'foal' is the general term, both in terms of gender and even species, relating to related animals. It used to be somewhat reversed, insofar as 'colt' initially denoted 'young camel' or 'young donkey'. It is also related to the Norwegian 'kult' (tree-stump) as the root simply meant anything small and thick. It is also because of 'foal' that the related, feminine term 'filly' exists, although its pejorative uses are more contemporary. Support Word Facts on patreon.com/wordfacts