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19 June 2008

This is an etymology thread! What exactly is a clue? A ball of yarn, as used by Ariadne to guide Theseus out of the labyrinth.→[More:]
Why is an oil derrick so called? Because hangman Thomas Derrick invented a convenient new kind of gallows.

Why does skirt sound like shirt? Originally the same garment, it diverged in Old Norse and Old German: when the Norse peoples met the Germans in England they started using both.

Anyone have any others?

post by: TheophileEscargot at: 05:44 | 9 comments

Berserk means bear shirt. From guys who fought without armor, just wearing a bear of wolf pelt.

posted by RussHy 19 June | 08:03

Uh, that should read "bear or wolf pelt".

posted by RussHy 19 June | 08:08

Pretty cool either way RussHy.

posted by TheophileEscargot 19 June | 08:22

I've seen the 'clue' etymology somewhere recently, but my post-surgery brain can't think where (QI?).

'Orange' and 'apron' used to be 'norange' (from Spanish 'naranja') and 'napron' (from FR 'napperon') respectively, and the 'n' has been reanalysed in each case as belonging to the article rather than the noun.

posted by altolinguistic 19 June | 12:03

"Limey" originated as a term for British sailors, who juiced limes while at sea to prevent scurvy.

joss, as in joss stick or joss house, comes from the Javanese word deyos, which was derived from the Portuguese word deos, which was derived from the Latin deus, for god.

posted by mdonley 19 June | 13:16

I might start talking about how I'm going to eat a norange, and see if anyone notices...

posted by TheophileEscargot 19 June | 14:37

Just like "a nickname" used to be "an ickname" and "hangnail" used to be "angnail".

posted by Eideteker 19 June | 14:42

I thought clues were from boat clews. I don't know why I thought that.

posted by small_ruminant 19 June | 16:52

Grimm's Law explains how words sort-of-but-not-quite sound alike in different languages, like pater/vader/father, or even fox/vixen.

Vietnamese pho is from the French pot-au-feu.

Decimate means "to reduce by a tenth," hence the deci-. It's not a synonym for destroy.

Dilemma means "a choice between two things," hence the di-. It's not a synonym for problem.

posted by mrmoonpie 20 June | 16:04

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