A
PHIL BRODIE BAND'S FUN PAGE . . ENJOY
Updated
for May 2013
.
.
Words
&
Were They Came From
NEW ONE EVERY MONTH
*
KISS
~
The word came from Old English cyssan : “to kiss”, in turn from
coss : “a kiss”.
Among the first known written descriptions of mouth-to-mouth kissing are
included in the epic poem, Mahabharata, written 3,000 years ago in ancient
India
*
NARK ~ Romany
"nak" meaning nose
.... around
1860 we started to use the word to discribe a
person who stuck his nose into peoples business to inform on them, such
as a copper's nark
* ORCHID ~ Greek:
Orkhis meaning testicle
.... The plant is so named because of the similarity of the shape between
its tubers and a testicle. There are more than 22,000 species of orchids.
*
SLEAZY ~
Latvian: Selesian from
Silesia .... The large area in central Europe known as Silesia was once
noted for fine quatily fabrics that were often shipped out of the Baltic
ports of Latvia. When poor quality imitations began arriving the Latvians
coined the derogatory term, sleazy
* PENGUIN
~ originally
used for the now
extinct,
great auk of Newfoundland, but shifted to the Antarctic bird, found by
Drake in Magellan's Straits in 1578 is from 1580s. Of unknown origin,
though often asserted to be from Welsh.. pen "head" + gwyn "white".
The great auk had a large white patch between its bill and eye.
*
XMAS ~ sometimes
pronounced eksmas, but it, and variants such as Xtemass, originated as
handwriting abbreviations for the typical pronunciation krismas. The "-mas"
part is from the Latin-derived Old English word for Mass, while the "X"
comes from the Greek letter Chi, which is the first letter of the Greek
word Xpiotoc, translated as "Christ". There is a common misconception
that the word Xmas stems from a secular attempt to remove the religious
tradition from Christmas by taking the "Christ" out of "Christmas".
Early use of "Xmas" includes Bernard Ward's History of St. Edmund's
college, Old Hall, originally published circa 1755. An earlier version,
"X'temmas", dates to 1551.Around 1100 the term was written as
"Xpes mæsse" in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
* BANK ~ latin:
banco... meaning a bench. Visitors to ancient Rome were only allowed to
use the Roman currency and had to visit money changers who set up benches
where they transacted their business
* LIBRARY ~ latin:
liber... the thin coating found on the inner bark of the Egyptain papyrus
marsh plant,
which was used by the ancient Greeks and Romans for making paper. Paper
comes from the latin.. papyros, the marsh plant.
SOME FORGOTTEN
WORDS:-
* HUZZAH
~ Hooray... an expression or shout
of acclaim, often used interjectionally to express joy or approbation.
First recorded in 1573 and according to a few of writers in the 17th and
18th centuries, it was originally a sailor's cheer or salute. Maybe from
Old French, huzzer, “to shout aloud".
* HORNSWOGGLE
~
hoodwink, bamboozle, deceive... etc. Hornswoggled belongs to a group of
"fancified" words that were particularly popular in the American
West in the 19th century. Hornswoggle is one of the earliest, first appearing
around 1829. It is possible that these words were invented to poke fun
at the more "sophisticated" East.
* REECHY
~ smoky, dirty, begrimed with
dirt (origin:
15th century)
* FUNAMBULIST
~ an acrobat who performs on a
tightrope or slack rope, a tightrope walker (from Latin funambulus - rope
dancer, from funis - rope + ambulare - to walk)
* GALLIMAUFRY
~ A medley or confused jumble
of anything, eg: gallimaufry of prophecies, 1668; but especially a dish
made of leftovers, (from Old French galimafrée - ragout, hash)
some
sources from
Codswallop,
Crumpet and Caper
Oxford
English Dictionary
