I love etymology on a pure layman basis. Sometimes the origin of common words can be very fascinating and at best give a good insight into history.
I kick it off with the word “trivia” (how apropos):
Trivia is from the latin word trivium, tri=triple and via=way.
As far as I understand, back in the days (sometime, somewhere) the city’s three way street was a common meeting place for the working class/unemployed and other unprivileged people. From there the word trivia was used to denote something unimportant/vulgar and on to vernacular of today: information of little value.
1.) item
"Item is latin for “also”. On lists of household items, bills of lading, lists of items in a will, etc., which used to be written in Latin, they used to precede each thing with “also”. In English, it would look like gthis:
One bed
ALSO three chairs
ALSO one table
ALSO four lamps
…
People started calling everything listed after the word I have translated “ALSO” as an “ITEM”, for obvious reasons.
2.) oscillate
Romans used to hang masks in their gardens and vinyards. Originally lightweight items (ha!) made of bark or cloth, these eventually gave way to more durable and massive ones made of stone. These were called “little faces”, or “oscilla” (from latin “os”, which can mean “face”). Because they rocked back and forth in the wind, the motion became, in English, “oscillation”
The English words “travail” and “travel” are closely related to the Spanish “trabajo” and French “travail”, which both mean “work”.
“Travail” makes sense – onerous, difficult work, sort of. “Travel” is a bit further afield (semantically), but not too odd, considering how much of a burden it used to be to ride a carriage or whatever over rough medieval roads.
But take this further back, and things really get weird. The words all derive from a Latin word for a torture device!
The verb “escalate”, in the sense of “to increase in extent, volume, number, amount, intensity or scope" (along with escalation) is a fairly recent addition to English. It’s a back formation from “escalator”, originally a trade name that has become generic like “cellophane” and “aspirin”. One of the early non-trademark uses was an “escalation” provision in naval treaties.
“Escalator” is said to come from “scala” (Latin for “step”) and “elevator”.
“cosmetics” – that is, lipstick, etc. – comes from the same root as “cosmos” – that is, the universe. They both come from the Greek word for order and arrangement.
Etymologists aren’t really sure where the word “bird” comes from.
The Old English common term was “fowle,” and “bird” appears to come from “briddas,” but that only applied to the young (i.e., “chick”). The word has no relatives in any Germanic language (“brood” was a candidate, but there’s no connection). It was also originally “brid,” and it’s very unusual for a word to spoonerize letters like that.
2. Turtle
The word originally referred to a type of bird, so named because of the sound of its call. The name for the reptile was “tortoise.” After the Norman invasion, the French word for the reptile was “tortue,” which didn’t make sense to English speakers. Through folk etymology* “tortue” became “turtle.” To avoid confusion, the bird was renamed “turtle dove.”
*A phrase that’s often misunderstood: it means people substituting familiar sounds or words for unfamiliar ones, not an urban legend about the word’s origin.
The word “Taser” is taken from a 1911 young adult adventure story. It is volume 10 of the Tom Swift series, and in it he has an “electric rifle” (they’re hunting elephants in Africa).
Jack Cover, the inventor of the actual taser took the initials from the book: Thomas A. Swift’s Electric Rifle. TASER.
In metamorphosis, meta- means change and morph- means form. Therefore, people saying something “morphs” or is “morphing” meaning to change or changing are using the wrong part of the word.
Though it’s French, I think one of the most fascinating examples of this is the French word for “not”, becaus it’s so commonplace.
It’s the same word as “step”, because it originally was part of a phrase that was parsed as “not [even one] step” (“non passum”, in Latin). But they kept the wrong part, and threw the "ne"away (though it’s still written when the full phrase is used.)
It’s taking a while then, because in England, a land-dwelling chelonian is still a tortoise.