# English word with the most unique etymology? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 29, 2003, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-word-with-the-most-unique-etymology/198334 "2003-08-29T01:14:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2003, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-word-with-the-most-unique-etymology/198334/21 "2003-08-29T14:56:06Z")
I vote for Dord. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![daniel801](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@daniel801](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/daniel801)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2003, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-word-with-the-most-unique-etymology/198334/22 "2003-08-29T16:10:52Z")
**Commasense** , is it irony that you didn’t use the preferred spelling of “judgment” in your post? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2003, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-word-with-the-most-unique-etymology/198334/23 "2003-08-29T17:04:00Z")
It was a pun. No, not a pun. What’s that thing that’s the same backwards as forwards? ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2003, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-word-with-the-most-unique-etymology/198334/24 "2003-08-29T17:30:13Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by commasense \* > \*\*It was a pun. No, not a pun. What’s that thing that’s the same backwards as forwards? \*\* Palindrome. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2003, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-word-with-the-most-unique-etymology/198334/25 "2003-08-29T17:34:03Z")
A palindrome? A palindrome of “judgment” would be “tnemgduj!” ---
**Author:** ![fortytwo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f9ae1b/32.png) [@fortytwo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fortytwo)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2003, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-word-with-the-most-unique-etymology/198334/26 "2003-08-29T17:56:45Z")
According to [this](http://www.word-detective.com/back-d.html) site ketchup came originally from China. “The words “ketchup” and “catsup” both come from the Malay word “kechap,” from the Chinese word “ketsiap,” a sauce made from fermented fish and brine. Pickled fish sauce may not sound all that appealing on french fries, but the Malay word “kechap” itself really only meant “taste.” After the word migrated into English in the 17th century (as “catchup,” still an accepted spelling), it was applied to a variety of sauces and condiments. It was only with the importation of the tomato to Europe from its native habitat in South America that what we now know as ketchup was born. Modern ketchup is made of tomato sauce, vinegar, sugar and spices, and not a speck, thank heavens, of pickled fish”. V ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2003, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-word-with-the-most-unique-etymology/198334/27 "2003-08-29T18:07:05Z")
A man, a plan, a canal - Panama! (My favorite palindrome) Thanks for the replies everyone. I think we have narrowed down the list to a select few most unique words that are all equally the most unique. [sub] **commasense’s** & **samclem** ’s heads explode :D[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2003, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-word-with-the-most-unique-etymology/198334/28 "2003-08-29T18:47:12Z")
How about the word “quiz”? From what I’ve read, the word originated as a bar bet over whether a word could be deliberately put into circulation. The man who took the bet paid to have the word painted as graffiti all over London and soon everyone was asking what it meant. The definition of “quiz” as a short test came later. Offhand, I can’t think of any other common word in English which was included in the language before it had a meaning. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2003, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-word-with-the-most-unique-etymology/198334/29 "2003-08-29T18:55:27Z")
There’s not really a factual answer to this question, so I’ll move this thread to MPSIMS. bibliophage moderator GQ ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2003, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-word-with-the-most-unique-etymology/198334/30 "2003-08-29T18:56:56Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Skammer \* > \*\*A palindrome? A palindrome of “judgment” would be “tnemgduj!” \*\* No, it would be judgmentnemgduj. Or maybe tnemgdujudgment. Napoleon: Able was I ere I saw Elba. Adam to Eve: Madam, I’m Adam. ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2003, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-word-with-the-most-unique-etymology/198334/31 "2003-08-29T19:06:17Z")
The only common words borrowed from many auxiliary languages are the names of the languages themselves (although only one or two, notably Esperanto and Volapuk, can really be said to be “common.”) Little Nemo: That story is a myth, according to [wordorigins.org](http://wordorigins.org). > [@](#): > > The story goes that in 1791 a Dublin theater owner named James Daly made a bet that he could introduce a word into the language within twenty-four hours. He then went out and hired a bunch of street urchins to write the word quiz, which was a nonsense word, on walls around the city of Dublin. Within a day, the word was common currency and had acquired a meaning–since no one knew what it meant, everyone thought it was some sort of test–and Daly had some extra cash in his pocket. > > It’s a fun story. Unfortunately, there is absolutely no evidence to support it and the term was in use prior to the alleged bet in 1791. > > The first appearance of the word is from 1782 and means an odd person. This sense survives today in the word quizzical. It later aquired a meaning of to make fun of, or to mock. How it acquired its current meaning of a test is unknown, but that sense did not appear until 1867 and then it was in the United States. > > The OED2 has a cite from 1847 where the word appears: “She com back and quiesed us,” which could be a clue to its origin. Quiz as a test could be a corruption of the Latin Qui es, meaning “Who are you?” American Heritage says it may be from the English dialect verb quiset, meaning to question. In any case it is probably from the same root as question and inquisitive. I enjoyed reading about the etymology of sine in trigonometry. In some old Indian texts about mathematics, the respective proportion in a rectangular triangle was referred to by a word that meant “chord,” because chords were used in calculating or visualizing the function. It sounded suspiciously similar to an Arabic word meaning “bosom,” with which it didn’t actually have anything to do, so Arabian mathematicians translated it with their appropriate word for bosom. Europeans later on adopted the Arab term and translated it into Latin, where “sinus” means “bosom.” ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2003, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-word-with-the-most-unique-etymology/198334/32 "2003-08-29T19:06:21Z")
I’m not prepared to pursue my line of inquiry any longer as I think this is getting too silly! Sergeant-Major: Quite agree, quite agree, too silly, far too silly… **Skammer:** Obviously _some_ people haven’t seen enough [Monty Python](http://textfiles.fisher.hu/media/petshop) ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2003, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-word-with-the-most-unique-etymology/198334/33 "2003-08-29T19:22:48Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by commasense \* > \*\*I’ll just point out (. . .) that things can’t be **more** or **less** UNIQUE. Most _unusual_ is fine, but not most unique. \*\* The editors of Merriam-Webster would disagree: Main Entry: unique Pronunciation: yu-'nEk Function: adjective Etymology: French, from Latin unicus, from unus one – more at ONE Date: 1602 1 : being the only one : SOLE \ \ \ 2 a : being without a like or equal : UNEQUALED \ b : distinctively characteristic : PECULIAR 1 \ **3 : UNUSUAL \ \** The OED attests **[3]** as far back as the mid 1850s. While using comparatives or superlatives might not be stylistically “proper,” it’s certainly nothing _grammatically_ incorrect. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2003, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-word-with-the-most-unique-etymology/198334/34 "2003-08-29T19:44:05Z")
adobe: Spanish, from Arabic at-tub the brick, from Coptic tObe brick. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2003, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-word-with-the-most-unique-etymology/198334/35 "2003-08-29T20:03:48Z")
One interesting word is “mammoth,” which, as an adjective means “really big” as in the extinct critter which bears the name (and gives us the adjective). \*It comes to us by Russian which came from the Yakutsk (I believe) word for “earth” or “ground” which was where the bones and tusks would be found. Also, the natives thought the bones were the remnants of colossal _burrowing_ creatures. \*“All About Strange Beasts of the Past” – Roy Chapman Andrews ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2003, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-word-with-the-most-unique-etymology/198334/36 "2003-08-29T20:12:19Z")
Re _sine_, my Oxford Canadian says that it comes from the word _sinus_ meaning a fold in a toga. ---
**Author:** ![Capt\_B.Phart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc29f/32.png) [@Capt\_B.Phart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt_B.Phart)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2003, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-word-with-the-most-unique-etymology/198334/37 "2003-08-29T20:51:42Z")
Quark:- [Murray Gell-Mann’s complex account:-](http://members.ozemail.com.au/~caveman/Joyce/quark.htm) > [@](#): > > In 1963, when I assigned the name “quark” to the fundamental constituents of the nucleon, I had the sound first, without the spelling, which could have been “kwork”. Then, in one of my occasional perusals of Finnegans Wake, by James Joyce, I came across the word “quark” in the phrase “Three quarks for Muster Mark”. Since “quark” (meaning, for one thing, the cry of the gull) was clearly intended to rhyme with “Mark,” as well as “bark” and other such words, I had to find an excuse to pronounce it as “kwork”. But the book represents the dream of a publican named Humphrey Chimpden Earwicker. Words in the text are typically drawn from several sources at once, like the “portmanteau” words in “Through the Looking Glass”. From time to time, phrases occur in the book that are partially determined by calls for drinks at the bar. I argued, therefore, that perhaps one of the multiple sources of the cry “Three quarks for Muster Mark” might be “Three quarts for Mister Mark,” in which case the pronunciation “kwork” would not be totally unjustified. In any case, the number three fitted perfectly the way quarks occur in nature. Does anyone still say “Kwork”, rather than “Kwark”? ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2003, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-word-with-the-most-unique-etymology/198334/38 "2003-08-29T21:43:29Z")
**jjimm** said > [@](#): > > Penguin. It could just be a coincidence, but “pen” is Welsh for “head”, and “gwyn” is Welsh for “white”. There is a Welsh-speaking community in Patagonia, southern Argentina, where there are a lot of penguins. It’s justs as you suspected, a coincidence. It didn’t come from the French either. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2003, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-word-with-the-most-unique-etymology/198334/39 "2003-08-29T21:44:47Z")
Also, I decided to misspell words, as well as mis-code. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![dinoboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/65b543/32.png) [@dinoboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dinoboy)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2003, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-word-with-the-most-unique-etymology/198334/40 "2003-08-29T21:55:53Z")
I must say, there are just too many words with interesting histories… Here is a favorite site of mine regarding etymology, maybe someone else will enjoy it also: [http://www.takeourword.com/index.html](http://www.takeourword.com/index.html) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-word-with-the-most-unique-etymology/198334.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-word-with-the-most-unique-etymology/198334.md?page=3)