# It's from where? **URL:** \ **Category:** Thread Games\ **Created:** [May 25, 2023, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-from-where/984600 "2023-05-25T21:39:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![gkster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gkster/32/14107_2.png) [@gkster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gkster)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2023, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-from-where/984600/41 "2023-05-29T02:34:37Z")
Denim cloth takes its name from the French phrase serge de Nîmes (‘serge from Nîmes’). Denim as we know it today was first produced in Nîmes, France. Chihuahua ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2023, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-from-where/984600/42 "2023-05-29T03:01:21Z")
A breed of dog, native to Mexico and named for Chihuahua, a state in the northern part of that country. Jeans. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2023, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-from-where/984600/43 "2023-05-29T22:06:25Z")
> [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > Jeans. From Gênes, the French name for Genoa, one of the early centers of producing a cloth which originally was actually distinct from denim. Champagne (hint: by law if it isn’t actually from this place it’s not “real” champagne). ---
**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:** [May 29, 2023, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-from-where/984600/44 "2023-05-29T22:17:53Z")
Champagne, originally vin de Champagne, is a type of sparkling wine named for, and first made in, the former French province or county of Champagne. dungarees. ---
**Author:** ![Quondam\_Mechanic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quondam_mechanic/32/3404_2.png) [@Quondam\_Mechanic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quondam_Mechanic)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2023, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-from-where/984600/45 "2023-05-30T14:01:14Z")
Dongri, a village near Mumbai. cheddar ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2023, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-from-where/984600/46 "2023-05-30T21:40:13Z")
A village in southwestern England, which first produced the eponymous cheese. Sadly, it’s in Somerset, not Cheshire (Cheese-shire). astrakhan ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2023, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-from-where/984600/47 "2023-05-30T22:28:27Z")
> [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > astrakhan The fur was introduced to Western Russia by Tatar traders from Astrakhan. **Strontium** ---
**Author:** ![UDS1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e47774/32.png) [@UDS1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS1)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2023, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-from-where/984600/48 "2023-05-31T00:56:20Z")
From the village of Strontian, in Argyllshire. The English name of the village is in turn an anglicisation of Sròn an tSìthein, the nose (or point) of the hill of fairies. If we’re doing the elements, copper. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2023, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-from-where/984600/49 "2023-05-31T12:09:50Z")
Ooh, good one. I’m a little hazy on the direct derivation, but I’m pretty sure it comes from the Latin name for the island of Cyprus, known since antiquity for its copper mines. baloney ---
**Author:** ![knoodler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ccd318/32.png) [@knoodler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/knoodler)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2023, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-from-where/984600/50 "2023-05-31T17:40:49Z")
That could mean the name of a type of sausage from Bologna, a city in Italy (also called “bologna”). Or it means utter nonsense, from 1920s-era vernacular still in use. mustang (horse) ---
**Author:** ![Bayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bayaker/32/3454_2.png) [@Bayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bayaker)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2023, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-from-where/984600/51 "2023-06-04T14:17:11Z")
> [@knoodler](#): > > mustang (horse) I’m not aware of any toponymic origin for _mustang_, and Merriam-Webster agrees with me. I’ll offer one, hoping that it’s not too obscure: coach ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2023, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-from-where/984600/52 "2023-06-04T14:29:00Z")
> [@Bayaker](#): > > coach From a medieval Detroit outside of Budapest called Kocs. **Bedlam** ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2023, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-from-where/984600/53 "2023-06-04T15:39:06Z")
From St. Mary Bethlehem Hospital, a medieval priory-turned-asylum notorious for its poor care of patients. Ulster ---
**Author:** ![gkster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gkster/32/14107_2.png) [@gkster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gkster)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2023, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-from-where/984600/54 "2023-06-04T18:02:33Z")
Victorian era overcoat named for an Irish region, made by a manufacturer from there Balaclava ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2023, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-from-where/984600/55 "2023-06-04T20:39:10Z")
Another piece of clothing whose name derives from the Crimean war; a balaclava is a knitted winter hat that covers part of the face, named after a town near Sevastopol and the British troops who fought there, wearing the headgear. Norfolk. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2023, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-from-where/984600/56 "2023-06-04T21:41:42Z")
> [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > Norfolk The jacket or the briefcase? I believe both get their names from the county in East England or the Duke thereof. ETA: Appears the briefcase was made by a firm on Norfolk Road in Sheffield. **Mayonnaise** ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2023, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-from-where/984600/57 "2023-06-04T22:35:11Z")
A sauce of eggs and oil, according to legend created by a French admiral’s cook, while besieging the Spanish port of Mahón, on the island of Menorica. Although I recently had a dispute over this with a Spanish cow-orker, who insisted it was a native Spanish sauce. In any case, it’s named after Mahón. Gin. ---
**Author:** ![Quondam\_Mechanic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quondam_mechanic/32/3404_2.png) [@Quondam\_Mechanic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quondam_Mechanic)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2023, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-from-where/984600/58 "2023-06-05T00:59:16Z")
Hm. According to Wikipedia: > The name _gin_ is a shortened form of the older English word _genever_ (related to the French word _genièvre_ and the Dutch word _jenever_. All ultimately derive from _juniperus_, the Latin for juniper Are you thinking that it comes from Geneva? Or that “juniperus” is a toponym? I don’t have an interesting one on offer, but to keep the game going: Cognac ---
**Author:** ![Bicycle\_Bill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bicycle_bill/32/6208_2.png) [@Bicycle\_Bill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bicycle_Bill)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2023, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-from-where/984600/59 "2023-06-05T02:25:44Z")
Like the earlier champagne question, it refers to a brandy, the source of which is wine made from grapes grown in the Cognac region of southwestern France. This is the reason “all cognac is brandy, but not all brandy is Cognac.” jodhpurs _ **-“BB”-** _ ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2023, 10:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-from-where/984600/60 "2023-06-05T10:51:45Z")
> [@Quondam\_Mechanic](#): > > Hm. According to Wikipedia: > > > The name _gin_ is a shortened form of the older English word _genever_ (related to the French word _genièvre_ and the Dutch word _jenever_. All ultimately derive from _juniperus_, the Latin for juniper > > Are you thinking that it comes from Geneva? Or that “juniperus” is a toponym? > > I don’t have an interesting one on offer, but to keep the game going > > Cognac Yes, you’re correct; I mistakenly thought _gin_ came from _Geneva._ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-from-where/984600.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-from-where/984600.md?page=4)