# Obvious word etymologies you realise after the millionth time **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 6, 2015, 9:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-word-etymologies-you-realise-after-the-millionth-time/711958 "2015-02-06T09:00:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2015, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-word-etymologies-you-realise-after-the-millionth-time/711958/41 "2015-02-07T16:31:00Z")
The relationship between Phoenix, Phoencian, Punic… ---
**Author:** ![vd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b19c9b/32.png) [@vd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vd)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2015, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-word-etymologies-you-realise-after-the-millionth-time/711958/42 "2015-02-07T17:06:01Z")
I never thought of the words at the same time before. I think it came to me when I was reading something about heraldry. Argentina = Silvery place ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2015, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-word-etymologies-you-realise-after-the-millionth-time/711958/43 "2015-02-07T17:24:00Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > Breakfast. To break fast. > > Duh. This one occurred to me when I learned the Spanish word (around age 20), which breaks down the same way: _des-_ “un” + _-ayunar_ “to fast.” A good example of how learning another language also teaches you about your OWN language. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2015, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-word-etymologies-you-realise-after-the-millionth-time/711958/44 "2015-02-07T19:17:10Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > This one occurred to me when I learned the Spanish word (around age 20), which breaks down the same way: _des-_ “un” + _-ayunar_ “to fast.” A good example of how learning another language also teaches you about your OWN language. Same with “welcome,” which I never parsed out until I encountered the French (bienvenu) and Spanish (bienvenido) equivalents. ---
**Author:** ![ddunn801](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/71c47a/32.png) [@ddunn801](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ddunn801)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2015, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-word-etymologies-you-realise-after-the-millionth-time/711958/45 "2015-02-07T20:09:28Z")
Omega and Omicron Big O: o (mega) Lil O: o (micro) n ---
**Author:** ![cjepson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2015, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-word-etymologies-you-realise-after-the-millionth-time/711958/46 "2015-02-09T16:16:30Z")
I remember when I started realizing just where all those down-home, folksy slang words came from… especially the sweetly corny “Shucks”, which is a combination of half of two of the most vulgar words in the English language. ---
**Author:** ![Tierce](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ea5d25/32.png) [@Tierce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tierce)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2015, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-word-etymologies-you-realise-after-the-millionth-time/711958/47 "2015-02-10T01:58:46Z")
One I got from a previous thread on the subject: to “pontificate” is “to assume pompous and dignified airs, issue dogmatic decrees” – you know, like a _pontiff_. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2015, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-word-etymologies-you-realise-after-the-millionth-time/711958/48 "2015-02-10T02:04:37Z")
Here’s a different claim on the etymology of the word “shucks”: > **[shucks | Search Online Etymology Dictionary](https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=shucks)** > > The online etymology dictionary (etymonline) is the internet's go-to source for quick and reliable accounts of the origin and history of English words, phrases, and idioms. It is professional enough to satisfy academic standards, but accessible... ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2015, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-word-etymologies-you-realise-after-the-millionth-time/711958/49 "2015-02-11T06:07:56Z")
> [@ddunn801](#): > > Omega and Omicron > > Big O: o (mega) > Lil O: o (micro) n Mind blown. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2015, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-word-etymologies-you-realise-after-the-millionth-time/711958/50 "2015-02-11T06:44:46Z")
Two I heard on \*\*\*Jeopardy! \*\*\*last night: _Acropolis_ = acro + polis = “high city,” because it’s on top of a hill. The first two _transuranic_ elements are neptunium and plutonium, since the planets Neptune and Pluto lie, you know, beyond Uranus. ---
**Author:** ![Moe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moe/32/2972_2.png) [@Moe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moe)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2015, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-word-etymologies-you-realise-after-the-millionth-time/711958/51 "2015-02-11T17:14:18Z")
> [@vontsira](#): > > Per Wiki anyway, the “avocado” , for the fruit, originates from the word for the same in the Nahuatl language of parts of Mexico: _ahuacatl_. This was corrupted over many decades via Spanish ultimately into English – avocado, resembling the word for lawyer in Italian as above; also in Spanish (_abogado_). also a German word for lawyer - _Advokat_ which has the obvious connection to _advocate_. A German friend once called me a _weenie_ (well, many times actually), but it got me thinking. _Weenie_ as an insult evokes images of a penis because it comes from wiener (as in Frankfurter, which of course, as an aside comes from the German city) which comes from the German word for Vienna, (i.e. _Wien_). So the word had to travel from the German language to English to be used by a German as an insult. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2015, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-word-etymologies-you-realise-after-the-millionth-time/711958/52 "2015-02-11T17:26:12Z")
One I just heard on _ **Millionaire** _: _Orthopedics_ = Straightening children’s bones (after they’ve had rickets, probably). I had always assumed the _ped_ had something to do with feet. ---
**Author:** ![Trancephalic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trancephalic/32/380_2.png) [@Trancephalic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trancephalic)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2015, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-word-etymologies-you-realise-after-the-millionth-time/711958/53 "2015-02-11T17:42:36Z")
[“The English language is horses all the way down”](http://www.qwantz.com/index.php?comic=1908) ---
**Author:** ![akrako1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c77e96/32.png) [@akrako1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/akrako1)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2015, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-word-etymologies-you-realise-after-the-millionth-time/711958/54 "2015-02-11T23:28:56Z")
just add +itis to any organ name or body part, and you have the name of a new “disease”! Unfortunately, “itis” just means “inflammation of…” so when you think your doctor is smart because he says, “Oh you have tonsillitis!”. It doesn’t mean they’ve actually diagnosed anything, just described it. “Yes I know my tonsils are inflamed, that’s why I’m here…” substitute bronchitis, gastritis, vaginitis (eww) - all the same story. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2015, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-word-etymologies-you-realise-after-the-millionth-time/711958/55 "2015-02-12T04:48:35Z")
> [@Moe](#): > > also a German word for lawyer - _Advokat_ which has the obvious connection to _advocate_. The same in Russian. ---
**Author:** ![CGav8r](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/34f0e0/32.png) [@CGav8r](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CGav8r)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2015, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-word-etymologies-you-realise-after-the-millionth-time/711958/56 "2015-02-12T12:39:45Z")
It wasn’t until I was an adult that I realized carpet wasn’t a portmanteau of car + pet. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2015, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-word-etymologies-you-realise-after-the-millionth-time/711958/57 "2015-02-12T13:26:31Z")
Louis Armstrong’s nickname was a portmanteau ---
**Author:** ![YawningDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/848f3c/32.png) [@YawningDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YawningDog)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2015, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-word-etymologies-you-realise-after-the-millionth-time/711958/58 "2015-02-12T16:25:50Z")
> [@Uncle\_Brother\_Walker](#): > > And if you take away the nautical directions, fore and aft, you’ve got BEER both before and after! > > Cheers! Perfect! I like the way you think. And drink. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2015, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-word-etymologies-you-realise-after-the-millionth-time/711958/59 "2015-02-12T17:26:11Z")
So is “he had me over a barrel” a sexual reference? Because it sure seems like one to me (though that thought only occurred to me in recent years). ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2015, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-word-etymologies-you-realise-after-the-millionth-time/711958/60 "2015-02-12T20:32:40Z")
This doesn’t exactly fit the thread, but I’m going to post it anyway: As far back as I can remember, I’ve known that hippopotamus comes from hippo + potamus = river horse. But, I never knew why. The hippos that I’ve seen in zoos don’t look anything like horses. In fact, they look the opposite of a horse–slow, sluggish, and fat. Rhinos or elephants maybe, but not horses. Just recently however I watched the movie _The Snows of Kilimanjaro_, which includes a cool scene wherein a party of adventurers follow a herd of hippos into a river, spooking them and provoking a hippo stampede. The hippos stick their heads above the water and lumber, and they’re dead ringers for galloping horses, if horses were to gallop under water. So I’m babbling at the screen, “They’re horses! They’re river horses!” I always knew the etymology, but it never made sense. Until now. And I had to learn it from a 60-year-old movie. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-word-etymologies-you-realise-after-the-millionth-time/711958.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-word-etymologies-you-realise-after-the-millionth-time/711958.md?page=4)