# 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:** 4
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2015, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-word-etymologies-you-realise-after-the-millionth-time/711958/61 "2015-02-12T21:15:21Z")
> [@Spoke](#): > > 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). No. > [@OED](#): > > c. In slang phr. over a barrel [apparently in allusion to the state of a person placed over a barrel to clear his lungs of water after being rescued from drowning] , helpless, in someone’s power. Chiefly U.S. There was a time when this was a method of rescue. By analogy, if you were over a barrel, you were helpless and trying to catch your breath and too weak to resist if someone tried to do something. ---
**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, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-word-etymologies-you-realise-after-the-millionth-time/711958/62 "2015-02-12T23:13:11Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > No. > > There was a time when this was a method of rescue. By analogy, if you were over a barrel, you were helpless and trying to catch your breath and too weak to resist if someone tried to do something. I don’t think you can really answer so categorically. Yeah, I know that is the explanation offered today by etymologists, but as far as I can discern, it is based on nothing more than conjecture. I think my conjecture makes more sense. I am confident that more than one young sailor found themselves unwillingly “over a barrel” in my sense of the phrase back in the day. And talk about helplessness… ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2015, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-word-etymologies-you-realise-after-the-millionth-time/711958/63 "2015-02-13T00:50:44Z")
> [@akrako1](#): > > 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. Add some -ectomy, -otomy or -ostomy and you’ll know if the doc intends to cut into or cut off the -itis’d body part. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2015, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-word-etymologies-you-realise-after-the-millionth-time/711958/64 "2015-02-13T01:15:11Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > I remember being interested to learn that the Romans called their head god Jupiter as a derivation of “Zeus Pater” (via “Deus Pater”)…father Zeus. Those Romans weren’t shy about taking the best from ancient and classical Greek culture. They probably didn’t take it from the Greeks. Both etymologies likely descended from the probable original Indo-European sky-deity. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2015, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-word-etymologies-you-realise-after-the-millionth-time/711958/65 "2015-02-13T01:34:06Z")
I could have kicked myself when I realized the etymology of surly, it really sticks out like a sore thumb (although the spelling, which changed, does tend to mask it). The original form was _sirly_, and that’s precisely what it was, acting in the manner of a Sir or Lord, ie masterful, imperious, haughty. The sense too gradually changed to, as OED puts it, ‘churlishly ill-humoured; rude and cross’. Talk about hiding in plain sight. ---
**Author:** ![Chicago\_Faucet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chicago_faucet/32/13910_2.png) [@Chicago\_Faucet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chicago_Faucet)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2015, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-word-etymologies-you-realise-after-the-millionth-time/711958/66 "2015-02-14T05:07:28Z")
From Wikipedia: “Stromboli is a small island in the Tyrrhenian Sea, off the north coast of Sicily, containing one of the three active volcanoes in Italy.” So, it was a nice little revelation to hear that one of my favorite foods was probably named after an Italian island. Quaint and proper. But, then: “In ancient Roman religion and myth, Vulcan is the god of fire including the fire of volcanoes” Volcano = Vulcan. _Head explodes_ ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2015, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-word-etymologies-you-realise-after-the-millionth-time/711958/67 "2015-02-14T06:27:51Z")
It wasn’t very long ago that I discovered the words \*of \*and \*off \*were both the same word in Old English. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2015, 8:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-word-etymologies-you-realise-after-the-millionth-time/711958/68 "2015-02-14T08:16:45Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > There was a time when this was a method of rescue. Better rescue method than [blowing smoke up your ass](http://gizmodo.com/blowing-smoke-up-your-ass-used-to-be-literal-1578620709)… ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2015, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-word-etymologies-you-realise-after-the-millionth-time/711958/69 "2015-02-15T02:53:31Z")
> [@cjepson](#): > > and that a “sucker” is a person who has no more knowledge of the world than a not-yet-weaned baby… > [@WordMan](#): > > :smack: Are we sure about this? I thought it was a fishing metaphor. You throw out sucker bait into the water so that fish will more readily bite your hook. ---
**Author:** ![BOOM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c4cdca/32.png) [@BOOM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BOOM)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2015, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-word-etymologies-you-realise-after-the-millionth-time/711958/70 "2015-02-25T15:34:48Z")
Reading another thread I just twigged Christmas. It’s a Cathlolic thing, right? Mass? ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2015, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-word-etymologies-you-realise-after-the-millionth-time/711958/71 "2015-02-25T15:38:07Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > Are we sure about this? > > I thought it was a fishing metaphor. You throw out sucker bait into the water so that fish will more readily bite your hook. FWIW, here is etymonline’s take on it: > [@](#): > > sucker (n.) Look up sucker at [Dictionary.com](http://Dictionary.com) > “young mammal before it is weaned,” late 14c., agent noun from suck. Slang meaning “person who is easily deceived” is first attested 1836, American English, on notion of naivete; but another theory traces the slang meaning to the fish called a sucker (1753), on the notion of being easy to catch in their annual migrations (the fish so called from the shape of its mouth). As a type of candy from 1823; especially “lollipop” by 1907. Meaning “shoot from the base of a tree or plant” is from 1570s. Also the old name of inhabitants of Illinois. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2015, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-word-etymologies-you-realise-after-the-millionth-time/711958/72 "2015-02-25T18:03:33Z")
> [@BOOM](#): > > Reading another thread I just twigged Christmas. It’s a Cathlolic thing, right? Mass? You’re right on the etymology (Christ’s Mass)…but Mass is hardly a Catholic-only thing, and the name goes back to well before that’s a meaningful distinction in Western Christianity. ---
**Author:** ![Lorene89095](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a8b319/32.png) [@Lorene89095](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lorene89095)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2015, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-word-etymologies-you-realise-after-the-millionth-time/711958/73 "2015-02-25T18:12:56Z")
Window = wind door ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Wayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4bbf92/32.png) [@Charlie\_Wayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Wayne)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2015, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-word-etymologies-you-realise-after-the-millionth-time/711958/74 "2015-02-25T18:38:31Z")
I have often wondered about the etymology of words like millionth, billionth, trillionth, etc. I know that it looks fairly obvious. But how and why would such words all end with the same kind of suffix? It is a real puzzler to me. And to terentii, I would just like to say that I did not see your post until after I had made mine and it just made me think of an old but quite well known English phrase. I hope that I am correct in assuming that your primary language is not English. But, whether it is or whether it’s not, it still applies and I will send you a PM with the name of that phrase. However, I would hope that you would keep that name between the two of us. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2015, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-word-etymologies-you-realise-after-the-millionth-time/711958/75 "2015-02-25T18:40:02Z")
> [@Lorene89095](#): > > Window = wind door Actually, it’s “wind eye.” ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2015, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-word-etymologies-you-realise-after-the-millionth-time/711958/76 "2015-02-25T18:40:20Z")
Santa Claus … Saint NICK-laus (St. Nicholas) Although I didn’t realize it- I read it somewhere. If it’s incorrect, I’m sure someone will tell me. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2015, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-word-etymologies-you-realise-after-the-millionth-time/711958/77 "2015-02-25T18:53:53Z")
> [@TreacherousCretin](#): > > Santa Claus … Saint NICK-laus (St. Nicholas) By way of the Dutch version, _Sinterklaas_. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2015, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-word-etymologies-you-realise-after-the-millionth-time/711958/78 "2015-02-25T20:32:53Z")
> [@Charlie\_Wayne](#): > > I have often wondered about the etymology of words like millionth, billionth, trillionth, etc. > > I know that it looks fairly obvious. But how and why would such words all end with the same kind of suffix? It is a real puzzler to me. For the same reason we have fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, and tenth. Admittedly first second and third are irregular, but once we get up to four we give up and have regular -th’s from there on out. ---
**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 26, 2015, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-word-etymologies-you-realise-after-the-millionth-time/711958/79 "2015-02-26T02:51:28Z")
Here’s a couple of things about where -th for ordinal numbers in English comes from: [http://mathforum.org/library/drmath/view/60735.html](http://mathforum.org/library/drmath/view/60735.html) [http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Old\_English/Numbers](http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Old_English/Numbers) ---
**Author:** ![cjepson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2015, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-word-etymologies-you-realise-after-the-millionth-time/711958/80 "2015-02-26T18:01:27Z")
There are a lot of words that are basically slurred versions of other words, and for many of these, it took me an absurdly long time to make the connection… I just accepted the slurred versions as words in their own right. For example, I can remember the “light bulb” sensation when I realized that “skeeter” was just a truncated version of the word “mosquito” rather than, I don’t know, a separate word meaning “something that skeets”. It even took me a while to get the fact that “Injun” is a two-syllable version of the word “Indian”. I had a similar experience suddenly realizing that “Eeyore” was named after the stereotypical noise a donkey makes. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-word-etymologies-you-realise-after-the-millionth-time/711958.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-word-etymologies-you-realise-after-the-millionth-time/711958.md?page=5)