# Unusual word origins **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 1, 2016, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-word-origins/764635 "2016-09-01T05:37:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2016, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-word-origins/764635/1 "2016-09-01T05:37:47Z")
Sometimes a word in some language has a literal or original meaning and then develops an additional (usually figurative) meaning that’s not especially close to the original. And then the word is borrowed into English (or another language) with only the secondary meaning. Which makes the word seem to have a rather unusual origin. Here’s a few examples: bonanza (Spanish) calm sea or fair weather eclair (French) lightning fiasco (Italian) to make a bottle of strudel (German) whirlpool Any others? ---
**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:** [September 1, 2016, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-word-origins/764635/2 "2016-09-01T11:31:37Z")
Amateur – French for “lover” ---
**Author:** ![ashtayk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e68b1a/32.png) [@ashtayk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ashtayk)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2016, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-word-origins/764635/3 "2016-09-01T16:18:19Z")
“Khaki” Hindi for dirt colored. Was initially adopted as the color of the British Army uniform. Has now come to be used as a generic term for business casual cotton pants. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2016, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-word-origins/764635/4 "2016-09-01T16:52:55Z")
Canary bird - [A twisted etymological path](https://johnansell.wordpress.com/2010/04/06/word-story-canary/) ---
**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:** [September 1, 2016, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-word-origins/764635/5 "2016-09-01T17:30:25Z")
Turtle. Originally,the name of a bird. After the Norman conquest, the French “tortule” became conflated with the bird through folk etymology. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2016, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-word-origins/764635/6 "2016-09-01T17:36:03Z")
[Average](http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/average.aspx) > [@](#): > > ORIGIN: late 15th cent.: from French _avarie_ ‘damage to ship or cargo,’ earlier ‘customs duty,’ from Italian _avaria_, from Arabic _'awār_ ‘damage to goods’; the suffix -age is on the pattern of damage. Originally denoting a charge or customs duty payable by the owner of goods to be shipped, the term later denoted the financial liability from goods lost or damaged at sea, and specifically the equitable apportionment of this between the owners of the vessel and the cargo (late 16th cent.); this gave rise to the general sense of the equalizing out of gains and losses by calculating the mean (mid 18th cent.). ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2016, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-word-origins/764635/7 "2016-09-01T17:38:20Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > fiasco (Italian) to make a bottle of Fiascos are often the result of consuming too much of a bottle’s contents, hence the term. It’s also related to the English word “flask”. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2016, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-word-origins/764635/8 "2016-09-01T18:28:04Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > Sometimes a word in some language has a literal or original meaning and then develops an additional (usually figurative) meaning that’s not especially close to the original. And then the word is borrowed into English (or another language) with only the secondary meaning. Which makes the word seem to have a rather unusual origin. Here’s a few examples: > > bonanza (Spanish) calm sea or fair weather Or abundance. The root is _bueno_, good (or rather, the Latin). What I don’t understand is what part do you consider the unusual origin. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2016, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-word-origins/764635/9 "2016-09-01T18:31:50Z")
Thanks for the contributions. I realize that I forgot something in the OP. I’m especially interested in words that are still in the original language with the same spelling. Although I don’t mind hearing about others words – etymology is generally quite interesting. > [@JKellyMap](#): > > Amateur – French for “lover” This one is slightly misleading. That is, if my French-English dictionary is correct, it means a non-romantic lover, lover of art or sports or something. But still that’s the kind of thing I’m looking for. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2016, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-word-origins/764635/10 "2016-09-01T18:39:37Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > This one is slightly misleading. That is, if my French-English dictionary is correct, it means a non-romantic lover, lover of art or sports or something. But still that’s the kind of thing I’m looking for. It means that you do whatever the task is for love of it, not money, as the professional does. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2016, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-word-origins/764635/11 "2016-09-01T18:43:05Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > Or abundance. The root is _bueno_, good (or rather, the Latin). What I don’t understand is what part do you consider the unusual origin. That may be a function of the etymology given by Merriam-Webster. They just say “calm sea”, which is a long way semantically to “a rich mineral deposit”, the original English meaning. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2016, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-word-origins/764635/12 "2016-09-01T18:46:55Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > It means that you do whatever the task is for love of it, not money, as the professional does. Of course. It’s just that “lover” without modification in English usually means a romantic lover. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2016, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-word-origins/764635/13 "2016-09-01T19:44:20Z")
The color pink is [named after](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pink#Etymology_and_definitions) a flower, pinks. And was first used for centuries as a verb, “to pink”, as in to cut fabric in a way that resembles the frilly edge of the flower. Thus the type of scissors called “pinking shears”, a name that always baffled me until this subject came up. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2016, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-word-origins/764635/14 "2016-09-01T20:33:06Z")
“Love”, as in the tennis term for zero, comes from the French “L’oeuf”, egg. As in, a goose egg. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2016, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-word-origins/764635/15 "2016-09-01T23:22:24Z")
“Halcyon” comes from the Greek word for the kingfisher because it was thought that the kingfisher could make water calm in order to build a floating nest. ---
**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:** [September 2, 2016, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-word-origins/764635/16 "2016-09-02T02:43:04Z")
The word “adobe” comes down to us from ancient Egypt. From the OED: > [@](#): > > Spanish adobe unburnt brick dried in the sun (13th cent.; 1157 as †adove , but earlier currency is implied by the derivative adobera ‘place where such bricks are made, mould used to make such bricks’ (1062 as †adovera )) \< Arabic al-ṭūb \< al- the + ṭūb brick ( \< Coptic tōb \< ancient Egyptian tb \< Dbt ). ---
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2016, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-word-origins/764635/17 "2016-09-02T04:54:06Z")
I think the word “escalate” has strange origins. It is a common enough word, used daily in the news and elsewhere. I always thought it had been around forever, and that “escalator” (moving stairways) came from it. It is the other way around. “Escalator” was thought up out of thin air as the name of the stairs and escalate, meaning “to increase rapidly”, came from the product name. Dennis ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2016, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-word-origins/764635/18 "2016-09-02T06:59:52Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > That may be a function of the etymology given by Merriam-Webster. They just say “calm sea”, which is a long way semantically to “a rich mineral deposit”, the original English meaning. Ah, yes, that so frequent “the first answer is the right answer” mindset which I hate so much in translations. [DRAE](http://dle.rae.es/?id=5qW9mKz): From vulgar Latin _bonacia_, a joke on _malacia_ “dead calm”. 1. Good weather at sea. 2. Prosperity. 3. In the “overseas” (colonial) mines, an abundance of mineral. The English meaning is the third one. One I encountered recently and which had me jumping on [m-w](http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/playa) because it made no sense. Apparently, in English playa means “the flat bottom of an undrained desert basin, which sometimes becomes a lake”. Uh… in Spanish it means beach. It can be a beach at a lake, or at the sea, or on a river; it may be sandy, or pebbly, or rocky, but it’s at the edge of the water. Whether it was a joke or someone thinking that playa means “sandy place” I can’t tell. **mixdenny** , wouldn’t escalator come from _escalier_ (stairs), or from _escaler_ (to climb)? Assuming French simply because that tends to be the source of a lot of Romance roots in English. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2016, 9:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-word-origins/764635/19 "2016-09-02T09:29:33Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > Ah, yes, that so frequent “the first answer is the right answer” mindset which I hate so much in translations. > > [DRAE](http://dle.rae.es/?id=5qW9mKz): > From vulgar Latin _bonacia_, a joke on _malacia_ “dead calm”. > > 1. Good weather at sea. > 2. Prosperity. > 3. In the “overseas” (colonial) mines, an abundance of mineral. > > The English meaning is the third one. Thank you for confirming that this seems to be just what I’m looking for. I’m not really sure what your problem is with this one. BTW, the current English meaning is an old TV show staring Loren Greene, Dan Blocker, and Michael Landon. 🙂 > [@](#): > > One I encountered recently and which had me jumping on [m-w](http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/playa) because it made no sense. Apparently, in English playa means “the flat bottom of an undrained desert basin, which sometimes becomes a lake”. > > Uh… in Spanish it means beach. It can be a beach at a lake, or at the sea, or on a river; it may be sandy, or pebbly, or rocky, but it’s at the edge of the water. Whether it was a joke or someone thinking that playa means “sandy place” I can’t tell. The wiki page on [dry lake](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dry_lake) just says that that’s what dry lakes are called in parts of Mexico and the US southwest. Doesn’t say why. But why are you getting upset over etymology? If you’ve studied word origins at all, you should be aware that they don’t always make sense. > [@](#): > > **mixdenny** , wouldn’t escalator come from _escalier_ (stairs), or from _escaler_ (to climb)? Assuming French simply because that tends to be the source of a lot of Romance roots in English. That’s probably where the trademark Escalator came from, but the verb _escalate_ came from the trademark. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2016, 9:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-word-origins/764635/20 "2016-09-02T09:31:41Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > Thank you for confirming that this seems to be just what I’m looking for. I’m not really sure what your problem is with this one. Just that until you explained a bit more I wasn’t sure what were you looking for. I’ve never encountered an etymology which didn’t make sense. Sometimes they include misunderstandings or malapropisms, but they always make sense. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-word-origins/764635.md?page=2)