# Your favorite unexpected etymology **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 22, 2013, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-unexpected-etymology/661641 "2013-06-22T17:12:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2013, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-unexpected-etymology/661641/61 "2013-06-25T00:51:06Z")
> [@Nzinga\_Seated](#): > > Then where does it come from? Come on, man. I’m not **Ximenean** but I’ll answer anyway: Italian “miniatura” art of illuminating a manuscript, from Medieval Latin, from Latin “miniatus”, past participle of “miniare” to color with minium, from “minium” red lead ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2013, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-unexpected-etymology/661641/62 "2013-06-25T01:11:46Z")
> [@suranyi](#): > > I’m not **Ximenean** but I’ll answer anyway: > > Italian “miniatura” art of illuminating a manuscript, from Medieval Latin, from Latin “miniatus”, past participle of “miniare” to color with minium, from “minium” red lead Thanks. I looked it up, but your post was clearer for me. ---
**Author:** ![Battle\_Pope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@Battle\_Pope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Battle_Pope)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2013, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-unexpected-etymology/661641/63 "2013-06-25T01:23:15Z")
A _Mamba_ is a deadly, poisonous snake, while a _Mambo_ is a rather festive Carribean dance. I got nothin’ ---
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2013, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-unexpected-etymology/661641/64 "2013-06-25T01:30:33Z")
The word “fiasco” (a colossal failure or general botch job) comes from the Italian term for “bottle”, and is related to “flask”. [This page](http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=20001207) discusses the etymology in some detail, and concludes that the likeliest explanation is that if a glassmaker produced a flawed specimen of what was intended to be artistic, he could always salvage the creation by turning it into a common bottle. ---
**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:** [June 25, 2013, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-unexpected-etymology/661641/65 "2013-06-25T04:12:01Z")
Zaragoza, Spain (Saragossa in English) is so named b/c Caesar founded a city there called Caesaraugusta way back when, which the Moors captured and named Saraqusta, which eventually became Zaragoza. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2013, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-unexpected-etymology/661641/66 "2013-06-25T05:12:24Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > Spanish has a word that weirdly went the other way – retaining an unnecessary “suffix.” Their word for “decal/sticker” is “calcamanía,” which originally meant just what it looks like: “sticker madness.” It referred to some widespread craze for stickers some decade or other, but later became the word for the stickers themselves. It would be like if, in some countries, the Beatles were called “Beatlemania.” Calcomanía, at least in Spain, although I’ve seen it with all-as before. _Calcar_ means “to draw by transparency” (for example, by placing a piece of semitransparent paper on top of the original, or by placing both against a source of light such as a window"; a _calco_ is the drawing such obtained. In Spain _calcomanías_ aren’t stickers, they’re temporary tattoos: the way they’re applied is similar to how you can obtain a _calco_, not from a drawing, but from a cutout. > [@pancakes3](#): > > I assume that also works for “sombrero”? Yup, which is the Spanish word for hat (in general, not only the type for which that word is used in English); after all, a hat is just a wearable shadow. A cap gets a different name: _gorra_ (RAE says “etimology unknown”), which gives us _gorrón_, someone who borrows without intent to return (from beggars using a cap to collect money). > [@MaxTheVool](#): > > “Grenade” comes from “Pomegranate”, because a small container with a hardish shell full of shrapnel is not unlike a pomegranate in form. > [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > “pomegranate” breaks down further as “grains of fruit,” with “pome-” coming from latin “pomum”. It’s where we get “pomade” (which used to be made with apples), “pomodoro,” (tomato-based pasta sauce) and “pommes frites,” which is made from “pomme de terre” (“apple of the earth,” i.e. potatoes). Likewise, “grain” comes from latin “granum,” which is where we get granules, granulomas, and other fun words. Corrupt “granum” a bit further, and you get corn (a grain). “Corned beef” is beef which has been preserved with “corns” (grains) of salt. The reason the so-busy coat of arms of Spain includes a pomegranate in its peak is to represent Granada, that being the word for both the fruit and the weapon as well as the name of the city and of the last Taifa. Its color is called _granate_ in Spanish: that is also the name of a gem of that color in several languages. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2013, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-unexpected-etymology/661641/67 "2013-06-25T05:31:02Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > According to Chef Michael Smith, the word “restaurant” comes from establishments serving “restorative meals” that opened in Paris after the French Revolution. **Bistro** comes from the Russian **Bystro** (быстро) which means “quickly”. When Russian soldiers occupied Paris after the first defeat of Napoleon in 1814 they determined to take advantage of their holiday in Paris, because they knew they were going to have to march back to feudalistic Russia fairly soon. They would sit in the restaurants and cafes of Paris demanding to be wined and dined, shouting _bystro bystro_ to make the wait staff rush to their every whim. > [@MaxTheVool](#): > > “Grenade” comes from “Pomegranate”, because a small container with a hardish shell full of shrapnel is not unlike a pomegranate in form. **Pomegranate** is also involved in the Australian term **Pom** for an English person. It started off as Immigrant which (as so many early inhabitants were Cockneys) became the rhyming slang Jimmy Grant, then Pomegranate, then Pommie, then Pom. ---
**Author:** ![flatlined](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb9ed0/32.png) [@flatlined](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flatlined)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2013, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-unexpected-etymology/661641/68 "2013-06-25T06:20:35Z")
I’m learning Latin because I love words. [Javalina](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peccary) got named such because the Romans liked to hunt wild pigs with javelins. Commode means comfort. ---
**Author:** ![vontsira](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/51bf81/32.png) [@vontsira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vontsira)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2013, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-unexpected-etymology/661641/69 "2013-06-25T07:25:34Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#): > > English had the equivalent word “Decalcomania” but sensibly dropped the suffix, to create the word “decal”. And I gather that the slang word “cockamamy” = weird, crazy; is a corruption of “decalcomania”. It would seem that a lot of people thought that stickers / decals / “transfers” were a very silly invention… ---
**Author:** ![Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/les_espaces_du_sommeil/32/308_2.png) [@Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Les_Espaces_Du_Sommeil)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2013, 9:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-unexpected-etymology/661641/70 "2013-06-25T09:43:19Z")
> [@Koxinga](#): > > Mine is a recent discovery: _Umbrella_ combines the Latin _umbra_, “shadow,” with the French diminutive “-ella.” > > Umbrella = “Little shadow,” to shield one from the sun. On a related note, “cello” comes from “violoncello” which literally means “little big viol” with both an augmentative and a diminutive (viol-on-cello) as it was the smallest of the bigger instruments of the family. ---
**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:** [June 25, 2013, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-unexpected-etymology/661641/71 "2013-06-25T11:09:55Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > Corrupt “granum” a bit further, and you get corn (a grain). Not quite. Corn is a cousin of _granum_, not a descendant - it comes from a Germanic word that shares a theorized PIE root with _granum_. ---
**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:** [June 25, 2013, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-unexpected-etymology/661641/72 "2013-06-25T11:19:06Z")
> [@Morbo](#): > > Zaragoza, Spain (Saragossa in English) is so named b/c Caesar founded a city there called Caesaraugusta way back when, which the Moors captured and named Saraqusta, which eventually became Zaragoza. See also: Jersey (Caesarea, one of the Channel Islands), and thus New Jersey. There are plenty of similar examples (for Augustus, too). ---
**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:** [June 25, 2013, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-unexpected-etymology/661641/73 "2013-06-25T11:21:34Z")
> [@vontsira](#): > > And I gather that the slang word “cockamamy” = weird, crazy; is a corruption of “decalcomania”. It would seem that a lot of people thought that stickers / decals / “transfers” were a very silly invention… I haven’t looked it up, but I wouldn’t be surprised if you were right! By “gathered” do you mean that you came up with this idea on your own? If so, wrong or right (but especially if you’re right), you are really good at this. ---
**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:** [June 25, 2013, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-unexpected-etymology/661641/74 "2013-06-25T11:28:26Z")
> [@Tethered\_Kite](#): > > This follows for the Spanish _sombrilla_, _sombra_ meaning shadow. Interestingly, the Afrikaans is _sambreel_ (that “ee” is pronounced somewhat like English “ear”) which tells me they got it from the Spanish or Portuguese. There’s a South African delicacy of minced dried fruit, sometimes salted, a little like thicker tart fruit leather, that is called _mebos_. I’ve discovered it’s likely named after the Japanese pickled, salty plum relative, _umeboshi_ (from _ume_, the plum variety itself). Love to know what the link is there. Probably the Portuguese again, or the Dutch in Nagasaki. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2013, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-unexpected-etymology/661641/75 "2013-06-25T11:55:31Z")
> [@vontsira](#): > > And I gather that the slang word “cockamamy” = weird, crazy; is a corruption of “decalcomania”. It would seem that a lot of people thought that stickers / decals / “transfers” were a very silly invention… [decal](http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=decal&allowed_in_frame=0), too. ---
**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:** [June 25, 2013, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-unexpected-etymology/661641/76 "2013-06-25T12:39:42Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > Its color is called _granate_ in Spanish: that is also the name of a gem of that color in several languages. Yes, it’s _garnet_ in English (see also: _granite_) ---
**Author:** ![vontsira](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/51bf81/32.png) [@vontsira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vontsira)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2013, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-unexpected-etymology/661641/77 "2013-06-25T12:44:38Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > I haven’t looked it up, but I wouldn’t be surprised if you were right! By “gathered” do you mean that you came up with this idea on your own? If so, wrong or right (but especially if you’re right), you are really good at this. I believe I read about “cockamamy”, in a book (by Leo Rosten??) on American Jewish adaptations of / influence on, the English language in America. Author was certainly implying that the expression originated in the Jewish milieu in the US. ---
**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:** [June 25, 2013, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-unexpected-etymology/661641/78 "2013-06-25T12:51:10Z")
The word “petard” from the phrase “hoist by his own petard” refers to a particular type of small-charge explosive and is derived from a French phrase meaning “fart to excess.” ---
**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:** [June 25, 2013, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-unexpected-etymology/661641/79 "2013-06-25T12:52:27Z")
The modern word _genteel_ comes from the mediaeval English/French _gentil_ referring to members of the aristocracy, which was in turn derived from the Latin _gens_ meaning “clan.” ---
**Author:** ![RobDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f07891/32.png) [@RobDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RobDog)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2013, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-unexpected-etymology/661641/80 "2013-06-25T12:59:34Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > The word “petard” from the phrase “hoist by his own petard” refers to a particular type of small-charge explosive and is derived from a French phrase meaning “fart to excess.” Hmm. Does that have any relationship to legendary legendary French farter Le Petomane? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-unexpected-etymology/661641.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-unexpected-etymology/661641.md?page=5)