# Your favourite etymology trivia! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 27, 2012, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favourite-etymology-trivia/620124 "2012-04-27T13:27:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2012, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favourite-etymology-trivia/620124/41 "2012-04-30T20:09:35Z")
One leading theory (I HOPE it’s true, though I can’t vouch that it is) is that the butterfly gets its name because one of its favorite foods is pollen… which means its poop comes out looking like tiny pieces of butter. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2012, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favourite-etymology-trivia/620124/42 "2012-04-30T20:13:03Z")
> [@scamartistry](#): > > Trivia is from the latin word trivium, tri=triple and via=way. I’d never consider a 3way as trivial. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2012, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favourite-etymology-trivia/620124/43 "2012-04-30T20:14:41Z")
This isn’t etymology, strictly speaking, but it’s interesting anyway. In the English language, almost all the names of common farm animals (pig, cow, chicken, sheep) are of Germanic original. However, almost all of the names for the meats that come from these animals (pork, beef, poultry, mutton) are of French origin. Which sort of makes sense… you have to figure that, in medieval England, it was peasants of German descent who raised the animals and it was rich noblemen of French descent who ate the meat. ---
**Author:** ![ioioio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ioioio/32/316_2.png) [@ioioio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ioioio)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2012, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favourite-etymology-trivia/620124/44 "2012-05-01T02:44:38Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > **1. Bird** > Etymologists aren’t really sure where the word “bird” comes from. I’ve always assumed that the word _bird_ came from the song of the cardinal _birdee birdee birdee_. ---
**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:** [May 1, 2012, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favourite-etymology-trivia/620124/45 "2012-05-01T02:59:16Z")
The distress call \*\*Mayday \*\*comes from the French \*\*m’aidez \*\*(help me) ---
**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:** [May 1, 2012, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favourite-etymology-trivia/620124/46 "2012-05-01T06:33:44Z")
“Coach” is one of the few words in English that derives from Hungarian roots. It ultimately derives from the town of Kocs, about a third of the way from Budapest to Vienna, where a type of horse-drawn carriage was made popular throughout Europe. ---
**Author:** ![scamartistry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/919ad9/32.png) [@scamartistry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scamartistry)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2012, 10:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favourite-etymology-trivia/620124/47 "2012-05-01T10:24:01Z")
The brand name Adidas Originally a shoe company started by two German brothers Rudolf and Adi Dassler. The name came from putting ADI+DASsler. The two brothers later had a fall out and Rudolf went on to start his own shoe company: Puma. ---
**Author:** ![Dave\_Hartwick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7feea3/32.png) [@Dave\_Hartwick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dave_Hartwick)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2012, 10:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favourite-etymology-trivia/620124/48 "2012-05-01T10:51:24Z")
Spaghetti means little strings, vermicelli means little worms, linguine means little tongues. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2012, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favourite-etymology-trivia/620124/49 "2012-05-01T11:47:11Z")
> [@scamartistry](#): > > pretty sure this is urban legend/myth/bill-brysonish. do you have a convincing cite? Richard Shenkman includes this in his book _Legends, Lies, and Cherished Myths of American History_, which is copiously referenced and footnoted, including all claims. I don’t have my copy here, but if you look in there you’ll find references to respectable history journals on this (and his other topics). It seems to be legit. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2012, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favourite-etymology-trivia/620124/50 "2012-05-01T12:31:39Z")
The word _Miniature_ is unrelated to words like _minimum_, _minute_, _minuscule_, _minor_ (which come from Latin _minimus_= small), but derives instead from the Latin _minium_ - red lead - a pigment used to outline illuminated illustrations (of any size, later, small because books got smaller) in manuscripts. ---
**Author:** ![leahcim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b4bc9f/32.png) [@leahcim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leahcim)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2012, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favourite-etymology-trivia/620124/51 "2012-05-01T13:09:25Z")
“Cherry” is taken from the french “cerise” which means exactly that. But the French word sounds like a plural in English, so the English assumed it was a plural (like “cherries”) and invented a the singular “cherry” to have that as its plural. ---
**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:** [May 1, 2012, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favourite-etymology-trivia/620124/52 "2012-05-01T13:14:42Z")
The standard citation on the origin of “O.K.” is Allen Walker Read’s articles in the journal _American Speech_ in 1963 and 1964. You may argue with them, but you’d better read them if you want to convince anybody that the theory that “O.K.” originated as an abbreviation of “oll korrect” in Boston in 1839 is just an urban legend. This is the standard explanation, and Read gave a lot of evidence for it. ---
**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:** [May 1, 2012, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favourite-etymology-trivia/620124/53 "2012-05-01T13:21:51Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > The word _Miniature_ is unrelated to words like _minimum_, _minute_, _minuscule_, _minor_ (which come from Latin _minimus_= small), but derives instead from the Latin _minium_ - red lead - a pigment used to outline illuminated illustrations (of any size, later, small because books got smaller) in manuscripts. That’s cool. THere are actually qute a few pairs of words that AREN’T cognates (or related words in the same language), but sure as heck look like they should be. The English “day”, for example, does NOT come from Latin _dies_, nor from any shared earlier root. (We do get “diurnal” from _dies_, though.) So, the fact that the last syllable of, say, French _mercredi_ sounds just like the last syllable of English “Wednesday” (as pronounced by some Americans, anyway), is just a coincidence. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2012, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favourite-etymology-trivia/620124/54 "2012-05-01T14:06:34Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > The word _Miniature_ is unrelated to words like _minimum_, _minute_, _minuscule_, _minor_ (which come from Latin _minimus_= small), but derives instead from the Latin _minium_ - red lead - a pigment used to outline illuminated illustrations (of any size, later, small because books got smaller) in manuscripts. Actually, _minuscule_ doesn’t quite fit with the others, as the “minu-” rather than “mini-” spelling makes clear (although it is more closely related than “miniature” is). _minuscule_ comes by way of French from Latin _minusculus_, which derives from _minus_. _minimum_, to choose one “mini-” word, comes from Latin _minimus_, which comes from _minor_ ---
**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:** [May 1, 2012, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favourite-etymology-trivia/620124/55 "2012-05-01T14:49:27Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Actually, _minuscule_ doesn’t quite fit with the others, as the “minu-” rather than “mini-” spelling makes clear (although it is more closely related than “miniature” is). _minuscule_ comes by way of French from Latin _minusculus_, which derives from _minus_. > > _minimum_, to choose one “mini-” word, comes from Latin _minimus_, which comes from _minor_ You’re missing the point. All the words except “miniature” (when referring to the craft form) come from the same basic Indo-European root meaning “small”. No sense in picking an arbitrary time horizon (you went for Roman Empire times, it seems) and teasing out the word-paths at that point. Yes, chimpanzees, humans, and sponges are all animals. But… ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2012, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favourite-etymology-trivia/620124/56 "2012-05-01T14:49:27Z")
In English, a zero is sometimes called “a goose egg.” That same figure of speech has long been used in France. In French, the word for egg is “l’oeuf.” And that’s why “love” is the term used for zero in tennis. ---
**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:** [May 1, 2012, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favourite-etymology-trivia/620124/57 "2012-05-01T15:13:51Z")
> [@leahcim](#): > > “Cherry” is taken from the french “cerise” which means exactly that. But the French word sounds like a plural in English, so the English assumed it was a plural (like “cherries”) and invented a the singular “cherry” to have that as its plural. Likewise, \*pea \*is a back formation from _pease_, which sounds like a plural. ---
**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:** [May 1, 2012, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favourite-etymology-trivia/620124/58 "2012-05-01T15:21:31Z")
An apron was oringinally a napron. An adder was a nadder. An auger was a nauger. A nickname as an eke name. And there are a few other examples of these types of faulty separations in English. (“Orange,” however, was never “a norange” in English. The separation had already occurred before being introduced into English. Looks like it happened in French.) ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2012, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favourite-etymology-trivia/620124/59 "2012-05-01T15:37:24Z")
> [@brewha](#): > > I like it! Just like when people refer Leonardo da Vinci as simply da Vinci - they really aren’t saying anything. > > His name literally means: Leonardo from Venice. > > Leonardo makes sense. Leonardo da Vinci makes sense. da Vinci doesn’t. You are correct, except that it means “from [Vinci](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vinci,_Tuscany)”, not “from Venice”. Leonardo was from Tuscany. Also, regarding “trivia”, my dictionary says it is from Latin “trivialis”, meaning “belonging to the streets; common”, which does come from \*trivium \*meaning a junction of three roads. So perhaps Bryson was right? ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2012, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favourite-etymology-trivia/620124/60 "2012-05-01T15:44:25Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > You’re missing the point. All the words except “miniature” (when referring to the craft form) come from the same basic Indo-European root meaning “small”. > > No sense in picking an arbitrary time horizon (you went for Roman Empire times, it seems) and teasing out the word-paths at that point. > > Yes, chimpanzees, humans, and sponges are all animals. But… No, I’m not missing the point, as I quite clearly stated. But “minuscule” is still on its own branchlet away from the others, although not as far removed as c"miniatur". [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favourite-etymology-trivia/620124.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favourite-etymology-trivia/620124.md?page=4)