Answering the age-old question, "Why do we say it?" this handy dictionary gives the intriguing origins of hundreds of everyday words and expressions. How did lollipops get their name? (In the northern part of England, "lolly" means "tongue.") What is "long" doing in the word "longshor...
How did Sunday get its name in the Hindu calendar? What does 'on the first day of Christmas' mean? What day is the Sabbath in the New Testament? Who created Norse mythology? Where did advent calendars originate? What are the origins of Jainism? What is Pagan revelry? What is the Jewish...
It forms all or part of:catholic;consolidate;consolidation;holism;holo-;holocaust;Holocene;hologram;holograph;insouciant;safe;safety;sage(n.1) kind of herb;salubrious;salutary;salute;salvage;salvific;salvo"simultaneous discharge of guns;"save(v.) "deliver from danger;"save(prep.) "except;"solder...
This is a map of the wheel-ruts of modern English. Etymologies are not definitions; they're explanations of what our words meant and how they sounded 600 or 2,000 years ago. Since this dictionary went up, it has benefited from the suggestions of dozens of people I have never met, from...
When the Greeks gave Italia its name, they possibly did so because the indigenous tribes venerated the bull calf. But it may also have been because the Greeks recognized in them a fledging community that might in time grow into a formidable trade partner. ...
it originated in england and it was pretty serious stuff. there was a superstitious belief that it was dangerous to mention the devil by name. at that time, it was like speaking the name of god. this is how all the devil’s nicknames came to be: prince of darkness, the horned one, ...
It literally means “to cause to be wildered.” But what does it mean if you are “wildered” I hear you asking. It means you are “lost in a pathless place” as if in the wild. The wordwilderonly turned up in the early 1600s and there are no specific traces of how the word ...
"indefinite period of tenderness and pleasure experienced by a newly wed couple," 1540s (hony moone), but probably older, fromhoney(n.) in reference to the new marriage's sweetness, andmoon(n.) "month" in reference to how long it probably will last, or from the changing aspect of the...
It literally means “to cause to be wildered.” But what does it mean if you are “wildered” I hear you asking. It means you are “lost in a pathless place” as if in the wild. The wordwilderonly turned up in the early 1600s and there are no specific traces of how the word ...
How did polytheism come to exist, one might ask? Well, examine the people of ancient societies and imagine how they sought to understand the natural world. What makes the rain come down from the clouds? How does the village ensure that there is enough food for the winter months? What are...