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Post by ARENA on Nov 27, 2016 12:12:36 GMT
Dynast and dynasty both descend from the Greek verb dynasthai, which means "to be able" or "to have power." Dynasty came to prominence in English first; it has been part of our language since at least the 14th century. Dynast took its place in the linguistic family line in the early 1600s, and it has been used to describe sovereigns and other rulers ever since.
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Post by althea on Nov 28, 2016 17:17:05 GMT
From which of course we get; gentleman. I wonder if gentile is derived from the same source? It seems likely. |
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Post by althea on Nov 28, 2016 17:24:20 GMT
I have remembered a few Yiddish words. Kvetch - to complain.
Shlep - to move and carry things.
Klutz - an awkward person.
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Post by ARENA on Nov 28, 2016 21:50:46 GMT
From which of course we get; gentleman. I wonder if gentile is derived from the same source? It seems likely. Gentile (from Latin gentilis, by the French gentil, feminine: gentille, meaning of or belonging to a clan or tribe) is an ethnonym that commonly means non-Jew. Other groups that claim Israelite heritage sometimes use the term to describe outsiders |
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Post by ARENA on Nov 29, 2016 11:54:03 GMT
CABBAGE
Does the "filching" meaning of cabbage bring to mind an image of thieves sneaking out of farm fields with armloads of pilfered produce? If so, you're in for a surprise. Today's featured word has nothing to do with the leafy vegetable. It originally referred to the practice among tailors of pocketing part of the cloth given to them to make garments. The verb was cut from the same cloth as an older British noun cabbage, which meant "pieces of cloth left in cutting out garments and traditionally kept by tailors as perquisites." Both of those ethically questionable cabbages probably derived from cabas, the Middle French word for "cheating or theft." The cabbage found in coleslaw, on the other hand, comes from Middle English caboche, which meant "head."
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Post by althea on Nov 29, 2016 17:03:27 GMT
I saw a TV programme about a big store having a sale.The manager asked the staff to bring all the cabbage out from the store room and put it on the racks.It was the clothes dept. and I thought cabbage was an odd word for tat.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 5, 2016 7:14:51 GMT
I saw a TV programme about a big store having a sale.The manager asked the staff to bring all the cabbage out from the store room and put it on the racks.It was the clothes dept. and I thought cabbage was an odd word for tat. I remember my mother speaking of ' Cabbaging away' meaning hiding away. |
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Post by ARENA on Dec 6, 2016 11:56:22 GMT
SALIENT
Salient first popped up in English in the 16th century as a term of heraldry meaning "rampant but leaning forward as if leaping." By the mid-17th century, it had leaped into more general use in the senses of "moving by leaps or springs" or "spouting forth." Those senses aren't too much of a jump from the word's parent, the Latin verb salire, which means "to leap." Salire also occurs in the etymologies of some other English words, including somersault and sally, as well as Salientia, the name for an order of amphibians that includes frogs, toads, and other notable jumpers. Today, salient is usually used to describe things that are physically prominent (such as a salient nose) or that stand out figuratively (such as the salient features of a painting or the salient points in an argument).
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Post by ARENA on Dec 8, 2016 11:27:08 GMT
QUI VIVE
When a sentinel guarding a French castle in days of yore cried, "Qui vive?," your life depended upon your answer. The question the sentinel was asking was "Long live who?" The correct answer was usually something like "Long live the king!" Visitors not answering the question this way were regarded as suspect, and so to be "on the qui vive" meant to be on the alert or lookout, and qui vive came to mean "alert" or "lookout" soon afterward. Nowadays, the term is most often used in the phrase "on the qui vive," meaning "on the lookout."
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Post by goldelox on Dec 15, 2016 16:05:07 GMT
JUBILEE
According to Leviticus, every 50th year was to be a time when Hebrew slaves were set free, lands were given back to their former owners, and the fields were not harvested. This year of liberty was announced when a ram's horn was blown. In Hebrew, that ceremonial horn was called a yōbhēl, and the celebratory year took its name from that of the horn. As the Bible was translated into other languages, the concept of the yōbhēl spread around the world, as did its name (albeit with spelling modifications). In Latin, yōbhēl was transcribed as jubilaeus (influenced by Latin jubilare, meaning "to let out joyful shouts"). French-speakers adopted the word as jubilé, and English-speakers created jubilee from the French and Latin forms.
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Post by ARENA on Dec 16, 2016 9:39:16 GMT
GENUINE
In ancient Rome, if a man accepted a newborn child as his, he placed it on his knees.
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Post by althea on Dec 20, 2016 11:54:41 GMT
This is a thread for words. I have a few for you,Arena.
You spend a lot of time keeping this forum entertaining for us and it is appreciated.
Thank you.
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Post by ARENA on Dec 21, 2016 13:24:28 GMT
Thank You Althea, nice to get a mention........  |
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Post by althea on Dec 21, 2016 17:32:57 GMT
"Shoo in" is an often used phrase lately,so I looked it up.
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the first use of the term in print dates back to 1928, and the original sense of the term was not as innocent as you'd think. A "shoo in" was originally a horse that was expected to win a race, not by virtue of its speed or endurance, but because the race was fixed. The sardonic "subtext" of the original usage, now lost, was that the designated horse would win even if it were so lackadaisical in its performance that it simply wandered somehow up to the finish line and had to be "shooed in" to victory."
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Post by ARENA on Dec 29, 2016 9:46:52 GMT
DISMAL
'Dismal' is short for 'diēs mali': 'unlucky days' in the medieval calendar said to bring sadness and gloom.
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