Jumbo: Jumbo was originally the word for “elephant” in a west African language. It took on the meaning of “large” when an elephant in London zoo was named Jumbo in 1860.
Quarantine:Quarantine comes from the French “qarante” for 40. Whenever a ship arriving in port was suspected of being infected it had to forego contact with the shore for a period of about 40 days.
Hazard:Hazard comes from the Arabic “al zahr” which means “the dice”. The term came to be associated with dice during the Crusades and eventually took on a negative connotation.
Disaster: Disaster comes from the Greek “dis” meaning bad, and “aster”, meaning star. The ancient Greeks used to blame calamities on unfavorable planetary positions.
Lemur: Lemur comes from a Latin word that means “spirit of the dead”. The person that named them cited their nocturnal nature as a source of influence.
Loophole: Loophole (or murder hole) originally referred to the slits in castle walls that archers would shoot their arrows through.
Nice: Latin word for ‘Ignorance’
Muscle: Muscle comes from a Latin meaning “little mouse”. Apparently people thought muscles looked like little mice under their skin.
War: Germanic for ‘To confuse’
Heresy: Greek for Choice
Pamphlet: Title of a Latin love poem, Pamphilus that was supposedly passed from person to person
Lunatic: Originated from ‘Luna’ meaning Moon. It was strongly believed that mental stability was always affected by moon
Berserk: Berserk comes from ancient Norse fighters, known as Berserkers
Jeans: Named after their place of origin, Genoa, Italy
Curfew: Curfew comes from a combination of two French words – “couvrir” and “feu”. Literally this means to “cover fire”.
Lukewarm: It’s a redundant. In Middle English, Luke meant Warm, so lukewarm technically means Warm Warm
Soccer: The word Soccer originated in the United Kingdom. Association Football was shortened to “socca” (derived from the middle of the word association). This turned into the word “soccer” that is still used in the US, Canada, and Australia.
Mortgage: French for Death Pledge
Nightmare: Mare is an old English for Demon, who suffocates you in sleep
Denims: Originally Surge de Nimes, meaning fabric from Nimes. Slowly the surge ‘vanished’ and left only ‘de Nimes’
Bucks: Slang for American Dollars. It originated from the fact that on the American frontier deerskins were used as units of commerce.
Addicts: In ancient Rome, soldiers were awarded slaves known as “addicts”, which is the Latin word for slave. It eventually came to refer to a person who was a slave to anyone or anything.
Noon: Latin for “nonahora” or “ninth hour”. In ancient Rome noon was actually around 3pm
Malaria:Latin phrase “mal aria” meaning “bad air” and was used to describe the atmosphere around the swamps of Rome.
Tragedy: Greek word for “tragodia” which means “song of the male goat”.
By: Archa Davea
