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- What are some good sites for researching etymology? [closed]
Here is an example of a directed graph: It works in multiple languages, providing etymology data, descendants, related words and more It also has a pretty quick search, and the index is constantly growing in the number of words and slowly growing in accuracy too
- Etymology of div meaning a stupid or foolish person
Acting like a div yesterday: a stupid or foolish person I started to wonder how this term of abuse came about Urban Dictionary has a quaint tale: Actually originates from prison slang in the UK
- etymology - Why do people say buck for a dollar? - English Language . . .
The word has been in use in this sense since 1748 according to etymonline I would guess most currencies have changed their designs quite significantly since then, and the term likely didn't come from any design on a coin at all The fact that there happens to be a buck on the 1 rand coin is probably either coincidental or reversely causal: they could have put the buck on the coin because a
- etymology - What gave terrific a positive connotation? - English . . .
Possible Duplicate: How and why have some words changed to a complete opposite? I have noticed that: horrible means bad terrible means bad horrific means bad So why does terrific mean good?
- etymology - What is the origin of the phrase hunky dory? - English . . .
Nobody really knows There's no agreed derivation of the expression 'hunky-dory' It is American and the earliest example of it in print that I have found is from a collection of US songs, George Christy's Essence of Old Kentucky, 1862 We do know that 'hunky-dory' wasn't conjured from nowhere but was preceded by earlier words, i e 'hunkey', meaning 'fit and healthy' and 'hunkum-bunkum
- etymology - Why is pineapple in English but ananas in all other . . .
In Spanish, it's also called piña The etymology of "pineapple" and a few other words is nicely illustrated at Europe etymology maps
- etymology - What is the origin of the phrase playing hooky? - English . . .
What does the word "hooky" mean in the phrase "play hooky" (skipping class truancy) and where did it come from?
- history - Is the etymology of salary a myth? - English Language . . .
2 Other answers touch on the history of the word salary as it connects back to Latin I'll try to trace a different question - the development of the salarius = soldiers are paid salt folk etymology in English The etymology is already present in English in the early 19th century For instance, the first edition of Webster's Dictionary (1828) says:
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