Etymology — The Origins of English Words

From howl + -er. Some senses are derivatives of the intensifier "howling", as in "howling wilderness", (Deuteronomy 32:10)

PIE word *méǵh₂s From Middle English maisterli, from maister (“leader, ruler; high official; official in charge of a place; person in control; employer; owner; schoolmaster, teacher; scholar, sage; holder of a master's degree; religious teacher; master craftsman; expert; magician; social superior; husband; lover; Jesus Christ; a god; male stud animal”) + -li (suffix forming adjectives). Maister is derived from Old English mæġester (“master”) and Old French maistre (“master”) (modern French maître), both from Latin magister (“teacher; master”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *méǵh₂s (“big, great”). The English word is analysable as master + -ly.

First used in English in the mid 15th century; from Latin populosus (“full of people, populous”).

From nectar + -ous.

From master + work.

From land + mass.

From Middle English ordeynen, from Old French ordiner, from Latin ordinare (“to order”), from ordo (“order”). Doublet of ordinate.

From Middle French intempérance, from Latin intemperantia.

From Old English ræfter, of Germanic origin, related to the origin of raft.

First attested between 1350 and 1400 from Middle English putrefaccioun, from Old French putrefaccïon, from Latin putrefactiō, from putrefactus, perfect passive participle of putrefaciō (“become rotten”)

From 1599 or earlier (1530 in a Scottish document), apparently from Shakespeare with this spelling. Perhaps from Middle English mewen (“to whimper”) + -le (frequentative suffix).

From Latin pictus + -o- + -gram.

* (surname) Altered spelling of Mohan or Mahoney.

From François Rabelais' character Pantagruel, + -ian.

Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek προσωποποιία (prosōpopoiía, “dramatization, the putting of speeches into the mouths of characters”). By surface analysis, prosopo- + -poeia.

First attested in 1517; either borrowed from Middle French noviciat, novitiat or from Medieval Latin noviciātus, novitiātus (“a novitiate”), from Latin novicius, novitius + -ātus (see -ate (forming nouns denoting a rank or office)), from novus (“new”). Sense 1 is not attested in cognates.

From Middle French mulcter (“to fine, punish”), from Latin mulcta (“penalty, fine”). Possibly a doublet of milk.

From Latin remediare.

From Scots pernickety, persnickety, apparently from per- + nick (“a notch, mark, cutting retort”) + -et (“-ed”) + -y; equivalent to English per- + nick + -ety; literally, “marked up”, then “overly precise”. The alternative form persnickety, with s, may be due to substitution of Scots sneck (“a cut, notch”) for nick. Compare also Scots variants pernicked, pernicket, pirnicky, and pernicky.

From Middle English preceptor, preceptur, from Latin praeceptor (“commander; instructor”), from the verb praecipiō + -or (“-er: forming agent nouns”), from prae- (“pre-, fore-: before”) + capiō (“to take; to get, to take in, to understand”).

From Medieval Latin intrōmissiō, intrōmissiōn- (“introduction, admission; usurpation”), intro- (“into”) + missiō (“sending”), from Latin intrōmissus (“sent in, introduced, let in, admitted”), perfect passive participle of intrōmittō (“send in, let in”).

From Middle English hirlyng, from Old English hȳrling (“hireling, employee”), from Proto-West Germanic *hūʀijuling. Cognate with West Frisian hierling, Dutch huurling (“hireling, mercenary”), German Low German Hüürling, German Heuerling. By surface analysis, hire + -ling.

Partly borrowed from Middle French provocateur and its etymon Latin prōvocātor, and partly from provocate + -or. Doublet of provocateur.

Back-formation from gyration, on the basis of -ate (verb-forming suffix), from gyre (“to spin around; to gyrate, to whirl; (rare) to make (something) spin or whirl around; to spin, to whirl”) + -ation (suffix indicating actions or processes), further from Late Middle English giren (“to turn (something) away; to cause (something) to revolve or rotate; to travel in a circle”), from Old French girer (“to turn”), from Latin gȳrō (“to turn in a circle, rotate; to circle or revolve around”), from gȳrus (“circle; circular motion; circuit, course”) + -ō (first conjugation verb-forming suffix), from Ancient Greek γῦρος (gûros, “a circle, a ring”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gew- (“to bend; to curve”). By surface analysis, gyre + -ate (verb-forming suffix).