Etymology — The Origins of English Words

From Middle English ȝerken (“to move suddenly, excite, bind tightly, attack”), from Old English ġearcian (“to prepare, make ready”), compare ġearc (“active, quick”). Cognate with jerk; see yare for more cognates.

From Latin vōciferātiō, from vōciferor (“shout”), from vōx (“voice”) + ferō (“carry”); compare French vocifération.

From Middle English arblast, from Old French arbaleste (modern arbalète), from Late Latin arcuballista, from Latin arcus + ballista.

Inherited from Middle English untreuth, from Old English untrēowþ and unġetrēowþ, from Proto-West Germanic *untriuwiþu and *ungatriuwiþu, equivalent to un- + truth. Cognate with Old High German ungitriuwida.

Inherited from Middle English amenite, amenyte, partly from Middle French amenité and partly from its etymon, Latin amoenitās (“pleasantness, delightfulness”), from amoenus (“pleasant, delightful”), of unknown origin.

Onomatopoeic; variant of whop.

From zealot + -ry.

From Middle English alonnesse; equivalent to alone + -ness.

From wonted + -ly.

From Middle English obaft, baft, baften, from Old English beæftan; be (“by”) (modern English by) + æftan (“behind”) (modern English after). See also aft.

From analgesia (“absence of pain”) + -ic, from New Latin, from Ancient Greek ἀν- (an-, “without”) + ἄλγησις (álgēsis, “sense of pain”), from ἄλγος (álgos, “pain”). Compare -algia.

Blend of wag + dangle, first attested 1810–1820. Alternatively, from an alteration of waggle or wankle.

Mid-15th century; from Middle English alacrite, from Latin alacritās, from alacer (“brisk”) + -itās (“-ity”).

From addle + pated.

From Old French vespre, from Latin vesper (“evening star”). The martini name was coined by English novelist Ian Fleming in 1953 in his novel Casino Royale, where fictional secret agent James Bond concocts the recipe and names it after the character Vesper Lynd.

From wizard + -craft.

From Latin arrogātus, perfect passive participle of adrogō, arrogō (“ask of, adopt, appropriate, assume”), from ad (“to”) + rogō (“ask”).

Of the first sense, derives directly from Hebrew: אֲרִי (arí, “lion”); compare Yiddish: לייב (leyb, “Leib”), English: Leo, Leon, French: Léo, Léon, Czech: Lev, Polish: Lew, Russian: Лев (Lev), and Ukrainian: Лев (Lev).

From Middle English appurtenaunce, from Anglo-Norman apurtenance and Old French apartenance, from apartenir, from Latin appertineō (“to belong, to appertain”). More at appertain. By surface analysis, appertain + -ance.

First attested in 1535. From Middle French abrogation, from Latin abrogātiō (“repealed”), from abrogo, from ab (“from”) + rogo (“ask, inquire”). By surface analysis, ab- + Latin rog- + -ate + -ion.

Borrowed from French apologue, from Latin apologus from Ancient Greek ἀπόλογος (apólogos, “story, tale, fable”) from ἀπό- (apó-, “off, away from”) + λόγος (lógos, “speech”). Equivalent to apo- + -logue.

Coined or borrowed around 1812, from French anonyme, from Ancient Greek ἀνώνυμος (anṓnumos, “without name”).

From Late Middle English uniformite, uniformitie (“conformity or equality among several parts; similar degree”), borrowed from Old French uniformité (“uniformity”) (modern French uniformité), or from its etymon Late Latin ūniformitās, from Latin ūnifōrmis (“having only one form or shape, uniform”) + -itās (a variant of -tās (suffix forming feminine abstract nouns indicating a state of being)). Ūnifōrmis is derived from ūni- (prefix meaning ‘one’) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁óynos (“one”)) + -fōrmis (suffix meaning having the form of) (from fōrma (“appearance, form, shape”); further etymology unknown). By surface analysis, uniform + -ity.

From Middle English varlet, varlette, from Old French varlet, variant of vadlet, vallet, vaslet. Doublet of valet.