Etymology — The Origins of English Words

The noun is derived from Middle English swerd, sward (“rind, skin; leather strap; sod, turf”) [and other forms], from Old English sweard (“rind; skin”), from Proto-Germanic *swarduz (“rind; tough skin; turf”); further etymology unknown. The verb is derived from the noun.

From Latin intro "inward, within" (see intro-) + Latin specere "look at".

From Latin stygius + -ian, from Ancient Greek Στύγιος (Stúgios, “relating to Styx”), from Στύξ (Stúx, “Styx, chief river of underworld”).

From Middle English fotwei, equivalent to foot + way. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Foutwai, German Fußweg.

From Middle English stremer, stremere, equivalent to stream + -er.

From Middle English flaxen, flexon, flexin, from Old English fleaxen (“of flax; flaxen”), equivalent to flax + -en (“made of”). Compare Dutch vlassen.

From annihilate + -ive.

From French clinicien, equivalent to clinic + -ian.

From Latin profusus.

From Middle English outflowen, from late Old English ūtflōwan (attested in the past tense as ūt flēow), equivalent to out- + flow. The noun is derived from the verb.

From late Middle English spyne, from Old French espine (French épine) or its source, Latin spīna (“a thorn; a prickle, spine; the backbone”). Doublet of spina.

Borrowed from Middle French convalescence, from Late Latin convalēscentia (“regaining of health”), from Latin convalēscēn(t-)s, present participle of convalēscere (“to become strong or well”); see convalesce.

From Middle English doublet, a borrowing from Old French doublet, from double, duble, doble + -et. Equivalent to double + -et (diminutive suffix)

Borrowed from Latin lupīnus, from lupus (“wolf”) + -īnus (“pertaining to”). Doublet of lupin and piecewise doublet of wolven, Latin lupus being a cognate of wolf and -ine being a doublet of -en.

The adjective is a learned borrowing from Latin simplex (“plain, simple; single”). The first part, sim-, comes from Proto-Indo-European *sem-, *sm̥- (“one; together”). The second part, -plex, may be from *pleḱ- (“to weave”). The noun is derived from the adjective. The plural forms simplices and simplicia are learned borrowings from Latin simplicēs (masculine or feminine) and simplicia (neuter), respectively plural forms of simplex. Noun sense 1 (“generalization of a triangle or tetrahedron to an arbitrary dimension”) was apparently coined by the Dutch mathematician Pieter Hendrik Schoute (1846–1913) as a short version of Simplicissimum in Mehrdimensionale Geometrie (in German, 1902). (In his pioneering works on algebraic topology, the French mathematician Henri Poincaré (1854–1912) had previously introduced the concept, but not the actual term simplex.)

Unknown. Attested from a 1959 episode of the UK TV series Hancock's Half Hour. The writers (Galton and Simpson) state that the phrase was in general use when the show was broadcast. A national TV appeal in the UK in 2006 failed to find earlier references, though a humorous newspaper column from 1947 does use the fictional name "Sir Aubrey Codswallop". Originally written (1963) codswallop; the spelling cod's wallop is later. Various etymologies are proposed from some sense of cod, such as from cod (“joke, imitation”) + -s- + wallop (“beer”) (slang), hence “imitation beer” (with interconsonantal -s- to ease pronunciation of -dw-), or from cod (“scrotum, as in codpiece”) + -s- + wallop (“to hit”), hence “to hit (with) the testicle bag,” or from cod (“fish”), hence perhaps some part of the fish, as used in the fishing industry. A frequently given etymology, although widely rejected as a folk etymology, derives it from Hiram Codd, British soft drink maker of the 1870s, known for the eponymous Codd-neck bottle, with the suggestion that codswallop is a derisive term for soft drinks by beer drinkers, from Codd’s + wallop (“beer”), thus sarcastically “Codd’s beer”. There is no evidence that

The noun is derived from stop (“to close or block (an opening)”) + gap, from the phrase to stop a gap. The adjective is from an attributive use of the noun, and the verb is derived from the noun.

The verb is first attested in 1787, the adjective and noun in 1812; borrowed from Medieval Latin expatriātus, perfect passive participle of expatriō (“to banish”) (see -ate (etymology 1,2 and 3)), from Latin ex- (“out of”) + patria (“native land”) + -ō (verb-forming suffix); possibly after French expatrier and expatrié.

From Latin exhālātiō, from exhālō (“to breathe out, to exhale”), from hālō (“to breathe”). Equivalent to exhale + -ation.

From Middle English sluth hunde (and earlier as slodogge), from Old Norse slóð (“track”) + hound.

First attested in 1561, borrowed from Latin relēgātus, the past participle of relēgō (“to dispatch, banish”).

From Middle English habituacioun, from Medieval Latin habituātio.

Borrowed from Late Latin subtractio, subtractionis. Can be decomposed to subtract + -ion.

Partly from Latin obiector and partly from object + -or.