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Etymology — The Origins of English Words

Where do words come from? Trace the origin and history of any English word, from its Latin, Greek or Old English roots through to its modern meaning. Every etymology is sourced.

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chiliad
Origin
From Latin chilias (“the number 1000, a group of 1000 things”), possibly via French chiliade, from Ancient Greek χιλιάς (khiliás, “the number 1000, any large amount, a millennium”), from χῑ́λιοι (khī́lioi, “1000”) + -ᾰ́ς (-ắs, “-ad: forming collective nouns”). Equivalent to chilia- + -ad.
divergence
Origin
By surface analysis, diverge + -ence.
partiality
Origin
From Middle English parcialite, parcialtee, parcyalte, partialte, percialite, from Middle French partialité and its etymon Medieval Latin partiālitās. Doublet of partialitas.
excitation
Origin
From Middle English excitacion, excitacioun, from Old French excitation, from Latin excitātiō. Morphologically excite + -ation.
supporter
Origin
From Middle English supporter, supportour, equivalent to support + -er.
sprightly
Origin
From spright + -ly (suffix forming adjectives with the sense ‘behaving like, having the nature of’). Spright is an obsolete variant of sprite (“a shade, spirit; elf, fairy, goblin; apparition, ghost”), from Middle English sprit (“principle of life; soul, especially at the point of death; immaterial being (angel, demon, apparition, ghost, etc.); divine inspiration; Holy Spirit; the mind, intellect, reason; mental faculties, senses; power of prophecy; character, disposition; courage, resolution; mood, state of mind; human will; breath; (alchemy) volatile substance”) [and other forms], from Anglo-Norman esprite, esprit and Middle French esprit, variants of Anglo-Norman, Middle French, Old French espirit, esperit (“spirit”), from Latin spīritus (“air; breath; breathing; ghost, spirit”), from spīrō (“to breathe; to breathe out, exhale”) (from Proto-Indo-European *(s)peys- (“to blow; to breathe”)) + -tus (“suffix forming verbal nouns from verbs”).
slattern
Origin
Dating from the 17th century; related to slattering (“slovenly”), from the dialectal verb slatter (“to slop, to spill”).
lucre
Origin
From Middle English lūcre, lucor, lucour, lucur (“gain in money, profit; money; wages; illicit gain; advantage, benefit”), from Old French lucre or Latin lucrum (“advantage, profit; love of gain, avarice”), from Proto-Indo-European *leh₂w- (“gain, profit”) + *-tlom (variant of *-trom (suffix forming nouns denoting tools or instruments)).
rostrum
Origin
Learned borrowing from Latin rōstrum (“beak, snout”), from rōd(ō) (“gnaw”) + -trum, from Proto-Indo-European *Hreh₃d- + *-trom. The pulpit sense is a back-formation from the name of the Roman Rōstra, the platforms in the Forum where politicians made speeches. The Rōstra were decorated with (and named for) the beaks (prows) of ships from naval victories.
scathe
Origin
From Middle English scath, scathe [and other forms], from Old Norse skaði (“damage, harm; loss; death; murder”), from Proto-Germanic *skaþô (“damage, scathe; one who causes damage, injurer”, noun) (whence Old English sċeaþa, sċeaþu (“scathe, harm, injury”)), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)keh₁t- (“damage, harm”). Cognate with German Schaden (“damage, harm”). cognates * Scots skaith * Dutch schade * German schaden * Norwegian skade * Swedish skada * Icelandic skaði * Polish szkoda * Russian шко́да (škóda) * Belarusian шко́дa (škóda) * Ukrainian шко́да (škóda)
gasconade
Origin
From French gasconnade, from Gascon (“native of Gascony”) + -ade, equivalent to Gascon (“native of Gascony”) + -ade, literally "to talk like a Gascon". See French gasconnade.
cosset
Origin
Perhaps from Middle English cotsete, from Old English cotsǣta (“cottager”), from cot (“cottage”) (Modern English cot (“cottage”) (archaic)) + -sǣta (“-sitter”); compare coscet. Compare German Hauslamm (literally “house lamb”), Italian casiccio.
derision
Origin
From Old French derision, from Latin dērīsiōnem, accusative of dērīsiō, from dērīdēre ("to mock, to laugh at, to deride").
sinew
Origin
From Middle English synwe, synewe (“tendon; ligament or other connective tissue; muscle; nerve; leaf vein”), from Old English sinu (“tendon, sinew; nerve”), from Proto-West Germanic *sinu, from Proto-Germanic *sinwō, from Proto-Indo-European *snéh₁wr̥ (“sinew, tendon”), from *(s)neh₁- (“to twist (threads), spin, weave”). The word is cognate with sinnow (“sinew”), Scots senon, sinnon, Saterland Frisian Siene (“sinew”), West Frisian senuw, sine (“sinew; nerve”), Dutch zenuw (“nerve, sinew”), German Sehne (“tendon, sinew; cord”), Icelandic sin (“tendon”), Danish sene (“tendon, sinew”), Swedish sena (“sinew”), Avestan 𐬯𐬥𐬁𐬎𐬎𐬀𐬭 (snāuuar, “tendon, sinew”), Ancient Greek νεῦρον (neûron, “tendon; nerve; cord”), Latin nervus (“tendon, sinew; nerve”), Sanskrit स्नावन् (snāván, “sinew, tendon; muscle”), Tocharian B ṣñor (“sinew”). Doublet of nerve and neuron.
execrate
Origin
From Latin exsecrārī, execrārī, from ex (“out”) + sacrāre (“to consecrate, declare accursed”).
russet
Origin
From Middle English russet, from Anglo-Norman russet, rossat, roset, and Middle French rosset, rousset (“reddish, reddish-brown; a rough wool cloth”), from Middle French rous, rus (“to rouse”) + -et (diminutive suffix); compare Late Latin rossetum, russetum, russeta (“rough wool cloth”), Latin russus (“red”) (from Proto-Indo-European *h₁rewdʰ- (“red”)), Occitan rosseta (“rough wool cloth”).
gambol
Origin
From earlier gambolde, from Middle French gambade (modern gambade).
antipathy
Origin
PIE word *h₂énti Borrowed from Middle French antipathie (“deep dislike; object of dislike; incompatibility between things”) (modern French antipathie (“dislike, antipathy”)), and from its etymon Latin antipathīa (“counteraction; natural aversion, antipathy”), from Ancient Greek ἀντῐπάθειᾰ (antĭpátheiă, “suffering instead”), Koine Greek ἀντῐπάθειᾰ (antĭpátheiă, “contrary affection; contrast; counteraction; opposition”), from ἀντῐπᾰθής (antĭpăthḗs, “(adjective) felt mutually; in return for suffering; (noun) remedy for suffering”) (from ἀντι- (anti-, prefix meaning ‘against’) + πᾰ́θος (pắthos, “death; disaster; misfortune; pain; suffering; strong feeling, emotion, passion, pathos”) (further etymology uncertain, possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰendʰ- (“to bind; a bond”) or *kʷendʰ- (“to endure; to suffer”)) + -ης (-ēs, suffix forming third-declension adjectives)) + -ειᾰ (-eiă, suffix forming feminine adjectives and nouns).
deform
Origin
From Middle English deforme (“out of shape, deformed”) [and other forms], from Middle French deforme (modern French difforme (“misshapen, deformed”)), or directly from its etymon Latin dēfōrmis (“departing physically from the correct shape, deformed, malformed, misshapen, ugly; (figuratively) departing morally from the correct quality, base, disgraceful, shameful, unbecoming”), from dē- (prefix meaning ‘away from; from’) + fōrma (“form, appearance, figure, shape; fine form, beauty; design, outline, plan; model, pattern; mould, stamp; (figuratively) kind, manner, sort”) (further etymology unknown; perhaps related to Ancient Greek μορφή (morphḗ, “form, shape; appearance; outline; kind, type”), probably from Pre-Greek, but there is no consensus) + -is (suffix forming adjectives of the third declension).
amalgamation
Origin
From Medieval Latin amalgamātiō.
criminate
Origin
First attested circa 1591; borrowed from Latin crīminātus, perfect passive participle of crīminō, see -ate (verb-forming suffix) and -ate (adjective-forming suffix).
foolery
Origin
From Middle English foleri, ffollery, equivalent to fool + -ery.
lambaste
Origin
First attested in 1637. Probably lam (“beat”) + baste (“beat”)
filch
Origin
From Middle English filchen (“to pilfer, steal”). The further origin of the word is uncertain, but it is likely from or related to Old English fylċian (“to marshal troops”) and Old English ġefylċe (“band of men, army, host”), which would make it also related to folk.