Everyday Etymology

Enlightening and topical etymologies, delivered daily. Credit to for rich source material.

[Everyday Etymology @philologio]

philology (n.)
late 14c., "love of learning," from Latin philologia "love of learning, love of letters, love of study, literary culture," from Greek philologia "love of discussion, learning, and literature; studiousness," from philo- "loving" + logos "word, speech.”

[Everyday Etymology @philologio]

Per Watkins, literally "standard that one follows," from PIE root *sekw- "to follow." But de Vaan has it from PIE root *sek- "to cut." He writes: "The etymological appurtenance to seco 'to cut' implies a semantic shift of *sek-no- 'what is cut out', 'carved out' > 'sign'."

[Everyday Etymology @philologio]

sign (n.)
early 13c., "gesture or motion of the hand," especially one meant to communicate something, from Latin signum "identifying mark, token, indication, symbol; proof; military standard, ensign; a signal, an omen; sign in the heavens, constellation."

[Everyday Etymology @philologio]

shanghai (v.)
"to drug a man unconscious and ship him as a sailor," 1854, American English, from the practice of kidnapping to fill the crews of ships making extended voyages, such as to the Chinese seaport of Shanghai.

[Everyday Etymology @philologio]

treason (n.)
c. 1200, "betraying; betrayal of trust; breach of faith," from Latin traditionem "delivery, surrender, a handing down, a giving up," from stem tradere "deliver, hand over," from trans- "over" + dare "to give" (from PIE root *do- "to give"). A doublet of "tradition."

[Everyday Etymology @philologio]

rescue (v.)
c. 1300, rescouen, "deliver from an enemy's attack or restraint; deliver from evil or harm," from Old French rescou-, from re- + escourre "to cast off, discharge," from Latin excutere "to shake off, drive away," from ex "out" + quatere "to shake" (see quash (v.)).

[Everyday Etymology @philologio]

pencil (n.)
mid-14c., pencel, "an artist's small, fine brush of camel hair," for painting, illustration, etc., from Latin penicillus "painter's brush, hair-pencil," literally "little tail," diminutive of peniculus "brush," itself a diminutive of penis "tail" (see penis (n.)).

[Everyday Etymology @philologio]

The military sense is attested from c. 1300; the notion is of an army "sitting down" before a fortress.

[Everyday Etymology @philologio]

siege (n.)
early 13c., "a seat" (as in Siege Perilous, early 13c., the vacant seat at Arthur's Round Table, according to prophecy to be occupied safely only by the knight destined to find the Holy Grail), from Latin sedere "to sit," from PIE root *sed- "to sit."

[Everyday Etymology @philologio]

From c. 1500 as "fear so great as to overwhelm the mind." Meaning "quality of causing dread" is attested from 1520s. "Terror bombing" first recorded 1941, with reference to German air attack on Rotterdam.

[Everyday Etymology @philologio]

terror (n.)
early 15c., "something that intimidates, an object of fear," from Latin terrorem "great fear, dread, alarm, panic; object of fear, cause of alarm; terrible news," from terrere "fill with fear, frighten," from PIE root *tres- "to tremble."

[Everyday Etymology @philologio]

Perhaps from Etruscan, or else meaning "one who marches in a troop," and thus connected to Sanskrit melah "assembly," Greek homilos "assembled crowd, throng." De Vaan writes, "it is tempting to connect mīlia [pl.] 'thousand(s)', hence *mīli-it- 'who goes with/by the thousand."

[Everyday Etymology @philologio]

military (adj.)
mid-15c., militari, "pertaining to or befitting soldiers; used, done, or brought about by soldiers," from Latin militaris "of soldiers or war, of military service, warlike," from miles "soldier," a word of unknown origin.

[Everyday Etymology @philologio]

The meaning "an atrocious deed" is from 1793.

[Everyday Etymology @philologio]

atrocity (n.)
1530s, "enormous wickedness," from Latin atrocitatem "cruelty, fierceness, harshness," from atrox "fierce, cruel, frightful," from PIE *atro-ek-, from root *ater- "fire" + root *okw- "to see;" thus "of fiery or threatening appearance."

[Everyday Etymology @philologio]

Thus "ordinary understanding, without which one is foolish or insane" (1530s); the meaning "good sense" is from 1726.

[Everyday Etymology @philologio]

common sense (n.)
late 14c., originally an internal mental power supposed to unite (reduce to a common perception) the impressions conveyed by the five physical senses (Latin sensus communis, Greek koine aisthesis).

[Everyday Etymology @philologio]

slap (n.)
mid-15c., probably of imitative origin, similar to Low German slappe, German Schlappe. Figurative meaning "insult, reprimand" is attested from 1736.

[Everyday Etymology @philologio]

The original Middle English sense is now obsolete. The sense of "enumeration" is from strips of paper used as a sort of catalogue.

[Everyday Etymology @philologio]

list (n.)
"catalogue consisting of names in a row or series," c. 1600, from Middle English liste "border, edging, stripe" (late 13c.), from Old French liste "border, band, row, group," also "strip of paper," from Proto-Germanic *liston, from PIE *leizd- "border, band."

[Everyday Etymology @philologio]

base (adj.)
late 14c., "low, of little height," from Old French bas "low, lowly, mean," from Late Latin bassus "thick, stumpy, low," possibly from Oscan, or Celtic, or related to Greek basson, comparative of bathys "deep."

[Everyday Etymology @philologio]

base (n.)
"bottom of anything considered as its support, foundation, pedestal," early 14c., from Old French bas "depth" (12c.), from Latin basis "foundation," from Greek basis "a stepping, a step, pedestal," from bainein "to go, walk, step," from PIE root *gwa- "to go, come."