The word comes from the Latin ‘currere’ which meant to run. This in itself was from the Proto-Indo-European (common ancestor of Indian and European language) ‘kers’; the Proto-Indo-Europeans had a much smaller vocabulary than modern languages, words were used to describe essential functions of human survival such as running. ‘Kers’ became ‘khouros’ in Greek and…
The word Boycott is an eponym (A word which comes from a name), and is named for Charles Boycott who was a British land agent in 1880 for an English Lord who owned land in Ireland after it was taken by the British. Boycott’s role was managing the workers of the land, amongst which there…
Blue – A colour intermediate between green and violet, as of the sky or sea on a sunny day. The word ‘Blue’ has been use in English since around the 1300s, though the spelling was slightly differnt (Bleu) the meaning was the same. ‘Bleu’ joined our language from Old French where it meant ‘pale’ and…
Apocalypse: Greek apokalyptein “uncover, disclose, reveal”. With the news of the day we thought an appropriate word would be ‘Apocalypse’. But the good news is, we don’t need to worry about an apocalypse. Sadly not because the end of the world is not nigh, but because that’s not actually what apocalypse means in its true…
Flea market – A street market selling second-hand goods. The term ‘Flea market comes from the French ‘marché aux puces’, a name originally given to a market in Paris which specialized in shabby second-hand goods of the kind that might contain fleas. The earliest English use that the 20-volume Oxford English Dictionary has found dates…
Guacamole has a rather interesting etymology; its origin dates back to the Aztec people of South America and was originally “ahuacamolli” (their language bearing many similarities to modern day Spanish), a combination of “ahuácatl”, meaning testicles and “Molli” meaning soup. The reason the word “ahuácatl” crops up here is because it was the Aztec people’s…
Like a bat out of hell – To move very quickly. It’s a strange saying when you think about it, I mean, sure a bat would move quickly out of hell, but wouldn’t any animal? The phrase became popular in the early 1600s, the people of the time believed bats to be related to witches…
Twice – Two times ‘Twice’ was once ‘twies’ in old English, and derives from the Proto-Germanic word ‘twiyes’ and originally from the Proto-Into-Eurpoean word ‘dwis’ which was the plural of ‘dwo’ meaning two.
Speak – Forming nouns and consonants denoting a manner of speaking. ‘Speak’ is a derivative of the Old English word ‘Specan’ and before that ‘sprecan’. It came from the Proto-Germanic word ‘Sprek’ and originally from the Proto-Indo-European word ‘Preg’ which meant the same as ‘speak’ does today.
I – Used by a speaker to refer to himself or herself. ‘I’ is such a common word, we use it all the time to refer to ourselves, but why ‘I’? The word is a shortening of a 12th Century word ‘Ic’ and came from the Proto-Germanic word ‘Ek’ – as did the modern German…
Bumblebee – A large hairy social bee which flies with a loud hum, living in small colonies in holes underground. The word actually used to be ‘humbul-be’ but became bumblebee in the late 14th century due to an association with the ‘buzzing’ noise they make. ‘Humbul-be’ was used formally because the noise was commonly described…
Explain – To make (an idea or situation) clear to someone by describing it in more detail or revealing relevant facts. This word dates back to the early 15th century and has its origins in the Latin word ‘explanare’ which meant the same thing. ‘Explanere’ actually combined two other words; ‘ex’ meaning ‘out’ and ‘planus’…
