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- What are some good sites for researching etymology? [closed]
Here is an example of a directed graph: It works in multiple languages, providing etymology data, descendants, related words and more It also has a pretty quick search, and the index is constantly growing in the number of words and slowly growing in accuracy too
- etymology - What gave terrific a positive connotation? - English . . .
Possible Duplicate: How and why have some words changed to a complete opposite? I have noticed that: horrible means bad terrible means bad horrific means bad So why does terrific mean good?
- etymology - Is the alleged original meaning of the phrase blood is . . .
I recently read that the phrase "Blood is thicker than water" was originally derived from the phrase "the blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb", implying
- Etymology of div meaning a stupid or foolish person
Acting like a div yesterday: a stupid or foolish person I started to wonder how this term of abuse came about Urban Dictionary has a quaint tale: Actually originates from prison slang in the UK
- Etymology of the word skulduggery? - English Language Usage Stack . . .
A plausible etymology is offered below, but must be put under the rubrics of the well-known influence of Old Norse speech on that of medieval Scotland (both Gaelic and Scots) and the less well-recognized social, political, and linguistic relations between Scotland and France, relations at times independent of those between France and England
- etymology - Where did the phrase batsh*t crazy come from? - English . . .
The word crazy is a later addition Scanning Google Books I find a handful of references starting from the mid-60s where batshit is clearly just a variation on bullshit (nonsense, rubbish) - which meaning still turns up even in 2001, but it's relatively uncommon now Here's a relatively early one from 1967 where the meaning is crazy A decade later most references have this meaning, but the
- history - Is the etymology of salary a myth? - English Language . . .
2 Other answers touch on the history of the word salary as it connects back to Latin I'll try to trace a different question - the development of the salarius = soldiers are paid salt folk etymology in English The etymology is already present in English in the early 19th century For instance, the first edition of Webster's Dictionary (1828) says:
- etymology - Why is pineapple in English but ananas in all other . . .
In Spanish, it's also called piña The etymology of "pineapple" and a few other words is nicely illustrated at Europe etymology maps
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