Etymology Facts

True and real and well-sourced interesting very cool fun facts about the origins of words and phrases.

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The 'accent circonflexe' in French (â, ê, î, ô, û) usually indicates that an 's' used to be present in a word that no longer has one. By re-adding these missing 's'es, it's far clearer how words have been borrowed into English. For example:

forêt -> forest hôpital -> hospital bête -> beste (beast) château -> chasteau (castle) crêpe -> crespe (crisp) têtes -> testes

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The original meaning of 'media' in English was "visions, hallucinations, strange unreal imagery" - the term 'medium' as in a psychic comes from the same origin. If you use this original meaning of 'hallucinations', terms like 'mass media' and 'digital media' become oddly prescient in a haunting way.

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'henge' as in 'Stonehenge' was originally spelled 'eng' - the modern spelling was an adaptation by French-speaking Norman nobles attempting to recreate the Anglo-Saxon word under French orthography, and over time the word became pronounced how it was spelled.

When Anglo-Saxons first arrived in the British Isles in the 5th century, they were captivated by the huge monoliths and stone circles they found across the island, believing them to be the work of giants. They consequently referred to the area as the 'land of henges', or 'Eng-land'

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The "Philly" in "Philly cheesesteak" does not refer to Philadelphia but to the food's creator, Alvin Chester Philly, who ironically first sold the sandwich in a stall in New York.

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Big Ben was originally one of many "Bens" across England. Up until the early twentieth century, a 'ben' was a specific type of bell, typically the largest bell in a belltower used to mark the hour in a town or village. Few of these 'village bens' are known as such today, but they can take solace in that at least one such Ben is known all around the world.

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the penis was a component of the extinct mammal known as the "human." while its true function is unclear, experts believed it allowed them to locate rare tubers hidden in the soil

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Ironically enough, this was actually the original use of a penis! The Roman 'penis' was a tool used for disturbing soil, principally for planting and later unearthing root vegetables (admittedly rarely tubers outside of North Africa). The tool was often used as a euphemism for the phallus owing to its shape and its propensity for plunging into holes. As agriculture developed and the penis fell out of fashion, the term was still used as a euphemism. As it happens, it also entered English as a euphemism, with Enlightenment era scholars and doctors using the 'Latin word' as a scientific term over 'vulgar' Middle English equivalents.

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The cucumber is actually only one of many different kinds of cumber! Up until the early nineteenth century, "cumber" was used to refer to any large vegetable that grew from a vine, including cucumbers, many species of gourds including marrows, pumpkins, squash, eggplants, bell peppers (still called capsicumber or capsicum in some regions), and even some species of melon. The word likely fell from use owing to its ambiguity - since cumbers varied so greatly in appearance and taste and even scientific classification, alternative names proved far more useful for identifying and selling each individual cumber.

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The famous Japanese "katsu" dishes such as chicken and pork katsu actually have their origins in Europe. The dishes are named in honour of famous samurai general Honda Tadakatsu (本多 忠勝), who learnt the technique of breading and frying meat from Portuguese traders and popularised it as a cheap and effective way of feeding his soldiers.

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Ironically, the modern car brand Honda is not named in honour of Honda Tadakatsu nor any other person named Honda. The brand got its name from the onomatopoeia of an old-timey 'honking' car horn (ハンタ).

[fake-etymology]

The famous Japanese "katsu" dishes such as chicken and pork katsu actually have their origins in Europe. The dishes are named in honour of famous samurai general Honda Tadakatsu (本多 忠勝), who learnt the technique of breading and frying meat from Portuguese traders and popularised it as a cheap and effective way of feeding his soldiers.

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Ever wondered why "gif" is 'officially' pronounced "jif"? The 'soft-g' pronunciation actually came about as an inside joke among the format's creators at CompuServe. In the late 1980s, the engineering team behind the GIF format's direct supervisor was the New Zealand-born Geoff Mitchell. Mitchell was unpopular with the team, who considered him controlling and overly demanding and criticised his limited experience with software. After the name "Graphics Interchange Format" was selected, a team member noted the similarities between 'gif' and how Mitchell pronounced "Geoff" owing to his thick New Zealand accent. The joke spread quickly throughout the team, until everyone internally was using the "jiff" pronunciation, including Mitchell himself.

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Ever thought to yourself, "fucking magnets, how do they work?" If you asked someone in Medieval Europe, they would say through pure charisma. The word "magnetic" originally meant "charismatic, influential, powerful," derived from the Latin word magnus meaning "great", and closely related to words like "magnate" and "magnanimous". Though originally only referring to people (and you can still say someone has a magnetic personality today!), the term was later used to anthropomorphise objects that appeared to attract other objects or even animals towards them. It was only after the practice of intentionally creating magnetised metal spread to Europe from China that such items were referred to as "magnets," and later still that "magnetic" took on its modern meaning.

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FUN FACT: The first recorded usage of the slang term "Benjamins" to refer to US 100 dollar bills is dated to 1897, nearly twenty years before Benjamin Franklin first appeared on the currency. The term likely originated as a critique of the 23rd President Benjamin Harrison, with hundred dollar bills being facetiously referred to as "Benjamin dollars" in 1890s newspapers in reference to his government's high tariffs and reckless federal spending.

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Modern fans of Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights may not be aware of the irony embedded in the title. To "wuther" was an old English word meaning to dip or to sink, and land was said to be "wuthering" when it dipped considerably below the surrounding terrain. Ergo it is impossible for a place to be both wuthering and heights.

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The phrase "don't count your chickens before they hatch" sounds strange in modern English, but for centuries "chicken" referred to both the bird and the egg it came from, as was the case with most birds in Middle English. The word "egg" initially only referred to eagle eggs, which is why other birds have a nest but eagles have an eyrie, originally "eggery".

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Maize originally reached England through ports in Cornwall, and gradually spread overland across England. Owing to its assumed origin, the plant was typically referred to as "Cornish grain" and later simply "corn."

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In Medieval Europe colours were associated with certain temperaments, and the colour green was associated with people who were particularly sociable or gregarious. The French word for green, "vert," entered Middle English under this meaning, which is where the terms introvert and extrovert (literally "less green" and "more green") come from.