The Brutal Buzz by Indie: 41 Word Origins You Always Believed That Are Not True

Tuesday, March 18, 2014

41 Word Origins You Always Believed That Are Not True

Don’t believe everything you read in the dictionary.

• "Marmelade" does not come the story in which Mary, Queen of Scots, got a headache after eating jam, and her maid were heard saying "Marie est malade." (Translating to "Mary is ill".)

• "Marmelade" comes from Portuguese marmelada, meaning "quince jelly".

• "Sirloin" does not come from King James I knighting a beef roast and exclaiming "Arise, Sir Loin!".

• "Sirloin" means the top part of the loin. The French sur translates to "over, above".

• "Sword" is not a corruption of the oath "god's word," stemming from the Bible verse that declares god's word as "sharper than any two-edged sword".

• "Sword" comes from the Old High German sweran , meaning "to hurt".

• "Woman" does not originate from the phrase "woven from man."

• "Woman" comes from the Old English wifman meaning "female person".

Via brightestyoungthings.com

• The idiom "rule of thumb" is not from an old English law that permitted men to beat their wives with a stick no larger in diameter than their thumb. Evidence that such a law even existed has never been found.

• "Rule of thumb" likely stems from the tendency people had for using their thumb to estimate distances in various ways.

• Etymologically speaking, the words "isle" and "island" are unrelated. "Isle" comes from the Latin īnsula, and "island" comes from the Old English īegland.

• "Handicap" does not come from a corruption of the term "hand-in-cap," referring to disabled beggars holding their caps in their hands asking for money.

• "Handicap" comes from an old English gambling game called handy-capp. Over time, the name of the game became corrupted to mean the disadvantage one participant has in a race or gamble.

• "420" is not the Los Angeles Police Department code for marijuana possession. LAPD code 420 is "juvenile disturbance".

• "420" is not the penal code for marijuana possession. Penal code 420 defines the obstruction of legal entry, settlement, or residence on any tract of public land as a misdemeanor.