Questions tagged [etymology]
Questions about tracing out and describing the elements of an individual word, as well as the historical changes in form and sense which that word has experienced over its history. Please use the 'phrase-origin' tag for phrase/expression origins.
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Is "sort of like" hypercorrectur?
Dutch has soortgelijke "alike, similar", soortelijk "specific to", and indeed soort van "sort of", German has to my knowledge only technical jargon sortenrein "...
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Is "farfel" an idiolectical quirk/part of a familect?
My whole life, my family has used "farfel" to refer to anything small, unwanted, usually fabric-based, and out of place (i.e., on the floor; not in the trash). Lint, a few millimeters of ...
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Etymology of "banged-up" = "imprisoned"?
1. What is the etymology of banged-up = "imprisoned"?
Briefly googling, I couldn't find any etymology.
(I'm guessing it came from the banging sound of the gate/door as one is locked up?)
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Was the phrase "white Christmas" indeed coined in the song?
It's well-known that the song White Christmas - Irving Berlin, 1942 - is one of the world's most popular songs by any of many measures (only McCartney's Yesterday wins in some measures). Apart from ...
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Origin of "That tracks" to mean "That makes sense."
For the past few years, I have been hearing people say "that tracks," meaning "that makes sense." My search on Green's Dictionary of Slang yielded nothing with this clear meaning, ...
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Why is there a ‘silent e’ in the word ‘minute’ (as in minutes and seconds)? [duplicate]
In researching the silent e, is the silent e added to the end of the word minute (as in minutes and seconds) to indicate the schwa sound of the u? Or was the silent e pronounced at some point?
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What is the origin of the idiom "say the word"?
I am interested in the origin of the phrase "say the word" in the sense that you will do what is asked when needed. For example, "when you are ready for a second helping of dinner, just ...
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Why is “cold X” a bad thing and “hot X” a good thing in English?
There are many, many terms in English that include hot or cold in them. I will give a small sample of such terms:
Hot
hot job
hot fix
hot offer
warm regards
Cold
cold calls
cold emails
cold hearted
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Why is the Quran text called verse? [closed]
I know that the Quran is not comparable to poetry style because it's divine, but why is the text of the Quran called "verse" ?
I couldn't find any information on it.
And in Arabic it's ...
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Etymology of the verb 'lint' in the context of programming where it means to apply static code analysis to detect code smells
In the context of programming, a 'linter' is a tool that analyzes code to detect potential code errors or coding anti-patterns or organisational style preferences etc.
To 'lint' is a verb meaning to ...
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What's the meaning of "QTY"? [closed]
I found the abbreviation "QTY" in an assay (not essay!😊). Can you tell me the meaning of this abbreviation? How can I paraphrase/explain it into ordinary words?
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dry writing phrase origin, original texts
Is there any origin for the phrase "dry writing" that supposes it was writing created without the influence of alcohol? I only see the idea dry as in barren https://www.etymonline.com/word/...
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What is the origin of the "one" pronoun
There are many pages of questions on the "one" pronoun, so I apologise if this has been asked before. I would like to know the origin of the "one" pronoun. Ideally as much info as ...
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Has "shut" ever meant "open"? (Bear with me, please)
I'm an English language/literature student in a non-English speaking country. As a final project for a literary translation course, my class is taking turns to translate some of the fairy tales ...
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Lightoff to speak about an engine start
Why the term lightoff (or light-off) is used to describe the moment an engine ignite/is started ?
I'm wondering why the suffix 'off' is used in an 'ON' sense (start, ignition) ?
Is there a ...
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