Game - bizarre word origins

by jgnat 6 Replies latest social humour

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  jgnat

  Hubby tells me the new study book will soon be covering the cross vs stake issue. The WTBTS primarily clings to the stake based on word origins. I thought it might be fun to collect other word origins, and ask our JW friends if they also, should be taken literally?

  I'll start:

  bizarre - Bizarre was borrowed into English from French meaning handsome or brave, which in turn took the word from the Italian bizarro, meaning angry.

  gay - derives from gaycat or geycat, a slang term for a tramp or hobo who is new to the road.

  gossip - . It comes from the Old English godsibb, meaning a godparent or baptismal sponsor.

  kind (ness) - Middle English kinde, from Old English cynd; akin to Old English cynn kin
  forgive - from Old English forgifan, from for- + gifan to give

  loyal - Latin legalis legal

  truth - akin to Old English trEowe faithful

  http://www.wordorigins.org/
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  Leolaia

  "deer" in Old English originally could refer to any animal; it just meant "animal"

  "bead" originally meant "prayer". Through usage (i.e. use of the rosary, in which counting one's "beeds" meant counting prayers), it came to have its present meaning.

  "car" originally meant "chariot" in Middle English.

  Many, many further examples can be provided.
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  damselfly

  This from the site above,

  Geek is actually a very old word. It is a variant of geck, a term of Low German/Dutch origin that dates in English to 1511. It means a fool, simpleton, or dupe.

  Interesting, very interesting

  Dams
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  Leolaia

  My favorite example....

  "Science" and "shit" come from the same root, *skei "to separate" (in Proto-Indo-European). Science is, of course, a separating of knowledge and information, while shitting is a separation of "shit" from one's body...
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  jgnat

  Ooooh! Leolaia! I was hoping you would drop by! Excellent examples, thank you. I might just print them off and comment at the appropriate meeting.
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  Gamaliel

  silly - related to blessed, sometimes even pious, religious

  ##silly - (cf. O.N. sæll "happy," Goth. sels "good, kindhearted," O.S. salig , M.Du. salich , O.H.G. salig , Ger. selig "blessed, happy, blissful"),
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  EAGLE-1

  Word.