The Etymologicon
Page 21
Barack is Swahili for blessed. Hussein is Arabic for handsome. Obama is Dholuo for crooked.
Courageous cabbage = Helmut Kohl
Nobody is quite sure what the hel means, but mut is definitely brave and kohl is cabbage.
Noble wolf who lives in a hut = Adolf Hitler
Adolf is edel wolf, which means noble wolf, and so far as anyone can tell, a hitler is just somebody who lives in a hut.
God loved the ugly-face = JFK
John comes from the Latin Johannes which comes from the Hebrew y’hohanan, which means Jahweh has favoured. Kennedy comes from the Irish O Cinnéide, which means ugly head.
Blessed one from Mosul = Benito Mussolini
Benito means blessed and Mussolini means muslin, because his ancestor was probably a merchant who dealt in muslin. However, muslin – mussolina in Italian – gets its name from Mosul in Iraq, where it was believed to be made.
Music
God loves a mud-caked, travelling wolf = Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolf gang is German for a travelling wolf, Amadeus is Latin for loved (ama) by god (deus), and Mozart comes from the Allemanic motzen meaning to roll about in the mud. It was originally an insulting term for somebody dirty.
My little French lady = Madonna Ciccone
Ma donna is Italian for my lady. Ciccone is an augmentative of Cicco; but Cicco is a diminutive of Francesco. So it means little Francis, and Francis means French.
Loud war in the vegetable garden = Ludwig van Beethoven
Lud means loud, wig means war, and a beet hoven is a garden that grows the vegetable beet.
Tattooed javelin-thrower = Britney Spears
Britney was a surname meaning British. Britain comes from prittanoi, which means the tattooed people. Spears is a shortening of spearman.
The dwarf in the priest’s garden = Elvis Presley
So far as anybody can tell, Elvis comes from Alvis, a dwarf in Viking mythology. Presley is a variant of Priestly and means one who lives in land belonging to a priest.
Glamour
Victorious goatherd = Nicole Kidman
Nicole is the feminine of Nicholas. Nicholas is from the Greek nike laos. Nike means victory (as in the trainers) and laos means people. A kidman is a man who looks after the kid goats.
Christmas councillor = Natalie Portman
Natalie is related to natal and comes from the day of Jesus’ birth, or dies natalis. A portmann in Old English was a townsman elected to administrate the affairs of a borough.
Cruel twin = Tom Cruise
Thomas comes from the Semitic toma meaning twin, and Cruise comes from the Middle English crus meaning fierce or cruel.
The moon at the ford of blood = Cindy Crawford
Cindy is a variant of Cynthia, which was an epithet of Artemis and meant moon. Craw or cru was Gaelic for blood, and ford is ford.
He who listens among the cows = Simon Cowell
Simon is often and justifiably confused with the identical ancient Greek name Simon, which meant snub-nosed (as in simian). However, our Christian Simon comes from a different root: Symeon. It’s from the Bible and the Hebrew shim’on, which means listening. Cowell is just cowfield.
Writers
Little Richard’s husband = Charles Dickens
Charles is from the German karl, which meant either man or husband. Dickens is a diminutive of Dick, which is short for Richard.
Good Christian = Agatha Christie
Agathos was ancient Greek for good. Christie means Christian.
Virile wonder = Andrew Marvell
Andreios was ancient Greek for manly. Marvell means marvel.
Pants-maker in a peaceful land = Geoffrey Chaucer
Geoffrey comes from the Latin Gaufridus, which in turn comes from the Old German gewi, land, and fridu, peaceful. Chaucer is from Old French chaucier meaning man who makes chausses. Chausses could refer to almost anything worn on the lower half of the body.
Tiny foreign snake = Evelyn Waugh
Evelyn is a double-diminutive of Eve, so it’s tiny Eve. In the Bible, Eve – hawah – is said to come from Hebrew havah, she who lived; however, this looks rather like a folk etymology and the word is suspiciously similar to haya, which is Aramaic for serpent. Waugh probably comes from wahl, which is the Old English for foreigner.
Now, a quick trip around the capital cities of the world. Can you make out the modern names from the original meanings? For example, if I were to say Place of the Bad Smell, you would immediately realise that I was referring to the Objibwa Shika Konk, which developed into our Chicago. To make it guessable, we shall stick to capital cities.
Europe
Merchant harbour
Place by an unfordable river
Wisdom
Smoky bay
Black pool
Africa
Three cities
Victorious
New flower
The place of cool waters
End of an elephant’s trunk
Asia
Muddy confluence
Modern
Garden
Anchor
Father of a gazelle
The Americas
Good winds
I saw a mountain
Peace
Place of many fish
Traders
And the answers are:
Europe
Merchant harbour – Copenhagen
Place by an unfordable river – London
Wisdom – Sofia (although Athens is named after Athena, goddess of wisdom, so give yourself half a pat on the back for that)
Smoky bay – Reykjavik
Black pool – Dublin
Africa
Three cities – Tripoli
Victorious – Cairo
New flower – Addis Ababa
The place of cool waters – Nairobi
End of an elephant’s trunk – Khartoum
Asia
Muddy confluence – Kuala Lumpur
Modern – Tehran
Garden – Riyadh
Anchor – Ankara
Father of a gazelle – Abu Dhabi
The Americas
Good winds – Buenos Aires
I saw a mountain – Montevideo
Peace – La Paz
Place of many fish – Panama
Traders – Ottawa
And for those familiar with London, can you guess the Tube Station from its origin?
Forge
Horse pond
Beer gate
Lace collar
Skin farm
Road to Ecgi’s weir
Padda’s farm
Dominican monks
Stream in a sacred wood
Sacred place that welcomes strangers
Forge – Hammersmith
Horse pond – Bayswater
Beer gate – Aldgate (ale gate)
Lace collar – Piccadilly
Skin farm – Hyde Park
Road to Ecgi’s weir – Edgware Road
Padda’s farm – Paddington
Dominican monks – Blackfriars
Stream in a sacred wood – Waterloo
Sacred place that welcomes strangers – Walthamstow
And finally, some multiple choice. What is the true derivation of each of these words?
Clue
a) A ball of yarn
b) A skeleton key
c) A love letter
Karaoke
a) Japanese for singing under water
<
br /> b) Japanese for howling
c) Japanese for empty orchestra
Slogan
a) An Algonquian prayer
b) A Celtic war-cry
c) Russian for repetition
Boudoir
a) French for sulking room
b) French for gun room
c) French for Peeping Tom
Grocer
a) One who buys in gross
b) One who grows his own
c) One who is grossly fat
Hotbed
a) A medieval form of torture
b) A Victorian medical treatment
c) A covered flowerbed
Bollard
a) Tree trunk
b) Cricket ball
c) Dr Cornelius Bollard
Kiosk
a) Aztec word for umbrella
b) Turkish word for palace
c) Burmese word for hut
Quarantine
a) Forty days
b) Asking time
c) Pseudo-prison
Bigot
a) Old English for By God
b) Old French for thorn
c) Old German for stone wall
Thesaurus
a) A riddling lizard from Greek mythology
b) A treasure chest
c) The book of Theseus
Beetle
a) Little biter
b) Little bean
c) Little bee
Aardvark
a) Swahili for grandmother
b) Dutch for earth pig
c) Croatian for Jesus
Pundit
a) Hindi for wise man
b) Irish for counsellor
c) Eskimo god of riddles
Winging it
a) Flying when the engine has failed
b) Eating only the chicken wings (and not the breast)
c) An actor learning his lines in the wings
Quiz
a) Latin for who is?
b) Hindi for unclaimed property
c) Chinese for escape
The answers:
Clue
a) A ball of yarn
Karaoke
c) Japanese for empty orchestra
Slogan
b) A Celtic war-cry
Boudoir
a) French for sulking room
Grocer
a) One who buys in gross
Hotbed
c) A covered flowerbed
Bollard
a) Tree trunk
Kiosk
b) Turkish word for palace
Quarantine
a) Forty days
Bigot
a) Old English for By God
Thesaurus
b) A treasure chest
Beetle
a) Little biter
Aardvark
b) Dutch for earth pig
Pundit
a) Hindi for wise man
Winging it
c) An actor learning his lines in the wings
Quiz
a) Latin for who is?
The Cream of the Sources
A book like this would need a bibliography at least twice its own size; so in the interests of paper preservation, there isn’t one.
I can, though, assure you that everything in here has been checked, mainly against the following works:
The Oxford English Dictionary
The Oxford Dictionary of Place Names
The Oxford Dictionary of English Surnames (Reany & Wilson)
The Dictionary of Idioms by Linda and Roger Flavell
The Dictionary of National Biography
Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable
And online:
The Online Etymology Dictionary
Phrases.org
And (with vast circumspection):
Dear old Wikipedia (or Fastchild)
Unfortunately, there are many points on which these sources disagree. Usually, rather than take you carefully through all of the arguments and counter-arguments, I have simply picked the one that I believe is most likely and recounted that.
All other things being equal, I have trusted them in the order in which they are listed above. However, if a good citation is produced then I am quite prepared to side with the underdog.
Occasionally, I’ve given citations that you won’t find in any work of reference because I’ve found them all by myself. So for confused scholars who suspect me of making things up as I go along:
‘Draw a blank’: The History of Great Britain, Arthur Wilson (1643)
‘Blank cheque’: An Inquiry into the Various Systems of Political Economy, Charles Ganilh (1812)
‘Talk cold turkey’: One of Three, Clifford Raymond (1919)
‘Crap’ and ‘Number one’: Poems in Two Volumes, J. Churchill Esq. (1801)
‘Dr Placebo’: Bath Memoirs, Robert Pierce (1697), quoted in Attempts to Revive Antient Medical Doctrines, Alexander Sutherland (1763) and elsewhere
‘Pass the buck’: The Conquest of Kansas, William Phillips (1856)