It’s estimated that we focus on around 16,000 phrases a day, nevertheless comprise you ever ever opinion of where they came from?
Etymology reveals that language has an fun if no longer downright snicker-inducing sense of humor at instances. Here are ravishing a number of examples of uncommon note origins.
Dude
That is a note that has absolutely accomplished a 180-stage flip: in the 1880s, as an alternate of relating to a laid-abet man, it described one overconcerned alongside with his appearance.
Freelance
Credited to Sir Walter Scott’s 1819 unique Ivanhoe, this used to be a establish for a warrior who fought for whoever used to be the excellent bidder (presumably the spend of regardless of free lance used to be readily out there for battle).
Genius
In fourteenth-century Rome, this moniker belonged to a person’s guardian spirit—a force that watched over them from birth and guided them by contrivance of life.
Muscle
Musculus, the Latin note muscle comes from, literally manner “tiny mouse,” which is fitting since this tissue used to be opinion to seem at fancy the creature transferring below the skin.
Nice
Whether or no longer you discover on the Latin or French origin of this note, it used to be absolutely as soon as supposed as a slur. Among its plethora of earlier meanings: silly, careless, clumsy, ignorant, and susceptible.
In distinction, “bully” started as a synonym for “sweetheart.”
Nightmare
Primarily based exclusively exclusively on fourteenthcentury German and Slavic superstitions, the “night time mare” used to be a malevolent female spirit who prompted suffocation and tainted objectives in the route of slumber.
Sahara
This establish comes from the Arabic note for desert, so whenever you happen to claim “Sahara desert,” you’re literally saying “Barren space desert.”
Sarcasm
Sarcasm is known as a biting bear of humor for a cause: one translation of its Greek origin note, sarkazein, is to bite or strip off flesh as an animal would.
Silly
Whenever you were silly in the 1200s, when this period of time first started getting used, you were likely opinion about to be happy or innocent, which doesn’t sound very silly.
