Routine English Words Which Have Weird Origins

Wednesday, Aug 19, 2020, 7:17 pm

By:Tony Williams

1.Robot

You probably think that the word robot would mean something along the lines of tool or machine, but that is not exactly true. Instead, it originally meant slave and in a strange way it makes some sense with the word originally coming from the Czech Republic in 1921.

2.sh!t-faced

Well we tend to use this word in a certain way, the origins of the word are certainly a lot different. Originally, it meant young faced and it comes from Scotland where in the 19th century it was used to describe people that looked younger than their actual age. It does mean that if you had boyish looks, then you were permanently sh!t-faced when of course now it means to be drunk.

3.Boobies/boobs

This is going to surprise you, but the word boobs, or boobies, actually comes from the Latin word "puppa" and that translates as meaning "little girl". Go on, admit it you are now thinking differently about how you use that word now.

4.OMG

We may feel as if this is a new word, but it is actually almost 100 years old. It was first used by a British Admiral who was writing his memoirs in 1917 like some kind of shorthand, so if you think you are being progressive by using it, then you are actually behind the times.

5.Fizzle

OK so this may not be the most popular of words, but perhaps we should use it more often when you find out that it actually means "to fart quietly". How it then became popular is a bit of a mystery, but we certainly do not use it in that context that often.

6.Lunatic

The origins of the word lunatic are rather interesting. It actually comes from a Latin word, lunaticus, which means moonstruck. This may seem rather strange, but it actually makes sense as it ties in with the idea that people would go mad on a full moon.

7.Idiot

We see idiot as being a derogatory word, but in actual fact it has far nicer origins. It originally meant private before evolving into the word meaning layman or ignorant person before than being transformed yet again after it passed through French to simply mean ignorant.

8.Orchid

For some reason there appears to be a fascination with the word testicle as the origin of different words because orchid does indeed come from the Latin and Greek words that mean just that. Apparently it refers to the shape of the root of the orchid, so at least there is some kind of sense attached to it.

9.Vanilla

Vanilla does have some rather strange origins because it comes from a Latin word which means sheath and ironically it is the same word as the origins of the word v@gina. The reason why it is different is because vanilla came into English via Spain whereas v@gina was right from Latin.

10.Enthusiasm

We see the word enthusiasm as being something positive as we feel that we will be able to get so much done if we are enthusiastic. However, the word actually comes from a Greek term, entheos and that basically translates as meaning possessed, as in spiritually.

11.Dachshund

The sausage dog is loved by many, but would their opinions change when they discover what dachshund actually means? It translates from German as meaning Badger warrior and go on admit it, you are now thinking of a badger and how it would get on with the dog.

12.Avocado

OK so this is very strange because according to a word expert, avocado comes from a language spoken by the Aztecs in Central America. What does it originally come from and mean? The word is ahuacatl and that means "testicle"

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