Matt Lorenzo
ESL 4
Word History Chart
Answer (n)
Source:
http://www.etymonline.com
Old English andswaru "an answer, a reply," from and- "against" (see ante) + -swaru
"affirmation," from swerian "to swear" (see swear), suggesting an original sense of
ETYMOLGICAL
"make a sworn statement rebutting a charge." A common Germanic compound (cf.
Old Saxon antswor, Old Norse andsvar, Old Frisian ondser, Danish and Swedish
ansvar), implying a Proto-Germanic *andswara-. Meaning "a reply to a question,"
the main modern sense, was present in Old English. Meaning "solution of a
problem" is from c.1300.
Baby (n)
late 14c., babi, diminutive of baban (see babe + -y (3)). Meaning "childish adult
person" is from c.1600. Meaning "youngest of a group" is from 1897. As a term of
PHONETIC
endearment for one's lover it is attested perhaps as early as 1839, certainly by
1901; its popularity perhaps boosted by baby vamp "a popular girl," student slang
from c.1922. As an adjective, by 1750.
Cabin (n)
mid-14c., from Old French cabane "hut, cabin," from Old Provençal cabana, from
Late Latin capanna "hut" (source of Spanish cabana, Italian capanna), of doubtful
PHONETIC
origin. French cabine (18c.), Italian cabino are English loan-words. Meaning "room
or partition of a vessel" is from late 14c. Cabin fever first recorded by 1918 in the
"need to get out and about" sense; earlier (1820s) it was a term for typhus.
Damsel (n)
late 12c., from Old French dameisele "woman of noble birth" (Modern French
demoiselle "young lady"), modified (by association with dame) from earlier donsele,
ETYMOLOGICAL from Gallo-Romance *domnicella, diminutive of Latin domina "lady" (see dame).
Archaic until revived by romantic poets, along with 16c.-17c. variant form damozel.
Elf (n)
"one of a race of powerful supernatural beings in Germanic folklore," Old English elf
(Mercian, Kentish), ælf (Northumbrian), ylfe (plural, West Saxon), from ProtoPHONETIC
Germanic *albiz (cf. Old Saxon alf, Old Norse alfr, German alp "evil spirit, goblin,
incubus"), origin unknown, possibly from PIE *albho- "white." Used figuratively for
"mischievous person" from 1550s.
Fable (n)
c.1300, "falsehood, lie, pretense," from Old French fable (12c.) "story, fable, tale;
fiction, lie, falsehood," from Latin fabula "story, play, fable, narrative, account,
ETYMOLOGICAL tale," literally "that which is told," related to fari "speak, tell," from PIE root *bha(2) "speak" (see fame (n.)). Sense of "animal story" (early 14c.) comes from Aesop.
In modern folklore terms, defined as "a short, comic tale making a moral point
about human nature, usually through animal characters behaving in human ways."
Most trace to Greece or India.
Globe (n)
mid-15c., "sphere," from Middle French globe (14c.) and directly from Latin globus
"round mass, sphere, ball," also, of men, "a throng, crowd, body, mass," related to
PHONETIC
gleba "clod, soil, land" (see glebe). Sense of "planet earth," or a three-dimensional
map of it first attested 1550s.
Hymn (n)
c.1000, from Old French ymne and Old English ymen, both from Latin hymnus "song
of praise," from Greek hymnos "song or ode in praise of gods or heroes," used in
SEMANTIC
Septuagint for various Hebrew words meaning "song praising God." Possibly a
variant of hymenaios "wedding song," from Hymen, Greek god of marriage (see
Igloo (n)
PHONETIC
Joke (n)
PHONETIC
hymen), or from a PIE root *sam- "to sing" (cf. Hittite išhamai "he sings," Sanskrit
saman- "hymn, song") [Watkins]. Evidence for the silent -n- dates from at least
1530.
1824, Canadian English, from an Eskimo word for "house, dwelling" (cf. Greenlandic
igdlo "house").
1660s, joque, "a jest, something done to excite laughter," from Latin iocus "joke,
sport, pastime," from PIE root *yek- "to speak" (cf. Breton iez "language," Old High
German jehan "to say," German Beichte "confession").
Originally a colloquial or slang word. Meaning "something not to be taken seriously"
is 1791. Practical joke "trick played on someone for the sake of a laugh at his
expense" is from 1804 (earlier handicraft joke, 1741). Black joke is old slang for
"smutty song" (1730s), from use of that phrase in the refrain of a then-popular song
as a euphemism for "the monosyllable."
Kangaroo (n)
1770, used by Capt. Cook and botanist Joseph Banks, supposedly an aborigine word
from northeast Queensland, Australia, usually said to be unknown now in any
ETYMOLOGICAL native language. However, according to Australian linguist R.M.W. Dixon ("The
Languages of Australia," Cambridge, 1980), the word probably is from Guugu
Yimidhirr (Endeavour River-area Aborigine language) /gaNurru/ "large black
kangaroo."
Light (n)
"brightness, radiant energy," Old English leht, earlier leoht "light, daylight;
luminous, beautiful," from West Germanic *leukhtam (cf. Old Saxon lioht, Old
ETYMOLOGICAL Frisian liacht, Middle Dutch lucht, Dutch licht, Old High German lioht, German Licht,
Gothic liuhaþ "light"), from PIE *leuk- "light, brightness" (cf. Sanskrit rocate
"shines;" Armenian lois "light," lusin "moon;" Greek leukos "bright, shining, white;"
Latin lucere "to shine," lux "light," lucidus "clear;" Old Church Slavonic luci "light;"
Lithuanian laukas "pale;" Welsh llug "gleam, glimmer;" Old Irish loche "lightning,"
luchair "brightness;" Hittite lukezi "is bright").
The -gh- was an Anglo-French scribal attempt to render the Germanic hard -hsound, which has since disappeared from this word. The figurative spiritual sense
was in Old English; the sense of "mental illumination" is first recorded mid-15c.
Meaning "something used for igniting" is from 1680s. Meaning "a consideration
which puts something in a certain view (e.g. in light of) is from 1680s.
Machine (n)
1540s, "structure of any kind," from Middle French machine "device, contrivance,"
from Latin machina "machine, engine, military machine; device, trick; instrument"
ETYMOLOGICAL (cf. Spanish maquina, Italian macchina), from Greek makhana, Doric variant of
mekhane "device, means," related to mekhos "means, expedient, contrivance,"
from PIE *maghana- "that which enables," from root *magh- (1) "to be able, have
power" (cf. Old Church Slavonic mogo "be able," Old English mæg "I can;" see may
(v.)).
Main modern sense of "device made of moving parts for applying mechanical
power" (1670s) probably grew out of mid-17c. senses of "apparatus, appliance" and
"military siege-tower." In late 19c. slang the word was used for both "penis" and
"vagina," one of the few so honored.
Nap (n)
"short spell of sleep," c.1300, from nap (v.). With take (v.) from c.1400.
PHONETIC
Oration (n)
late 14c., "prayer," from Late Latin orationem (nominative oratio) "a speaking,
speech, discourse; language, faculty of speech, mode of expressing; prayer," noun
SEMANTIC
of action from past participle stem of Latin orare "to pray, plead, speak before an
assembly" (see orator). Meaning "formal speech, discourse" first recorded c.1500.
Pallor (n)
c.1400, from Old French palor "paleness, whiteness" (12c.) and directly from Latin
pallor, from pallere "be pale, turn pale," related to pallus "dark-colored, dusky,"
ETYMOLOGICAL from PIE root *pel- (2) "pale; gray" (cf. Sanskrit palitah "gray," panduh "whitish,
pale;" Greek pelios "livid, dark," polios "gray;" Old English fealo "dull-colored,
yellow, brown;" Welsh llwyd "gray").
Quiz (n)
1867, "brief examination of a student on some subject," perhaps from quiz (v.), or
from apparently unrelated slang word quiz "odd person" (1782, source of quizzical).
SEMANTIC
According to OED, the anecdote that credits this word to a bet by the Dublin
theater-manager Daly or Daley that he could coin a word is regarded by authorities
as "doubtful" and the first record of it appears to be in 1836 (in Smart's "Walker
Remodelled"; the story is omitted in the edition of 1840).
Rag (n)
scrap of cloth, early 14c., probably from Old Norse rögg "shaggy tuft," earlier raggw, or possibly from Old Danish rag (see rug), or a back-formation from ragged, It also
PHONETIC
may represent an unrecorded Old English cognate of Old Norse rögg. Watkins
traces the Old Norse word through Proto-Germanic *rawwa-, from PIE root *reue"to smash, knock down, tear up, uproot" (see rough (adj.)).
Star (n)
PHONETIC
Tree (n)
PHONETIC
Old English steorra "star," from Proto-Germanic *sterron, *sternon (cf. Old Saxon
sterro, Old Frisian stera, Dutch ster, Old High German sterro, German Stern, Old
Norse stjarna, Swedish stjerna, Danish stierne, Gothic stairno).
This is from PIE *ster- (2) "star" (cf. Sanskrit star-, Hittite shittar, Greek aster, astron,
Latin stella, Breton sterenn, Welsh seren "star"), of uncertain connection to other
roots. Some suggest it is from a root meaning "to strew, scatter."
Old English treo, treow "tree" (also "timber, wood, beam, log, stake"), from ProtoGermanic *treuwaz- (cf. Old Frisian tre, Old Saxon trio, Old Norse tre, Gothic triu
"tree"), from PIE *drew-o-, from *deru- "oak" (cf. Sanskrit dru "tree, wood," daru
"wood, log;" Greek drys "oak," drymos "copse, thicket," doru "beam, shaft of a
spear;" Old Church Slavonic drievo "tree, wood;" Serbian drvo "tree," drva "wood;"
Russian drevo "tree, wood;" Czech drva; Polish drwa "wood;" Lithuanian derva
"pine, wood;" Old Irish daur, Welsh derwen "oak," Albanian drusk "oak"). This is
from PIE *drew-o-, a suffixed form of the root *deru- "to be firm, solid, steadfast"
(see true), with specialized sense "wood, tree" and derivatives referring to objects
made of wood.
Knowing a word’s history will help me teach ELLs language development. I can focus on either breaking
down the word by parts or explaining the history of the word and other words like it. I can even make
spelling suggestions based on the word(s) this word addresses.