Category: Miscellaneous

27 Mar 2024 13:08

Joined:	21/05/2012
Level:	Gold
Points:	13426

Points:	4

Exploring Word Origins: Where Did They Come From?

Have you ever wondered where certain words come from? It's fascinating to learn about the origins of the language we use every day.

The word 'salary' comes from an old word 'salarium' in Latin. It was what the Roman soldiers got paid with, and they used it to buy salt. Salt was really important back then. So, 'salary' is kind of connected to 'salt' because of that.

Can you share about a word you know and where it comes from?

#777773

27 Mar 2024 15:17

Joined:	20/01/2017
Level:	Gold
Points:	25423

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English is a very rich language and the main reason for that is that it adopted words from so many languages across the globe. It is obvious that origin of those words will be in those languages. So it becomes difficult to find the roots and origins of the English words until one goes in details in that area known as etymology.
Some examples are -
Ballot - Italian origin
Mosquito - Spanish origin
Hamster - German origin
Khaki - Indian origin
Mammoth - Russian origin
Sarcasm - Greek origin

Thoughts exchanged is knowledge gained.

#777776

27 Mar 2024 16:28

Joined:	02/06/2009
Level:	Diamond
Points:	145594

Points:	5

That is true. Many words in English originated in some other language and later came into English. I understand many of the words in English are borrowed from either French or Latin. A research article published mentioned that 29% of English words are from French and Latin. Many of the words that are commonly used in English are from French, the research paper mentions.
The word 'anonymous' is derived from the Greek language and the word in Greek is 'anonumos'. Both the English word as well as Greek words have the same meaning.
Another word we all know is LOOT. It is originally from Hindi later adopted in English and has the same meaning in both languages. Safari is an Arabic word borrowed to English. A safari is a place where we can watch animals in a natural atmosphere.
The word 'entrepreneur' is borrowed from the French word 'entreprendre'. The meaning of this french word is to under take some work.

drrao
always confident

#777777

27 Mar 2024 16:35

Joined:	21/05/2012
Level:	Gold
Points:	13426

Points:	1

It's great to see members sharing words and their origins. In this post, I'd like to learn more about words we use today and how they got their meanings. Can you provide more words and their origins?

Explore, create, inspire

#777778

27 Mar 2024 16:38

Joined:	10/12/2016
Level:	Gold
Points:	109187

Points:	4

There was a time when Britishers were ruling almost the whole globe and had interactions with so many cultures and languages and adopted many local words and easily assimilated them in English language.
So some words are from one country while some are from other. Interesting thing is that some words are originated from the name of a place, name of a person, name of some animal, and like that. So there are so many sources from where the words were adopted and English became a very rich language.

Knowledge is power.

Exploring Word Origins: Where Did They Come From?

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