words wholly related -or- words wholly unrelated

junior etymologists from across the information super highway have very kindly sent me their own list of words that may or may not be related to other words. here are the best of them.

• my ex-lover’s ex-lover, matt langer writes to tell us that shebang (a nerdy mark for for unix nerds) and interrobang (a nerdy mark for grammar nerds) are wholly related through banging—where bang is slang for the exclamation point!

• my current union rep, billiam dalto has informed me that mosaic and mosaic (with a capital m) are wholly unrelated. the former, meaning “the juxtaposition of colours and patterns,” comes from the latin word, mosaicus and is related to the word muse. the latter is an eponym for christendom’s own wily muse—moses malone.

• my færie godfather, albert jorgenson had clued me into an etymological hat trick: host, host and host are wholly unrelated. host in the ecclesiastical sense means “sacrificial victim” and comes from the latin word, hostia. host in the riders of rohan sense (a company of armed men) comes from the latin word, hostis. And host in the sense of the farmer that feeds you fried chicken and strawberry rhubarb pie and lets you doggystyle his daughter in a hayloft comes from the latin word, hospes.

words wholly unrelated

cult & occult

the former is from cultus (worship). the latter is from occulere (to conceal). both are from latin and have dark, religious connotations.

for those curious, the name of the roguish american football squadron from indianapolis (as well as lando calrissian’s malt beverage of choice) comes from an old english word of the same spelling, pronunciation, and meaning and is therefore wholly unrelated to either cult or occult.

words wholly unrelated

phase & faze

again, both words are pronounced the same and have overlapping meanings* (ie. “to stun”). the former is associated with stunning through the star trek weapon capable of producing laser beams of various phase. it draws this sense from the latin word phasis which describes the different aspects of the moon. the latter means “to disturb”. it comes from fésian, an old english word with the same meaning.

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*this peculiarity is probably not as coincidental as it may at first seem. if certain words have the same pronunciation, their meanings are probably more likely to drift towards one another over time on account of confusion and wordplay.

words wholly unrelated

babble & babel

the former means “to talk idly, irrationally, excessively, or foolishly” and has been in the english language since the fourteenth century. the latter is the hebrew word for babylon—a mythical town (and tower) in the old testament where a confusion of language is said to have taken place. both words are pronounced the same and have overlapping definitions though no direct connexion can be traced.

words wholly related

almond & amygdala

one is actually the latin source of the other (though i am not saying which is which).

words wholly related

precocious & apricot

both derive from the latin word, præcox (early-ripe). a precocious child is said to be more mature than other children. an apricot is a fruit that ripens before other fruits.

worthy of note: is the path that the apricot took in getting to english through the circuitous waypoints of portugese (albricoque), arabic (al-burqūq) and greek (πραικόκιον).

even more worthy: is the elizabethan medical condition, ejaculatio præcox which meant, of course, premature ejaculation.

words wholly unrelated

counsel & council

they are pronounced the same and have overlapping meanings yet they are from two totally different latin words. the former is from consulere (to consult), the latter is from concilium (assembly).

concerning butterflies

i thought i would write a post today that didn’t involve freaky sex terms or raw fraternity boy potty humor… and so, like nabokov, i turned to butterflies! but then i came across this factoid [alert: it has the potential of (figuratively) spoiling your butter]:

• butterflies were so named because butter was thought to be similar in both colour and consistency to butterfly excrement.

oh boy! my first dog was named snickers for similar reasons. again, i have verified the etymology but not the semblance.

1moretime: THEY ARE CALLED BUTTERFLIES BECAUSE THEY POOP BUTTER!!!!!!!!!

the panel game

i was called a smart alec on two separate occasions today and thus went immediately to wikipædia to see if the alec in question was of the baldwin or guinness variety. it turns out that it was neither and i was instead treated to this (possibly-apocryphal-but-who-really-cares) vignette of the colourful person behind the name »

According to Gerald Leonard Cohen, the phrase “smart alec” arose from the exploits of Alec Hoag. A celebrated pimp, thief, and confidence man operating in New York City in the 1840s, Hoag, along with his wife Melinda and an accomplice known as “French Jack”, operated a con called the “panel game”, a method by which prostitutes and their pimps robbed customers.

In the panel game, “Melinda would make her victim lay his clothes, as he took them off, upon a chair at the head of the bed near the secret panel, and then take him to her arms and closely draw the curtains of the bed. As soon as everything was right and the dupe not likely to heed outside noises, the traitress would give a cough, and the faithful Aleck (sic) would slily (sic) enter, rifle the pockets of every farthing or valuable thing, and finally disappear as mysteriously as he entered.” The victim was then persuaded to leave in a hurry through a window by Alec banging on the door, pretending to be an aggrieved husband who had suddenly returned from a trip away.

Professor Cohen suggests that Alex Hoag was given the sobriquet of “smart Alec” by the police for being a resourceful thief who outsmarted himself by trying to avoid paying graft.

words wholly related

pork chops & porcelain

both are ultimately from the latin porcus meaning pig. porcelain chinaware was so named because of its resemblance to the cowrie “porcella” shell. the porcella shell was so named because of its apparent resemblance to she-pig pudenda.

note: while i HAVE verified the etymology, i have NOT verified the visual similarity.

further note: yet.

how to get your girlfriend to be on board with you going to a strip club in 1 easy step

1. refer to the stripper as an ecdysiast, just as the ancient greeks might have. thus:

YOUR GIRLFRIEND: where have you been all night smelling like musk and dressed in those umbro® shorts?

YOU: seeing a professional ecdysiast.

YOUR GIRLFRIEND: i see, now let me do my best to relieve your epididymal hypertension.

previously.

words wholly unrelated

cleave & cleave

both are pronounced the same. both are spelled the same. and each is the opposite of the other (cleave means “to separate”; cleave means “to stay together”). they each come from completely different old english words (cleofan & clifian respectively).

words wholly related

testicle & testify

both are from the latin word testis meaning witness or evidence. to testify is to give evidence and a testicle is evidence of one’s virility.

words wholly related

eucalyptus & apocalypse

both derive from the greek word καλυπτειν (to cover). eucalyptus is a tree that covers well and the apocalypse is the ultimate uncovering (or revelation).

words wholly unrelated

donkey & [any other word]

the first written use is actually from the dictionary of the vulgar tongue (1785) where it appeared as donkey dick. no credible derivation or cognate has yet been found. the leading contenders are:

1. a familiar form of the name duncan.
2. a diminutive of dun (dull greyish brown and a typical color of donkeys).
3. potentially of imitative origin (could donkey be a longlost onomatopoetic animal?!?)

also of note is the original pronunciation most likely rhymed with monkey.

pre vious ly