Wednesday, November 23, 2005

Website of the Day.

Online Etymology Dictionary

Words I looked up today:
cornucopia Look up cornucopia at Dictionary.com
1508, from L. cornu copiƦ "horn of plenty," originally the horn of the goat Amalthea, who nurtured the infant Zeus. See horn and copious.
candy Look up candy at Dictionary.com
1274, from O.Fr. sucre candi "sugar candy," from Arabic qandi, from Pers. qand "cane sugar," probably from Skt. khanda "piece (of sugar)," perhaps from Dravidian (cf. Tamil kantu "candy," kattu "to harden, condense"). Eye-candy is first recorded 1984, based on a metaphor also found in nose candy "cocaine" (1930). Candyass is from 1950s; candy-striper is 1960s, so called from design of her uniform.
crap Look up crap at Dictionary.com
"defecate" 1846 (v.), 1898 (n.), from one of a cluster of words generally applied to things cast off or discarded (e.g. "weeds growing among corn" (1425), "residue from renderings" (1490s), 18c. underworld slang for "money," and in Shropshire, "dregs of beer or ale"), all probably from M.E. crappe "grain that was trodden underfoot in a barn, chaff" (c.1440), from M.Fr. crape "siftings," from O.Fr. crappe, from M.L. crappa, crapinum "chaff." Sense of "rubbish, nonsense" also first recorded 1898. Despite folk etymology insistence, not from Thomas Crapper (1837-1910) who did, however, in 1882 invented the ball and suction device [British Patent # 4,990] found in modern toilets. The name Crapper is a northern form of Cropper (attested from 1221), an occupational surname, obviously, but the exact reference is unclear.

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