History of words

Ailin – Micaela - Milagros

Stamina 1670’s – From latin: stamen:

“rudiments or original elements of something”. Plural: stamina

First recorded on 1726 "congenital vital capacities of a

person or animal"

Taboo 1777 – From Tongan(Polynesian language

of the island of Tonga) Ta-bu: “sacred” From Hawaii: Tabu: “sacred, prohibition, holy” From Tahiti:Tapoo: “restriction, sacred” The noun and verb are English

innovations first recorded in Cook's book.

Clue Derivation from the medieval word clew that

means “ball of thread” Classic mythology: the hero Theseus was

given a ball of thread to help him find his way out of the labyrinth of Minos. By following the trail of thread he left behind him he was able to navigate his way to the exit.

The word clue then became associated with anything which might hint at the solution.

Engineer From the Latin ingenium, the same

word ingenious comes from. Not from the word engine.

Serendipity “A fortunate happenstance or a pleasant

surprise” First noted use in the English language was

by Horace Walpole (1717-1797) in a letter where he say he coined it by seeing it in the Persian fairy tale ‘The Three Princesses of Serendip’, whose heroes “were always making discoveries, by accidents and sagacity, of things they were not in quest of”.

Disaster From Greece Dis: “bad”. Aster: “star”. The ancients used to blame

calamities on unfavourable planetary.

Ferret From old French: furet diminutive of

fuiron, means “thief” From Latin: furionem (related to

furonem that meant cat and was also related to “robber”)

In allusion to the animal’s slyness and craftiness)

Mortgage From the French language Means “death pledge”

Peninsula From Latin Pen: “almost”. Insula: “island”.

Muscle From Latin root meaning “little

mouse” Apparently people used to think

muscles looked like little mice under their skin.

Devil From Latin diabolus “accuser,

slanderer” From old English deofol “evil spirit,

a devil, false god, diabolical person” Jerome re-introduced Satan in Latin

bibles, and English translators have used both in different measures.

Guess From Danish gitse, getze “to guess” From Proto-germanic getan “to get” The prehistoric sense evolution then

would be from "get," to "take aim at," to "to estimate." Meaning "to hit upon the right answer" is from 1540s.

Spelling with gu- is late 16c., sometimes attributed to Caxton and his early experience as a printer in Bruges.

Abandon Mettre sa forest à bandon was a feudal is a

law phrase from the 13th cent that means “to open it freely to any one for pasture or to cut wood in” hence the later sense of giving up one's rights for a time, letting go, leaving, abandoning.

Etymologically, the word carries a sense of "put someone under someone else's control." Meaning "to give up absolutely" is from late 14

Bachelor From French bacheler that means “ knight

barchelor or young man, unmarried man” The meaning in English expanded in the

early 14 century to "young unmarried man” Bachelor party as a pre-wedding ritual is

from 1882 Bachelorette: from barchelor with French

ending “ette”. Comes from French bachelette which means “young girl”

Apology From Greek apologia that means

“speaking in defense”. To apologize was originally to

defend one's words or actions, not to express regret for them.

It acquired the modern meaning in the 18th century.

Malaria From Latin phrase mal aria which

means “bad air” It was used to describe the

atmosphere around the swamps in Rome

Nostalgia From Latin Nostos (which translates

to something like “returning home”) and algos (pain)

Nostalgia’s meaning would be “The pain of returning home”