This article is attempting to share some words’ roots, it also aims to describe the original language, the word structure, and the original meaning.
The list below contains the terms this article will share:
- Academy,
- Acrobat,
- Adieu,
- Agog,
- Agnostic,
- Alabama,
- Alarm,
- Ambrosia,
- Anathema,
- Average.
So, bring your chocolate bar, and let’s start.
1. Academy:
The name comes from a garden founded by Academus in a suburb of Athens. It was at one time a resort dedicated to the goddess Athene.
Therefore, Plato gave his morning philosophical lectures in his garden, and from here the academic word was applied in education.
2. Acrobat:
The word comes from The Greek Akros and Baino, while Akros means “the point or the extremity”, Baino means “to go”, to two words used to address a person who goes wildly to his/her extreme state, For instance: someone walks on fire.
3. Adieu:
Usually used as “goodbye”, originally a French word means “I commend you to God”, Dieu here means God.
4. Agog:
This word is derived from the old French phrase ‘en gogues,’ which literally means ‘in mirth’. Example: she’s all agog.
5. Agnostic:
One curious aspect of this word is the widespread belief that it is age-old. Professor Huxley invented the term in 1869 to describe someone who denies any knowledge beyond what can be proven to him by fact or experience. It is composed of the Greek words:
- A which means: not,
- gnostos which means known.
Read More: What-does-the-origin-of-the-word-banting-mean
6. Alabama:
The place to which all song-writes declare they want to ‘Go back to’. And no wonder for Alabama is an Indian (American Red Indian) word for ‘Here we rest’.
7. Alarm:
It comes from Latin ad arma, all through the Italian all’arme which means to the arms.
8. Ambrosia:
The name was given to the food of the Gods of Greek mythology, which made them immortal, nowadays is used to apply to anything delectable: “This drink is like ambrosia.”
However, in some areas in America, the word Ambrosia is also the name given to an American weed.
9. Anathema:
“It’s anathema to me.” We use this expression to describe evil, hateful, or a curse”. However, the current meaning is very far from the original meaning. At first it was an offering accepted by Gods.
The Greeks and the Romans brought votive offerings to be set up in the temple. The healed lame man, for instance, brought his crutch, the sailor returning from a voyage offered a model of his ship, as thank-offering.
Set up in the temple they were anathema (Greek ana “up” and tithemi “to set”). An object refused by the priests was an an-anathema and this is the word which should be used to-day in the sense of “hateful”.
10. Average:
It’s unclear where this word came from. However, it is most likely derived from the Latin word habere, which means “to have.”
A story said that farmer was required to keep a certain amount of “loads,” for example 1 cattle of 100, which was declared as his “average.”
This etymology is deemed “doubtful” by the Century Dictionary. However, the word avera, which means “average” in medieval Latin, appears in this context in the Domesday Book.
Read More: 6-misused-words-you-should-know-their-origin
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