Word Facts for June 4-10, 2011
Word origin for the weekend of June 4-5, 2011: Afghanistan - The -stan part is easy: it means "the country of" in several Central Asian languages. But what of the Afghan? "Afghanistan" enfolds an uncomfortable, ever-shifting alliance of tribes, the most populous of which (the Pushtuns) make up about 40 percent of the population. None of the tribes is called "Afghan," though the country's currency is. The name is a curiosity apparently coined by British administrators who hoped that a common name might create a unified country - something that hasn't quite worked out.
Word origin for June 6, 2011: marijuana - Wacky tabacky, weed, marihuana, Mary Jane - the mildly narcotic plant known scientifically as Cannibis sativa has been called countless names. One, in the language of the Carib Indians of Central America, was maraguan. The Spanish heard that as the woman's name Maria Juana, which has given rise to abundant spellings over the centuries.
Word origin for June 7, 2011: mummy - Not the British word for mother, but that of an embalmed body, "mummy" takes its name from the Arabic mumiya, which in turns comes from the root mum, meaning the wax used in the embalming process. The word first appears in English in about 1400.
Word origin for June 8, 2011: You scratch my back, and I'll scratch yours - Artemus Ward, the pen name of nineteenth-century writer Charles Farrar Brown, was a master of homespun expressions, in this instance one that suggests a relationship of mutual benefit. Ward/Brown borrowed the sentiment from the French philosopher Montaigne, but the turn of phrase is unmistakably American.
Word origin for June 9, 2011: paisley - A standby of the psychedelic era and a favorite in hippie revivals ever since, "paisley" has its origins in the century before. A textile mill in the Scottish town of Paisley specialized in making the cloth, which originally took only one form and was thus called a "Paisley shawl." Designers eventually figured out other uses, and "paisley" became more widespread throughout the nineteenth century.
Word origin for June 10, 2011: Play it again, Sam. - In the early 1970s, college audiences rediscovered the 1942 film Casablanca, in which a young Ingrid Bergman asks a pianist to play a favorite tune, As Time Goes By. "Play it once, Sam," she says, adding (a couple of lines later) "Play it, Sam." By some alchemy, Woody Allen heard the word "again" in the exchange, and he called a film of his from 1972 Play It Again, Sam - a misquotation that has lived on ever since.
Word origin for June 6, 2011: marijuana - Wacky tabacky, weed, marihuana, Mary Jane - the mildly narcotic plant known scientifically as Cannibis sativa has been called countless names. One, in the language of the Carib Indians of Central America, was maraguan. The Spanish heard that as the woman's name Maria Juana, which has given rise to abundant spellings over the centuries.
Word origin for June 7, 2011: mummy - Not the British word for mother, but that of an embalmed body, "mummy" takes its name from the Arabic mumiya, which in turns comes from the root mum, meaning the wax used in the embalming process. The word first appears in English in about 1400.
Word origin for June 8, 2011: You scratch my back, and I'll scratch yours - Artemus Ward, the pen name of nineteenth-century writer Charles Farrar Brown, was a master of homespun expressions, in this instance one that suggests a relationship of mutual benefit. Ward/Brown borrowed the sentiment from the French philosopher Montaigne, but the turn of phrase is unmistakably American.
Word origin for June 9, 2011: paisley - A standby of the psychedelic era and a favorite in hippie revivals ever since, "paisley" has its origins in the century before. A textile mill in the Scottish town of Paisley specialized in making the cloth, which originally took only one form and was thus called a "Paisley shawl." Designers eventually figured out other uses, and "paisley" became more widespread throughout the nineteenth century.
Word origin for June 10, 2011: Play it again, Sam. - In the early 1970s, college audiences rediscovered the 1942 film Casablanca, in which a young Ingrid Bergman asks a pianist to play a favorite tune, As Time Goes By. "Play it once, Sam," she says, adding (a couple of lines later) "Play it, Sam." By some alchemy, Woody Allen heard the word "again" in the exchange, and he called a film of his from 1972 Play It Again, Sam - a misquotation that has lived on ever since.
Labels: 2011, coinage, death, drugs, greg, hearing, history, jane, languages, mary, maxed-out tags limit, money, movies, names, page-a-day, sam, spelling, teunis, visitors, words
posted by Flami at 12:17:00 AM
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