10 Words with Interesting Origins Etymology English Vocabulary Lesson

hello everyone and welcome back to

english with Lucy today I’ve got a video

about a brand new subject I’m going to

talk to you about etymology

so etymology is the history of a word

and then its historical development over

time of its meaning it’s basically like

the timeline of a word so you see where

it where it originated from and then you

can see how it evolved and changed over

time it’s something really really

interesting often when I learn a new

word I’ll definitely look up its

etymology to see which language

originates from how it used to be used

it’s something a bit nerdy that I do

it’s something that I get a lot of joy

from let me know if you get any joy from

doing stuff like that I just like words

so today I’ve picked 10 words with

really interesting origins and I’m going

to chat about them with you in the hope

that will inspire you to study a little

bit more about the origin of words and

also at the very least help you improve

your English let’s get started

so number one is sandwich so a sandwich

food between two slices of bread it’s

the most common lunchtime food in

England fun fact though I don’t really

like bread it’s not that I don’t like it

I just don’t see the point in it I feel

like sandwiches the bread dilutes the

flavor of the filling so yeah just give

me the filling yeah so sandwich

sandwiches actually get their name from

a man called John Montagu who was the

fourth Earl of Sandwich so he was an

18th century aristocrat and he used to

like to eat his meals at the game tables

he he liked to play games like cards and

he didn’t want to get to the pieces and

cards dirty with his greasy fingers so

he used to ask for beef between two

slices of bread and it caught on with

his friends they used to say you know

I’ll have what sandwiches

I’ll have a Dukas sandwich and in the

end it got shortened down to just

sandwich and it’s the food that we know

and love today most of us know a love I

just know it don’t love it yeah so there

is actually a place in the UK called

sandwich which sounds like a really

bizarre name but actually that’s where

the food originates from okay the next

one I think is really interesting it’s

the word nice and it comes from Latin to

not know or ignorance but then over time

it started to be used to describe things

as agreeable than delightful nowadays we

use it mostly as a positive adjectives

okay the next one muscle this actually

comes from the Latin word for Mouse and

basically people used to think the

muscles look like little mice under your

skin so that’s where the word muscle

comes from okay the next one addict this

actually comes from the Latin word to

devote or to surrender yourself to

something and it was used for slaves so

by saying you’re an addict you’re saying

you’re a slave to something which is

quite accurate really okay the next word

clue it comes from clue

it sounds the same different spelling

which meant in Old English a ball of

thread this is because a ball of thread

could be used to guide somebody out of a

maze or a labyrinth so that was a clue

so that is where clue comes from the

next one jargon that has a good word

isn’t it I love saying jargon and jargon

comes from the old old French word

jageun if I’ve said that correctly

meaning twittering like birds

so basically when someone’s using a lot

of jargon they’re twittering like birds

it’s not really understandable and

they’re saying a load of rubbish okay

the next one this could be considered a

little bit rude the next one is avocado

and it comes from the Aztec word wonder

if I can say this aqua cattle our cattle

you can see the similarity but this

basically meant testicle as in the male

sex organ so

avocados are sort of similar shapes

obviously you can see a sort of

resemblance in shape and texture between

an avocado and a testicle and also they

are considered to be aphrodisiacs

meaning they boost sex drive so that is

where the word avocado comes from the

next one is whiskey whiskey that drink

that I just cannot seem to like I always

accept it when it’s offered to me and I

try and look grown-up so yes on the

rocks please

and then no can’t do it it tastes like

butts butts

tastes like butts butts are

cigarette ends well whisky is actually

shortened from a whiskey Bay and that

comes from the old english word oscar

bay which is derived from two gaelic

words whiskey meaning water bethel

meaning life so they’re saying that

whisky is a water of life which I think

some would consider to be very accurate

not me I think it’s actually the taker

of life the next one is the word vagina

yeah the female organ this word is

derived from the Latin word for sheath

or scabbard the thing that would cover a

sword and the word Gladius which means

sword was commonly used as to refer to

the male sex organ the penis so the

vagina the sheath covered this sword the

Gladius very interesting the next one

oxymoron

this comes from the Greek word Oxus

meaning sharp and Morros meaning blunt

so sharp blunt the word itself is an

oxymoron which i think is awesome I love

languages right that’s it for today’s

lesson I know it was a little bit

different but I just kind of wanted to

share one of my passions with you which

is etymology and just where words come

from I find it really really interesting

and I think it if you start to take

etymology in the origin and history of

words on

bored you can really quickly expand your

vocabulary and you can learn to speak in

a more meaningful way as well don’t

forget to connect with me on all of my

social media I’ve got my facebook my

Instagram and my Twitter and I will see

you soon for another lesson yeah

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