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
[Music]
[Music]