Tag: French
-
Why “turkey” is named after the country
We can thank Turkish trading—and Turkish naming trends—for the name of this Thanksgiving bird.
-
hostage
Fast Mash Hostage comes into English from the French in the 13th century, when it meant handing over a person to another party as a pledge to fulfill an undertaking It might come from Latin’s obses (hostage, pledge, security, guarantee), literally someone “sitting before” an enemy Or it might be from Latin’s hospes, a word…
-
breakfast, lunch, & dinner
Fast Mash Appearing in the 15th-century, beakfast joins break and fast, with the latter indeed related to its adjective form Lunch is less clear; lunch is shortened from luncheon, which may be an extension of lunch, possibly from lump (compare bump and bunch); luncheon may have been formed on analogy to words like truncheon In the…
-
risk, part I
Fast Mash The ultimate origins of risk are unknown, but many have been suggested The word enters English in the 1660s from French risque, in turn from a similar Italian form based on riscare (to run into danger); this is from postclassical Latin risicum, attested even then in commercial contexts In Romance languages during the Middle Ages, risk appears in maritime…
Mashed Radish 