Tag: politics
-
debate
Today, in spite of ourselves, all of our eyes will be on Donald Trump in the first Republican debate of the 2016 presidential season. As his personality makes clear, Trump is not one for actual debating. But he is, we might say, quite given to the etymology of debate. Let’s have a quick look at the etymology…
-
champion
Fast Mash Champion, through French, derives from Late Latin campio, “warrior” or “fighter,” in turn from campus, meaning “field” In Ancient Rome, such a campus staged military exercises as well as political and athletic events From this campus English also gets such words as campaign, Champagne, a university campus, camp, scamp, and possibly even gambol and jamb Its ultimate origin is unknown, but campus may go…
-
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…
Mashed Radish 