Dictionary of Word Origins

Joseph T Shipley

• Publisher: Philosophical Library/Open Road
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9781504068048
• Topic: Languages & Linguistics
• Subtopic: Historical & Comparative Linguistics
• Index: Languages & Linguistics

This extensive reference volume presents the etymological history of thousands of English words. The story of how words come to be is the story of how humans think, and how we fashion our civilizations. Words can be the product of long and intertwining histories, migrations from other languages, or new coinages of science or slang. This diversity of origins is part of what gives the English language its beauty and power. In Dictionary of Word Origins, etymologist Joseph T. Shipley provides a fascinating window into the evolution of modern English, from the onomatopoetic aspect of "abash" to the animalistic origins of "zodiac."

C

cab.

See taxi.

cabal.

The mystic element in this word is preserved in Eng. cabbala and cabbalistic. It is by way of LL., from Heb. qabbalah, the received lore, from qabal, to receive. The word was popularized in Eng. during the reign of Charles II, from the fact that the initials of his 1671 ministers spelled the word: Clifford, Arlington, Buckingham, Ashley, Lauderdale. From this Privy Council came the modern cabinet: Fr., from It gabinetto, diminutive of gabbia, cage, from L. cavea, cage, cave, from cavus, hollow. Hence cavity, cavern, excavated. Cp. calf. To cajole is to chatter (esp. to entice wild birds to be caught) like a bird in a cage, from OFr. cageoler; whence also gaol; from the 13th c. spelling gaiole comes Eng. jail. Cabinet is a diminutive of cabin, from ME. caban, perhaps taken directly from Welsh caban, hut, Instead of from the Fr. One suggestion connects gaberdine with this word, as the diminutive of Sp. gaban, great cloak, from cabana, cabin, shelter; cp. cloth.

cabbage.

If you speak of a head of cabbage, you are repeating yourself; for cabbage means head. The name of the vegetable is Fr. choux; it is from Fr. choux cabus, headed cabbage, shortened to cabus, cabbage. By way of OFr. cabuce, from It. capuccio, a little head, it is from L. caput, head. Caput, capit—gives us capital, etc.; cp. achieve. There is a word in heraldry, caboshed, which means with the head full front, high. To cabbage, meaning to filch, may be from this source, figuratively (you put the leaves into a bag to make the vegetable come to a head; and the objects into a bag to slip away with them); or. from OFr. cabasscr, to put into a basket, from OFr. cabas, basket—which may itself be from the same source.

cabin, cabinet

See cabal.

caboose.

This is not related to cab, q.v., but possibly (through the, German) to cabin, being a cabin aus, cr cabaus: originally a cook-room on the deck of a merchant ship (ca. 1760). It Was not applied to the last (trainmen’s) car of a train until ca. 1880, in the U. S.

The ending was perhaps fashioned as in vamoose, q.v., and hoosegow. This is from Mexican Sp. juzgado, huzgado, past participle of juagar, to judge: judged, therefore sentenced, therefore jailed.

cacao.

See vanilla.

cackle.

See laugh.

cad.

The military cadet was once the younger son, from Fr. cadet, from Gase. capdet, diminutive of cap, head; cp. achieve. From this came the use, as caddie (Sc), for errand boy; now limited to one that carries another’s clubs on a golf course. Shortened to cad, this represents the English University opinion of an errand boy, applied to anyone of whom the students disapproved.

caddie.

See cad.

cadence, cadenza.

See decay.

cadet.

See cad.

cadmium.

See element.

caduceus.

Hermes (Roman, Mercury) messenger of the gods, carried a herald’s wand, Gr. kodukion, kedukeion, from kedux, keduk-, herald (related? to L. dux, duc-, leader, ducere, to guide; cp. duke). This wand (an olive branch with two serpents twined) replaced the knotted staff, with one twined serpent, of Aesculapius, as the symbol of medicine: Eng., the caduceus. A snake brought Aesculapius an herb with healing powers; whereupon Pluto, lord of the underworld, asked Zeus to slay him. Far from being a spirit of evil (save to the gods; cp. sotem), the snake, shedding its skin to renew itself, was a symbol of healing. The daughter of Aesculapius was Hygeia (Gr. hygies, healthy), whence Eng. hygiene.

The caduceus must not be confused with Eng. caducty, from L. caducus, infirm, from cadere, to fall; cp. cheat.

Caesarean.

See shed.

cage.

See cabal.

caitiff.

See manoeuvre.

cajole.

See cabal.

cake.

See cheesecake.

calamity.

In late 19th c. England there was a “cult of the Calamus”; Swinburne, W. M. Rossetti and others, in admiration of the American poet Walt Whitman, whose best known work is Leaves of Grass. Various grasses or reeds are called calamus, from L. calamus, from Gr. kalamos, reed. It was long supposed that the damage to cornstalks from hail or mildew produced the word calamity. The ancients assumed this derivation; and Bacon tells that drouth, when the corn cannot come out of the stalk, turns calamus into calamitas (L. calamitas, calomitat—). Today etymologists prefer to guess at an early L. calamis, hurt, which does not exist and has no known ancestors, but which seems to be present in the L. incolumis, safe,

The zinc ore, calamine, may be from calamus, because of the shape of lines in it; but is perhaps corrupted by alchemists from L. cadmio, from Gr. kadmio Calamint was probably from LL. calamentum, —mentum the noun ending; but wa...