Where does the word “vandal” come from and What does vandalize mean?

where does the word vandal come from and what does vandalize mean

In the fifth century A.D., a remarkable group of Teutonic tribes crossed the Rhine, descended southward through lands occupied by the Franks, fighting their way as they went, crossed the Pyrenees, lived for twenty years in Spain, and then, upon invitation from the Roman count of Africa, Boniface, crossed the Mediterranean into Africa. Eighty thousand … Read more

Where does the word “trapezoid” come from and What does trapezium mean?

where does the word trapezoid come from and what does trapezium mean

When Euclid wrote his work on geometry, about 300 B.C., he used the word trapezion, “little table,” as a name for any four-sided figure except the rectangle, rhombus, and rhomboid. The name was later Latinized to trapezium. Many centuries later, in the fifth century A.D., the geometer Proclus added certain refinements to Euclid’s work which … Read more

Where does the word “spruce” come from and What does spruce mean?

where does the word spruce come from and what does spruce mean

Anything from Prussia or native to that region was said to be Pruce, in England of the Middle Ages. Thus there was “Pruce beer” from the “Pruce tree,” and “Pruce leather,” and the country itself was “Pruceland.” Gradually, through the fourteenth and later centuries, Pruce absorbed an initial “s” and became Spruce. This in turn … Read more

When was the term “smog” coined and What does smog mean?

when was the term smog coined and what does smog mean

London has been troubled throughout its history by occasional blankets of fog, so dense that traffic becomes dangerous. The condition is aggravated, especially during the heating season, by the vast volumes of black smoke rising from the soft coal used by householders and industries and in public buildings. The result is almost total darkness at … Read more

Where does the word “tabloid” come from and What does tabloid mean?

where does the word tabloid come from and what does tabloid mean

In 1884 a British manufacturer of medical and pharmacal supplies, Messrs. Burroughs, Wellcome & Co., registered a trade-mark for a name that the Company applied to certain of its products. These were, generally, chemical drugs compressed into tablets. The name which the Company had devised was Tabloid, a name which, by process of registry, was … Read more

What does “sylph” mean and Where does the word sylph come from?

what does sylph mean and where does the word sylph come from

The great German alchemist of the early sixteenth century, best known under his assumed name, Paracelsus, collected a vast amount of information and made many important contributions to medical and chemical knowledge. The science of the times, however, compelled him to sail some uncharted seas, and we might today laugh at some of his theories. … Read more

Where do the words tarantula, tarantism, tarantella, St. Vitus’s dance, come from and What does tarantula mean?

where do the words tarantula tarantism tarantella st vituss dance come from and what does tarantula mean

Along about 708 B.C., a body of Greeks from Sparta moved across the Adriatic Sea and established a colony on a favorable spot upon a seacoast in southern Italy. Under the ancient name, Tarentum, the colony prospered, vying briefly with Rome for greatness in the third century B.C. The present city, its name altered to … Read more

Where does the word “superman” come from and What does superman mean?

where does the word superman come from and what does superman mean

The German philosopher of the nineteenth century, F. W. Nietzsche, used the German term, übermensch, to describe his notion of the ideal man evolved from the present type. This, by literal translation, would produce the English “overman” or perhaps “beyondman,” but neither of these terms seemed agreeable to the ear of George Bernard Shaw when, … Read more

Where does the word “supercilious” come from and What does supercilious mean?

where does the word supercilious come from and what does supercilious mean

Actually the Latin source, supercilium, means the eyebrow, from super, above, and cilium, eyelid. But the haughty man who looks contemptuously at those whom he regards as inferiors, inevitably looks at them with his eyebrows raised. The old Romans were aware of this characteristic lifting of the brows in expression of scorn, and even with … Read more

How did the word “roam” originate and What does roam mean?

how did the word roam originate and what does roam mean

It is traditional that the word roam was derived from Rome, and that it referred originally to the roundabout course taken by English pilgrims of the Middle Ages to that holy city. Language experts through the past hundred years, however, have searched for proof of that tradition and have been unable to find it. All … Read more