The study of the origin of words is called etymology. It can be said that etymology is focused on the meaning of a term that does not always match the definition that appears in the dictionary.
It is worth remembering the etymology of the word etymology, which comes from the Greek “etymos” and which means true, as its Greek root “logos” means word.
Knowing the etymology of a word allows knowing its origin as well as understanding its future evolution and its different types of meaning. Etymology
curious examples
Next, we will present the curious etymology of some terms in everyday use.
Yellow comes from the Latin amarellus and is related to the yellowish appearance of people who suffer from jaundice.
The word asterisk comes from the Greek astéer which is equivalent to a star. Since the 15th century it has been used as an orthographic sign. Etymology
Language scholars consider that the word bastard comes from the Arabic word baxtaridu and that it means “whatever you want”, since the bastard is one that was generated by a relationship outside of marriage.
Bohemian is a term that comes from a Czech region called Bohemia. This territory is formed by an important group of people who lived irregularly and belonged to the gypsy ethnic group.
Capicua is a word of Catalan origin that means the union of three words that mean head and tail (cap i cua in catalaõ).
The word cesárea does not come from Caesar, but from the Latin caesura, which means cutting. This example shows us the frequency we attribute to the false etymology of certain words.
The word perhaps comes from Latin, more specifically from the expression Quero sapit, which means “who knows”.
Robot is a term from the Czech language, more precisely from the word robora, which means necessary work.
And of other languages as is the case of the word gafas (glasses in Spanish) of Dutch origin (gaffel means the frame of the glasses). It should be noted that the Dutch were great opticians and that they used this term to refer to this type of frame used to support the lenses behind the ear.
These examples allow us to draw some conclusions about the etymology of words: a word can come from any language, historical circumstances are decisive in some cases, there are terms that present several versions of their exact origin; finally, it is convenient to know the etymology of any word.
