Words

30 Amazing Facts About Origin of Words | Amazing Facts 4U

30 Amazing and little known Facts About Origin of Words | Amazing Facts 4U

  1. The word “bride” is derived from an old English word meaning “cook”.
  2. Amazingly Sahara is an Arabic word meaning desert. When we say “Sahara desert”, we are in fact saying desert.
  3. Fortnight comes from ‘Fourteen Nights’ (2 Weeks).
  4. Amazingly Drawing Room was actually a ‘withdrawing room’ where people withdrew after Dinner. Later the prefix ‘with’ was dropped.
  5. The word ‘News’ is actually an acronym standing for the 4 compass points – North, East, West, and South!
  6. The fact is the word housekeeping was invented by Shakespeare.
  7. Amazingly Upper and Lower case letters are so named because when print had to be set manually the upper case letters were stored in a case above the case that held the lower case letters.
  8. The phrase “rule of thumb” is derived from an old English law, which stated that you couldn’t beat your wife with anything wider than your thumb.
  9. SCUBA is not a word. It is an acronym for Self Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus.
  10. There is a seven-letter words in the English language that contains ten words without rearranging any of its letters, “therein” — the, there, he, in, rein, her, here, ere, therein, herein.
  11. The ZIP in “ZIP code” means Zoning Improvement Plan.
  12. “Canada” is an Indian word meaning “big village”.
  13. “Fan” is an abbreviation for the word “fanatic.”
  14. The abbreviation e.g. stands for “Exempli Gratia”, or “For example.”
  15. The word Karate means “empty hand”.
  16. The abbreviation for 1 pound lb. comes from the astrological sign Libra meaning balance.
  17. Amazingly the word constipation comes from a Latin words that means “to crowd together.”
  18. English word pajamas has Persian origin meaning  Pa (leg)  and Ramah(garment).
  19. MAFIA is an acronym Morte Alla Francia Italia Anela or “Death to the French is Italy’s Cry”
  20. The letter X in Greece is an abbreviation for Christ, hence the term X-mas.
  21. Spain literally means ‘the land of rabbits.
  22. The amazing fact is that “Goodbye” came from the Middle English “goodbye”, which is short for “God be with ye”
  23. Amazingly “Mrs.” is actually an abbreviation for the words “mistress.”
  24. R.S.V.P. stands for the French phrase “repondez s’il vous plait,” which translates to “please reply.”
  25. Because breakfast is typically the first meal we eat each day, by doing so we are “breaking” our nightly “fast.” That is how the name originated.
  26. The amazing fact is that Kennedy means “Ugly Head”! and it is an Irish term.
  27. Amazingly the term “sideburns” originally comes from the hairstyle worn by Civil War general Ambrose Burnside! We used to call them “burnsides” before it was changed to “sideburns”.
  28. The ampersand (&) was made by combining the letters ‘e’ and ‘t.’ This is because the word ‘et’ is Latin for “and.”
  29. Amazingly the name Jesus comes from several incorrect translations of “Yeshua” which appear in the Hebrew Bible.
  30. The word Lieutenant comes from the French language and combines two other words. The first is “lieu,” which means “in place” as in a position. And the second word is “tenant,” which means “holding” or “holding in position.” Thus, a lieutenant meaning was someone who held a position in absence of his superior officer.

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~ By Amazing Facts 4U Team

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