Etymology & Word Origins · Source
Mrs. Elizabeth Smith Miller invented them in 1849, and showed a working model to a famous women’s rights advocate, Amelia J. Bloomer. Amelia was fascinated by the idea of garments that were both modest (they then reached right down to the ankles) and convenient—and promptly sponsored them…
Charles C. Boycott was an English land agent whose difficult duty it was to collect high rents from Irish farmers. In protest, the farmers ostracized him, not even allowing him to make purchases in town or hire workers to harvest his crops.
Marcel was an ingenious Parisian hairdresser who felt he could improve on the button curls popular in 1875. He did, and made a fortune.
Finance Minister of France just before the Revolution, Etienne de Silhouette advocated the simple life, so that excess money could go into the treasury instead of into luxurious living. And the profile is the simplest form of portraiture, if you get the connection.
A seventeenth-century English hangman, Derrick by name, hoisted to their death some of the most notorious criminals of the day.
Because Count de Sade, an eighteenth-century Frenchman, found his greatest delight in torturing friends and mistresses, the term sadist was derived from his name. His works shocked his nation and the world by the alarming frankness with which he described his morbid and bloodthirsty cruelty.
Luigi Galvani, the Italian physiologist, found by accident that an electrically charged scalpel could send a frog’s corpse into muscular convulsions. Experimenting further, he eventually discovered the principles of chemically produced electricity. His name is responsible not only for the technical expressions galvanism, galvanized iron, and galvanometer, but also for that highly graphic phrase, “galvanized into action.”
In 1868, R. J. Lechmere Guppy, president of the Scientific Association of Trinidad, sent some specimens of a tiny tropical fish to the British Museum. Ever since, fish of this species have been called guppies.
Four hundred years ago, Jean Nicot, a French ambassador, bought some tobacco seeds from a Flemish trader. Nicot’s successful efforts to popularize the plant in Europe brought him linguistic immortality.
Where first was manufactured the daggerlike weapon that fits over the muzzle end of a rifle—the bayonet.
The first place in Europe to grow those luscious melons we now call cantaloupes.
The city from which we first imported a kind of cotton cloth now known as calico.
In the country club of this exclusive and wealthy community, the short (no tails) dinner coat for men, or tuxedo, was popularized.
It was once supposed that the colorful, fortunetelling wanderers, or Gypsies, hailed from this ancient land.
Where an elaborately patterned silk, damask, was first made.
Once a great seaport in Fukien Province. Marco Polo called it Zaitun, and in time a silk fabric made there was called satin.
Where the burghers once greatly enjoyed their smoked beef and pork sausages, which we now ask for in delicatessen stores and supermarkets by the name of frankfurters, franks, or hot dogs.
Words derived from people and places covered in this intermission.
17 derived words
Loose trousers or undergarments for women, named after women’s rights advocate Amelia J. Bloomer, who famously sponsored them after Mrs. Elizabeth Smith Miller invented them in 1849.
To refuse to deal with, buy from, or participate with a person, organization, or country as a form of protest. Named after English land agent Charles C. Boycott, who was ostracized by Irish tenant farmers.
A style of deep, regular waves made in the hair with a heated curling iron. Named after Marcel, an ingenious Parisian hairdresser who invented the technique around 1875.
A dark outline or profile of a figure against a lighter background; the simplest form of portraiture. Named after French Finance Minister Etienne de Silhouette, who advocated simple, economical living.
A hoisting apparatus using a movable arm; also the framework over an oil well. Named after Derrick, a seventeenth-century English hangman who hoisted criminals to their death.
A person who derives pleasure from inflicting pain or humiliation on others. Derived from the name of Count de Sade, an eighteenth-century Frenchman notorious for describing morbid cruelty in his writings.
Galvanism: electricity produced by chemical action. To galvanize: to stimulate into action, or to coat iron with zinc. Derived from Italian physiologist Luigi Galvani, who discovered principles of chemically produced electricity.
Small, brightly colored tropical freshwater fish popular in home aquariums. Named after R. J. Lechmere Guppy, president of the Scientific Association of Trinidad, who sent specimens to the British Museum in 1868.
The addictive alkaloid found in tobacco. Named after Jean Nicot, a French ambassador who bought tobacco seeds from a Flemish trader some four hundred years ago and successfully popularized the plant in Europe.
A daggerlike blade that fits over the muzzle end of a rifle for use in hand-to-hand combat. First manufactured in Bayonne, France.
A variety of muskmelon with a rough, netted rind and orange flesh. Named after Cantalupo, Italy, the first place in Europe to cultivate these melons.
A plain-woven cotton cloth, often printed with bright patterns. First imported from Calicut, India (now Kozhikode, Kerala).
A man’s short dinner jacket (without tails), worn as formal evening wear. Popularized at the country club of Tuxedo Park, New York, an exclusive residential community.
A name given to the Romani people, once believed to have originated in Egypt. The word Gypsy is a corruption of Egyptian.
A rich, elaborately patterned fabric (originally silk, now also linen or cotton) with a reversible design. First made in Damascus, Syria.
A smooth, lustrous silk (or synthetic) fabric with a glossy surface. Named after Tzu-t’ing, China (called Zaitun by Marco Polo), where the fabric was first produced.
A smoked beef-and-pork sausage, also called a frank or hot dog. Named after Frankfurt, Germany, where the sausage was a local specialty enjoyed by the burghers.