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Categories
Really Long Words

Floccinaucinihilipilification

Several Latin stem words strung together as a joke by a student in Eton College in the 18th Century. The list came from a grammar book that listed a Latin word set in which all meant “little or no value.” These words were: flocci, nauci, nihili, and pili (with –fication at the end to make it a noun.)

flocci – floccus (a whisp or piece of wool)

nauci – naucum (a trifle)

nihili – nihilism (nothing)

pili – pilus (a hair)

In essence, they all mean little, nothing, or worthless. And quite obviously, this word is fun because it sets an example of a really long word.

Categories
Political

Marshall

A logical assumption is that ‘marshal’ is related to ‘martial,’ but the resemblance is purely coincidental. Although most French words are derived from Latin, a few result from the 3rd-century Germanic occupation of France, and the early French ‘mareschal’ is one such word. ‘Mareschal’ came from Old High German ‘marahscalc,’ formed by combining ‘marah’ (horse) and ‘scalc’ (servant). ‘Mareschal’ originally meant ‘horse servant,’ but by the time it was borrowed into Middle English in the 13th century, it described a French high royal official. English applied the word to a similar position, but it eventually came to have other meanings. By contrast, ‘martial’ derives from ‘Mars,’ the Latin name for the god of war, and is completely unrelated.

Categories
Literary

Malapropisms

Named after the character Miss Malaprop in Richard Brinsley Sheridan’s 1775 play The Rivals, a malapropism is any well-intended saying that takes on a different and often ludicrous meaning when a similar yet utterly inappropriate word is used. To wit: ‘He is the very pineapple of politeness.’

Categories
Legal Political

Lynch

Lynch law (lynching) is a term describing the rough-and-ready administration of justice by a mob in cases where the law is inadequate or dilatory (nowadays popularly meaning the execution of a supposed criminal). The term originates from the practice of Charles Lynch, a farmer in Virginia, USA who during the later part of the 18th century supported revolutionary principles in the district where he lived by catching ‘Tories’ and infamous people, whom he then hanged by their thumbs until they cried out ‘Liberty for All’.

Categories
Life Names

Jeep

Most people think of it as a proper word relating to an army styled vehicle.
In fact it does have a meaning “Just Engine and Essential Parts”. Therefore is more of an abbreviation adopted as a word.