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Etymologies?

2

Posts

  • B3B3 Posts: 27,505
    I think I read somewhere that delphiniums were so called because the flowers look like dolphins -more fake news?
    I don't know, but they do look a bit like dolphins.
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • BenCottoBenCotto Posts: 4,718
    B3, this photo shows it clearly

    http://talesfromthelaboratory.typepad.com/tales_from_the_microbial_/2007/04/the_elusive_dol.html
    Rutland, England
  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    edited August 2018
    Testicles aren't wholesome? Has anyone let them know?

    I read that with delphiniums, it was the seed pod that was supposed to be dolphin-shaped.


  • Hostafan1Hostafan1 Posts: 34,889
    Why do we say "paintEr" but "decoratOr"? Likewise "lawyEr" but "solicitOr"?
    And why "liAr" with an A. I can't think  of another "A" example, can anyone else?
    Devon.
  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    Alchemilla:
    a plant of a genus that includes lady's mantle and its relatives.
    from Latin diminutive:  ‘alchemy’, from the belief that dew from the leaves of the plant could turn base metals into gold.
  • BenCottoBenCotto Posts: 4,718
    Friar, but not fryer.
    Rutland, England
  • Hostafan1Hostafan1 Posts: 34,889
    Isn't that from "Friary"  one who fries is a frier,no?
    Devon.
  • BenCottoBenCotto Posts: 4,718
    I thought frier was simply the less common variant spelling of fryer. Isn’t that so? I think in American English frier is the principal usage.

    Two others I thought of were bursar and beggar.
    Rutland, England
  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    tartar
    hussar
    cottar
    rockstar
    vicar
    boyar
    burglar
    cougar




  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    anemōnē

    from Greek, literally ‘daughter of the wind’, from anemos  ‘wind’.

    I discover I have been saying 'anenome' all these years - for the sea creature and the plants. Has anyone else been saying it wrong? "Anemone" Sounds very odd to my ears.

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