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Did you know where these words came from?

ETYMOLOGY : THE STUDY OF WHERE WORDS COME FROM

Which ones did you find surprising?

We advise reusing these facts during dinner parties!

SHAMPOO comes from Hindi champo meaning “to massage” - brought to English

by British colonizers who experienced Indian head massages

KETCHUP derives from Chinese kê-tsiap , a fermented fish sauce that had originally

nothing to do with tomatoes

SALARY comes from Latin salarium - Roman soldiers were literally paid in salt!

MUSCLE comes from Latin musculus meaning “little mouse” - Romans thought

flexing muscles looked like mice moving under skin!

SILLY originally meant “blessed” or “innocent” in Old English, gradually shifted to

“simple” then “foolish”

AWFUL once meant “inspiring awe” (awe-full), but negative contexts shifted it to

“terrible”

NICE originally meant “ignorant” from Latin nescius (not knowing), evolved through

“precise” to “pleasant”

NAUGHTY just meant “having nothing” before it meant “badly behaved”

KNIGHT was actually pronounced with the ‘k’ sound in Middle English - “k-night”

ISLAND got its ‘s’ added by scholars who wrongly thought it came from Latin

“insula” (it’s actually from Old English “igland”)

DEBT and DOUBT got their ‘b’ letters artificially inserted by scribes trying to show

Latin origins

GOSSIP originally meant “godparent” (god-sib = god-sibling), became associated

with the chatter at baptisms

COMPANION is the one with whom you share your bread, from the Latin cum

(with) and panis (bread)

BY SYYSHA SINHA (N), LOWER SIXTH

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