These words remind me of how we are so culturally interconnected...globalism at its best. Here are words next to each other in the dictionary, English words, derived form Rome, Italian, Hindi, China and Ireland. Perhaps instead of xenophobia we have xenophilia.
semester: [sex six, mensis moons] equivalent to six moons = six months
September: [L. septem seven] the seventh month of the ancient Roman calendar, March being the first month.
A misnomer. When the Gregorian calendar was adopted in 1582, January and February were added on and September became the ninth month.
sesquipedalian: [sesqui one and one-half, ses semi, ped a foot, as in
a foot in poetry] using long words.
sgraffito: to carve away the surface to reveal the picture you are creating.
Also, to change color
shakti: a Hindu goddess, signifying cosmic energy, orgiastic rites.
Shaktism.
shandy: beer and lemonade
shandy gaff: beer and ginger ale
Shih Tzu: [Chinese: shi lion, tzu son] These Pekingese (meaning from Peking or Beijing) dogs were bred to be the Emperor's dog in China.
shillelagh: [Irish, Shillelagh a town in Ireland famed for its oak trees] \shih lay' lee\ a walking stick.
No comments:
Post a Comment