Online Etymology Dictionary

kraken (n.): sea-monster said to appear from time to time off the coast of Norway, 1755, from Norwegian dialectal krake (the -n is the definite article as a suffix), apparently a special use of krake "pole, stake, post," also "crooked tree, stunted animal or person."
The popular notion of the kraken dates back at least to the time of Pontoppidan (1698-1764), who wrote a description of it. One of the giant squids, as a cephalopod of the genus Architeuthis, might furnish a reasonable basis for the myth. [Century Dictionary]
krummhorn (n.): also crummhorn, "A medieval musical instrument of the clarinet class, having a curved tube and a melancholy sound" [Century Dictionary], 1864, from German, literally "crooked horn," from krumm "curved, crooked" (8c.), from a West Germanic *krumba- (compare Old English crumb, crump "crooked, bent, stooped," source of crumple); for second element see horn (n.).
kudos (n.): "fame, renown, glory," 1799, probably originally in university slang, from Greek kydos "glory, fame," especially in battle, "a poetical word, found chiefly in the Iliad and Odyssey" [Century Dictionary], literally "that which is heard of," from PIE root *skeue- "to pay attention, perceive" (see caveat). In form the word is a Greek singular noun, but the final -s often is mistaken as a plural suffix in English, leading to the barbarous back-formation kudo (attested by 1936).
lambaste (v.): 1630s, apparently from baste "to thrash" (see baste (v.3)) + the obscure verb lam "to beat, to lame" or the related Elizabethan noun lam "a heavy blow" (implied by 1540s in puns on lambskin). Compare earlier lamback "to beat, thrash" (1580s, used in old plays). A dictionary from c. 1600 defines Latin defustare as "to lamme or bumbast with strokes." Related: Lambasted; lambasting.
lank (adj.): Old English hlanc "loose and empty, meagerly slim, flaccid," from Proto-Germanic *hlanka-, forming words meaning "to bend, turn," perhaps from PIE root *kleng- "to bend, turn," with a connecting notion of "flexible" (compare German lenken "to bend, turn aside;" see flank (n.)). In Middle English, "Some examples may be long adj. with unvoicing of g" ["Middle English Dictionary"]. In reference to hair, "straight and flat," from 1680s. Related: Lankness (1640s).
unless (conj.): mid-15c., earlier onlesse, from (not) on lesse (than) "(not) on a less compelling condition (than);" see less. The first syllable originally on, but the negative connotation and the lack of stress changed it to un-. "Except could once be used as a synonym for unless, but the words have now drawn entirely apart" [Century Dictionary].
vagary (n.): 1570s, "a wandering, a roaming journey," from Italian vagare or directly from Latin vagari "to wander, stroll about, roam, be unsettled, spread abroad," from vagus "roving, wandering" (see vague). The infinitive appears to have been adopted in English as a noun and conformed to nouns in -ary, "but this can hardly be explained except as an orig. university use" [Century Dictionary]. Current meaning of "eccentric notion or conduct" (1620s) is from notion of mental wandering. Related: Vagaries.
vale (n.): river-land between two ranges of hills, early 14c., from Old French val "valley, vale" (12c.), from Latin vallem (nominative vallis, valles) "valley" (see valley). Now "little used except in poetry" [Century Dictionary]. Vale of years "old age" is from "Othello." Vale of tears "this world as a place of trouble" is attested from 1550s.
tattersall (n.): fabric with small and even check pattern, 1891, so called because it was similar to the traditional design of horse blankets, in reference to Tattersall's, a famous London horse market and gambler's rendezvous, founded 1766 by Richard Tattersall (1724-1795). The surname is from the place in Lincolnshire, which is said to represent "Tathere's nook," "probably in the sense 'nook of dry ground in marsh'." [Cambridge Dictionary of English Place-Names]
tattoo (n.2): "pigment design in skin," 1769 (noun and verb, both first attested in writing of Capt. Cook), from a Polynesian noun (such as Tahitian and Samoan tatau, Marquesan tatu "puncture, mark made on skin"). Century Dictionary (1902) describes them as found on sailors and uncivilized people or as a sentence of punishment. Earlier names in English included Jerusalem cross (1690s) in reference to tattoos on the arms of pilgrims to the Holy Land, also Jerusalem letters (1760).
tablature (n.): type of musical notation for lute or stringed instrument, 1570s, from French tablature (1550s), from Italian tavolatura (also Medieval Latin tabulatura), from Late Latin tabulare, from Latin tabula "table, list, schedule" (see table (n.)). "It differed from the more general staff-notation in that it aimed to express not so much the pitch of the notes intended as the mechanical process by which on the particular instrument those tones were to be produced" [Century Dictionary].
tandem (n.): 1785, "carriage pulled by horses harnessed one behind the other" (instead of side-by-side), jocular use of Latin tandem "at length (of time), at last, so much," from tam "so" (from PIE *tam-, adverbial form of demonstrative pronoun root *-to-; see -th (1)) + demonstrative suffix -dem. "Probably first in university use" [Century Dictionary]. Transferred by 1884 to bicycles with two seats. In English as an adverb from 1795; as an adjective from 1801.
tankard (n.): late 14c., "large tub-like vessel," corresponding to Middle Dutch tanckaert, meaning the same thing, but both of unknown origin. A guess hazarded in OED is that it is a transposition of *kantard, from Latin cantharus. Klein suggests French tant quart "as much as a quarter." "The notion that the word is from tank 1 + -ard is wholly untenable" [Century Dictionary]. Meaning "drinking vessel" is first recorded late 15c.
Quentin: masc. proper name, from French, from Latin Quin(c)tianus, from quintus "the fifth." Roman children in large families often were named for their birth order (compare Sextius; also see Octavian). "[P]opular in France from the cult of St Quentin of Amiens, and brought to England by the Normans" ["Dictionary of English Surnames"], but the popular English form as a surname was Quinton.
quid (n.2): "one pound sterling," 1680s, British slang, possibly from quid "that which is, essence," (c. 1600, see quiddity), as used in quid pro quo (q.v.), or directly from Latin quid "what, something, anything." Compare French quibus, noted in Barrêre's dictionary of French argot (1889) for "money, cash," said to be short for quibus fiunt omnia.
rant (v.): c. 1600, "to be jovial and boisterous," also "to talk bombastically," from Dutch randten (earlier ranten) "talk foolishly, rave," of unknown origin (compare German rantzen "to frolic, spring about"). Related: Ranted; ranting. Ranters "antinomian sect which arose in England c. 1645" is attested from 1651; applied 1823 to early Methodists. A 1700 slang dictionary has rantipole "a rude wild Boy or Girl" (also as a verb and adjective); to ride rantipole meant "The woman uppermost in the amorous congress" [Grose].
rascal (n.): mid-14c., rascaile "people of the lowest class, rabble of an army," also singular, "low, tricky, dishonest person," from Old French rascaille "rabble, mob" (12c., Modern French racaille, "the rascality or base and rascall sort, the scumme, dregs, offals, outcasts, of any company" [Cotgrave, French-English Dictionary, 1611]), perhaps a diminutive from Old French rascler, from Vulgar Latin *rasicare "to scrape" (see rash (n.)). Used also in Middle English of animals not hunted as game.
ratiocination (n.): "process of reasoning," 1520s, from Latin ratiocinationem (nominative ratiocinatio) "a reasoning, calm reasoning," from past participle stem of ratiocinare "to calculate, deliberate," from ratio (see ratio) + -cinari, which probably is related to conari "to try" (see conation).
Most writers make ratiocination synonymous with reasoning. J.S. Mill and others hold that the word is usually limited to necessary reasoning. [Century Dictionary]
vat (n.): c. 1200, large tub or cistern, "especially one for holding liquors in an immature state" [Century Dictionary], southern variant (see V) of Old English fæt "container, vat," from Proto-Germanic *fatan (source also of Old Saxon, Old Norse fat, Old Frisian fet, Middle Dutch, Dutch vat, Old High German faz, German faß), from PIE root *ped- (2) "container" (source also of Lithuanian puodas "pot").
Ralph: masc. proper name, shortened from Radulf, from Old Norse Raðulfr (Old English Rædwulf), literally "wolf-counsel," from rað "counsel" (see read (n.)) + ulfr "wolf" (see wolf (n.)). The Century Dictionary also lists it as English printers' slang for "An alleged or imagined evil spirit who does mischief in a printing house."
gerund (n.): 1510s, from Late Latin gerundium (also gerundivus modus), from Latin gerundum "to be carried out," gerundive of gerere "to bear, carry" (see gest). In Latin, a verbal noun used for all cases of the infinitive but the nominative; applied in English to verbal nouns in -ing. "So called because according to the old grammarians, the gerund prop[erly] expressed the doing or the necessity of doing something" [Century Dictionary]. Gerund-grinder "instructor in Latin grammar," also "pedant," is from 1710.
gingham (n.): cotton fabric woven of plain dyed yarns, 1610s, from Dutch gingang, a traders' rendering of a Malay word said to be ginggang, meaning "striped" [OED], or else "perishable, fading" [Century Dictionary], used as a noun with the sense of "striped cotton." Also from the same source are French guingan (18c.), Spanish guinga, Italian gingano, German gingang.
file (n.2): metal tool for abrading or smoothing, Old English feol (Mercian fil) "file," from Proto-Germanic *fihalo "cutting tool" (source also of Old Saxon fila, Old High German fila, Middle Dutch vile, Dutch vijl, German Feile), probably from PIE *peig- (1) "to cut, mark by incision" (source also of Old Church Slavonic pila "file, saw," Lithuanian pela "file;" see paint (v.)). Century Dictionary (1906) lists 60 named varieties of them.
julienne (n.): kind of clear soup made of chopped carrots and other vegetables cooked in meat-broth, 1841, from French (18c.), literally "(soup made) in the manner of Julien" (see Julian), presumably the name of an otherwise unknown cook (though Century Dictionary suggests "a French caterer in Boston"). Later of vegetables cut in small thin strips (1889). Related: Julienned.
Hastings: town in Sussex, site of the great battle in the Norman conquest of England (Oct. 14, 1066), Old English Hæstingas "The Hastings; settlement of the family or followers of a man called *Hæsta;" literally "Hæsta's People."
The Hæstingas were an important tribal group referred to in an 8th cent. Northumbrian chronicle as the gens Hestingorum which seems to have kept a separate identity as late as the early 11th cent. ["Cambridge Dictionary of English Place-Names"]
demote (v.): 1881, American English coinage from de- + stem of promote. Said to have been Midwestern in origin.
Regarding an antithesis to 'promote,' the word universally in use in Cambridge, in Harvard College, is drop. The same word is in use in the leading schools here (Boston). I hope I may be counted every time against such barbarisms as 'demote' and 'retromote.' [Edward Everett Hale, 1892, letter to the publishers of "Funk & Wagnalls' Standard Dictionary"]
Related: Demoted; demoting.
infralapsarian (adj.): 1731, from infra- + Latin lapsus "a fall" (see lapse (n.)) + ending from unitarian, etc.
[In theology], the doctrine held by Augustinians and by many Calvinists, that God planned the creation, permitted the fall, elected a chosen number, planned their redemption, and suffered the remainder to be eternally punished. The Sublapsarians believe that God did not permit but foresaw the fall, while the Supralapsarians hold that God not only permitted but decreed it. [Century Dictionary]
jocund (adj.): late 14c., "pleasing, gracious; joyful," from Old French jocond or directly from Late Latin iocundus (source of Spanish jocunde, Italian giocondo), variant (influenced by iocus "joke") of Latin iucundus "pleasant," originally "helpful," contraction of *iuvicundus, from iuvare "to please, benefit, help" (see adjutant).
In jocose cheerfulness or light-heartedness is an accidental thing; in jocund it is the essential idea. [Century Dictionary]
indefinite (adj.): 1520s, "not precise, vague," from Latin indefinitus "indefinite," from in- "not, opposite of, without" (see in- (1)) + definitus, past participle of definire (see define). In reference to number, "The term was introduced by Pascal. Descartes distinguished between the indefinite, which has no particular limit, and the infinite which is incomparably greater than anything having a limit. The distinction is considered as highly important by many metaphysicians." [Century Dictionary]
emigre (n.): 1792, from French émigré "an emigrant," noun use of past participle of émigrer "emigrate" (18c.), from Latin emigrare "depart from a place" (see emigration). Originally used of royalist refugees from the French Revolution; extended 1920s to refugees from the Russian Revolution, then generally to political exiles.
ÉMIGRÉS Earned their livelihood by giving guitar lessons and mixing salads.
[Flaubert, "Dictionary of Received Ideas"]
barren (adj.): c. 1200, from Old French baraigne, baraing "sterile, barren" (12c.), perhaps originally brahain, of obscure derivation, perhaps from a Germanic language. In England, originally used of women, of land in France. Of land in English from late 14c. As a noun, mid-13c., "a barren woman;" later of land.
BARRENS. Elevated lands, or plains upon which grow small trees, but never timber. [Bartlett, "Dictionary of Americanisms," 1848]
zoo (n.): c. 1847, short for Zoological Gardens of the London Zoological Society, established 1828 in Regent's Park to house the society's collection of wild animals. The first three letters taken as one syllable. "From a mere vulgarism, this corruption has passed into wide colloquial use" [Century Dictionary]. Slang meaning "crowded and chaotic place" first recorded 1935.
tempt (v.): c. 1200, of the devil, flesh, etc., "draw or entice to evil or sin, lure (someone) from God's law; be alluring or seductive," from Old French tempter (12c.), from Latin temptare "to feel, try out, attempt to influence, test," a variant of tentare "handle, touch, try, test." The Latin alteration is "explainable only as an ancient error due to some confusion" [Century Dictionary]. From late 14c. as "to provoke, defy" (God, fate, etc.). Related: Tempted; tempting.
vice versa: "the order being changed," c. 1600, Latin, from vice, ablative of vicis "a change, alternation, alternate order" (see vicarious) + versa, feminine ablative singular of versus, past participle of vertere "to turn, turn about" (see versus). "The phrase has the complete force of a proposition, being as much as to say that upon a transposition of antecedents the consequents are also transposed" [Century Dictionary].
technology (n.): 1610s, "a discourse or treatise on an art or the arts," from Greek tekhnologia "systematic treatment of an art, craft, or technique," originally referring to grammar, from tekhno- (see techno-) + -logy. The meaning "study of mechanical and industrial arts" (Century Dictionary, 1902, gives examples of "spinning, metal-working, or brewing") is first recorded 1859. High technology attested from 1964; short form high-tech is from 1972.
parachute (n.): 1784 (the year the use of one first was attempted, in Paris), from French parachute, literally "that which protects against a fall," hybrid coined by French aeronaut François Blanchard (1753-1809) from para- "defense against" (see para- (2)) + chute "a fall" (see chute).
PARACHUTE, a kind of large and strong umbrella, contrived to break a person's fall from an airballoon, should any accident happen to the balloon at a high elevation. ["Supplement to the Encyclopaedia or Dictionary of Arts and Sciences," Philadelphia, 1803]
recline (v.): early 15c., from Old French recliner "rest, lay; bend, lean over" (13c.) and directly from Latin reclinare "to bend back, to lean back; cause to lean," from re- "back, against" (see re-) + clinare "to bend," from PIE *klei-n-, suffixed form of *klei "to lean" (see lean (v.)). Related: Reclined; reclining.
Recline is always as strong as lean, and generally stronger, indicating a more completely recumbent position, and approaching lie. [Century Dictionary]
villein (n.): early 14c., vileyn, spelling variant of villain in its reference to a feudal class of half-free peasants. It tends to keep the literal, historical sense of the word and let the pejorative meanings go with villain; Century Dictionary writes that "the forms villain, villein, etc., are historically one, and the attempt to differentiate them in meaning is idle," but Fowler finds this "a useful piece of differentiation." Related: Villeinage.
chaw (v.): 1520s, unexplained phonetic variant of chew (v.). OED points out the variant form chow was "very common in 16-17th c." Bartlett's "Dictionary of Americanisms" [1859] says chaw, "Although found in good authors, ... is retained, in this country as in England, only by the illiterate." Related: Chawed; chawing. The noun meaning "that which is chewed" (especially a quid of tobacco) first recorded 1709.
endive (n.): late 14c., from Old French endive (14c.), from Medieval Latin endivia or a related Romanic source, from Latin intibus. This probably is connected in some way with Medieval Greek entybon, which Klein says is perhaps of Eastern origin (compare Egyptian tybi "January," the time the plant grows in Egypt). Century Dictionary says Arabic hindiba is "appar. of European origin."
dick (n.): "fellow, lad, man," 1550s, rhyming nickname for Rick, short for Richard, one of the commonest English names, it has long been a synonym for "fellow," and so most of the slang senses are probably very old, but naturally hard to find in the surviving records. The meaning "penis" is attested from 1891 in Farmer's slang dictionary (possibly British army slang). Meaning "detective" is recorded from 1908, perhaps as a shortened variant of detective.
equestrian (adj.): "pertaining to or relating to horses or horsemanship," 1650s, formed in English from Latin equester (genitive equestris) "of a horseman, knightly," from eques "horseman, knight," from equus "horse" (see equine). As a noun, "one who rides on horseback," from 1786. The feminine form equestrienne is attested from 1848 (Century Dictionary calls it "circus-bill French"). An earlier adjective was equestrial (1550s).
flexible (adj.): early 15c., "capable of being bent; mentally or spiritually pliant," from Middle French flexible or directly from Latin flexibilis "that may be bent, pliant, flexible, yielding;" figuratively "tractable, inconstant," from flex-, past participle stem of flectere "to bend," which is of uncertain origin. Flexile (1630s) and flexive (1620s) have become rare. Related: Flexibly. Coles' dictionary (1717) has flexiloquent "speaking words of doubtful or double meaning."
gourmand (n.): late 15c., "glutton," from Middle French gourmand "glutton," originally an adjective, "gluttonous," of uncertain origin. Not considered to be connected with gourmet. Meaning "one fond of good eating" is from 1758.
The gourmand is one whose chief pleasure is eating; but a gourmet is a connoisseur of food and wines. In England the difference is this: a gourmand regards quantity more than quality, a gourmet quality more than quantity. [Brewer, "Dictionary of Phrase and Fable," Philadelphia, 1898]
Gradus ad Parnassum (n.): Latin, literally "A Step to Parnassus," the mountain sacred to Apollo and the Muses. It was the title of a dictionary of prosody used in English public schools for centuries as a guide to Roman poetry. The book dates from the 1680s. Also the name of a treatise on musical composition written in Latin by Johann Joseph Fux, published in Vienna in 1725, and of a much-used book of exercises for piano.
helmet (n.): mid-15c., perhaps a diminutive of Middle English helm (see helm (n.2)). But Barnhart and OED say from Middle French helmet (Modern French heaume), diminutive of helme "helmet," from the same Germanic source as helm (n.2). "Middle English Dictionary" points to both without making a choice. "Old English helm never became an active term in the standard vocabulary of English" [Barnhart].
fluke (n.2): "lucky stroke, chance hit," 1857, also flook, said to be originally a lucky shot at billiards, of uncertain origin. Century Dictionary connects it with fluke (n.1) in reference to the whale's use of flukes to get along rapidly (to go a-fluking or some variant of it, "go very fast," is in Dana, Smyth, and other sailors' books of the era). OED (2nd ed. print) allows only that it is "Possibly of Eng. dialectal origin."
hiatus (n.): 1560s, "break or opening" in a material object, especially in anatomy, from Latin hiatus "opening, aperture, rupture, gap," from past participle stem of hiare "to gape, stand open," from PIE root *ghai- "to yawn, gape" (see yawn (v.)). Sense of "gap or interruption in events, etc.;" "space from which something requisite to completeness is absent" [Century Dictionary] is recorded from 1610s.
inimical (adj.): 1640s, from Late Latin inimicalis "hostile," from Latin inimicus "unfriendly; an enemy" (see enemy).
Inimical expresses both feeling and action, generally in private affairs. Hostile also expresses both feeling and action, but applies especially to public affairs: where it applies to private matters, it expresses either strong or conspicuous action or feeling, or both, or all. [Century Dictionary, 1902]
envelop (v.): late 14c., envolupen, "be involved" (in sin, crime, etc.), from Old French envoleper "envelop, cover; fold up, wrap up" (10c., Modern French envelopper), from en- "in" (see en- (1)) + voloper "wrap up," which is of uncertain origin, perhaps Celtic (see Gamillscheg, Diez) or Germanic ("Century Dictionary"). Literal sense is from 1580s. Related: Enveloped; enveloping.