Online Etymology Dictionary

heartburn (n.): mid-13c., herte-brine "lust," later "burning sensation in the esophagus, indigestion" (mid-15c.); see heart (n.) + burn (n.). Compare cardiac for confusion of "heart" and "stomach." A Middle English alternative was herte-brenning "anger, bitterness" (c. 1400), also "heartburn" (mid-15c.).
hereditary (adj.): early 15c., "transmitted in a line of progeny," hereditarie, from Latin hereditarius "inherited; of or relating to an inheritance," from hereditas "heirship, inheritance" (see heredity). Oldest English sense of diseases; meaning "transmitted or held by inheritance" is from mid-15c.
hermitage (n.): late 13c., "dwelling place of a hermit," from Old French hermitage/ermitage "hermitage, solitude," from hermit (see hermit). Earlier in the same sense in English was hermitorie (c. 1200), from Medieval Latin hermitorium. Transferred sense of "solitary or secluded dwelling place" is from 1640s.
hireling (n.): "one who works for hire," Old English hyrling; see hire (v.) + -ling. Now only disparaging, "one who acts only for mercenary motives," a sense that emerged late 16c. As an adjective by 1580s.
headland (n.): Old English heafod lond "strip of land left unplowed at the edge of a field to leave room for the plow to turn," naturally identified with boundaries; see head (n.) + land (n.). Meaning "high cape, promontory" is from 1520s.
groundless (adj.): Old English grundleas "bottomless, unfathomable, vast;" see ground (n.) + -less. Figurative sense of "having no adequate cause or reason" is from 1620s. Similar formation in Dutch grondeloos, German grundlos, Old Norse grunnlauss. Related: Groundlessly; groundlessness.
grizzle (adj.): "gray-colored," mid-14c., from Old French grisel "gray" (see grizzled) which also meant "gray-haired old man; gray horse" (senses recorded in Middle English from mid-14c.). The verb, "to make gray," is attested from 1740.
hairy (adj.): early 14c., "covered with hair, rough, shaggy," from hair + -y (2). From 1848 in slang sense of "difficult," perhaps from the notion of "rugged, rough." Farmer calls this "Oxford slang." Related: Hairiness. For adjectives Old English had hæriht, hære "hairy;" hæren "of hair."
helpless (adj.): "unable to act for oneself," c. 1200, from help (n.) + -less. Related: Helplessly; helplessness. In Middle English and later sometimes "unable to give help, affording no help" (late 14c.), but this never was common.
herself (pron.): emphatic or reflexive form of third person feminine pronoun, Old English hire self; see her (objective case) + self. Originally dative, but since 14c. often treated as genitive, hence her own sweet self, etc. Also compare himself.
cataphract (n.): "coat of mail," Middle English, from Latin cataphractes "breastplate of iron scales," from Greek kataphraktes "coat of mail," from kataphraktos "covered up," from kataphrassein "to fortify," from kata "entirely" (see cata-) + phrassein "to fence around, enclose, defend" (see diaphragm).
holding (n.): early 13c., "act of holding;" mid-15c. as "that which is held," verbal noun of hold (v.). Old English healding meant "keeping, observance." As a football (soccer) penalty, from 1866. Meaning "property held," especially stock shares, is from 1570s. Holding operation is from 1942.
hooked (adj.): Old English hoced, "shaped like a hook, crooked, curved;" past participle adjective from hook (v.). From mid-14c. as "having hooks;" 1610s as "caught on a hook;" 1925 as "addicted," originally in reference to narcotics. hooked rug is recorded from 1880.
Hooverville: 1933, American English, from U.S. president Herbert C. Hoover (1874-1964), who was in office when the Depression began, + common place-name ending -ville. Earlier his name was the basis of Hooverize "economize on food" (1917) from his role as wartime head of the U.S. Food Administration.
hore (n.): "dirt, filth," also hor; from Old English horh "phlegm, mucus," horu "foulness, dirt, defilement," from Proto-Germanic *horwo- (source also of Old Frisian hore, Old High German horo, Old Norse horr), perhaps imitative of coughing up phlegm.
introductory (adj.): c. 1600, from Late Latin introductorius, from introduct-, past participle stem of Latin introducere "to lead in, bring in" (see introduction). Also used in English from c. 1400 as a noun meaning "introductory treatise or textbook."
itchy (adj.): Old English giccig; see itch + -y (2). Figurative itchy palm is attested by 1599 (Jonson; Shakespeare has itching palm in the same sense, 1601). Other figurative uses include itching ears "a hankering for gossip," itching elbows "a passion for gambling." Related: Itchiness.
ilium (n.): pelvic bone, 1706, Modern Latin, from Latin ilia (plural) "groin, flank, side of the body from the hips to the groin" (see ileum). In Middle English it meant "lower part of the small intestine." Vesalius gave the name os ilium to the "bone of the flank."
impoverish (v.): early 15c., empoverischen, from Old French empoveriss-, stem of empoverir, from em- + povre "poor" (see poor (adj.)). In the same sense Middle English also had empover (early 15c., from Old French enpoverir). Related: Impoverished; impoverishing.
impossibility (n.): late 14c., "quality of being impossible," from impossible + -ity; perhaps from or modeled on Old French impossibilité (14c.). Meaning "an impossible thing or occurrence" is from c. 1500. Sometimes in English 15c.-18c. it meant "inabolity, impotence," after a use of Medieval Latin impossibilitas.
Indiana: by 1765 in English, a name given to the region north of the Ohio River mid-18c. by French explorers or settlers; see Indian + Latin-derived place-name suffix -ana. Organized as a U.S. territory 1800, admitted as a state 1816. Related: Indianian (1784).
jabot (n.): 1823, "frill of a men's shirt," from French jabot "gizzard (of a bird), frill on a shirt front" (16c.), a word of unknown origin. Klein suggests a connection with gaver "to cram, gorge," and thus ultimately with English jaw (n.). Of women's clothing from 1869.
Jake: colloquial or familiar abbreviation of the masc. proper name Jacob (q.v.). As the typical name of a rustic lout, from 1854. (Jakey still is the typical name for "an Amishman" among the non-Amish of Pennsylvania Dutch country). Slang meaning "excellent, fine" is from 1914, American English, of unknown origin.
jennet (n.): "small Spanish horse," mid-15c., genet, from Old French genet, ginet, from Spanish jinete "a light horseman," which is probably from Arabic Zenata, name of a Barbary tribe [Klein, Dozy]. Sense transferred in English and French from the rider to the horse.
jinn (n.): 1680s, djen, from Arabic jinn. It is a collective plural, "demons, spirits, angels;" the proper singular is jinni, which appears in English occasionally as jinnee (1840) but more frequently as genie. Similarity to genius is accidental.
junto (n.): 1640s, alternative formation of junta at a time when English considered Spanish nouns to properly end in -o. In U.S. history the Essex Junto (1802) were a group of extreme Massachusetts Federalists, adherents of Hamilton during the John Adams presidency and later bitter opponents of the policies of Jefferson and Madison.
kindness (n.): c. 1300, "courtesy, noble deeds," from kind (adj.) + -ness. Meanings "kind deeds; kind feelings; quality or habit of being kind" are from late 14c. Old English kyndnes meant "nation," also "produce, an increase."
jolly-boat (n.): "small boat hoisted at the stern of a vessel," 1727; the jolly is of unknown origin, probably from Danish jolle (17c.) or Dutch jol (1680s), both related to yawl; or it may be from Middle English jolywat (late 15c.) "a ship's small boat," of unknown origin.
groundling (n.): "theater patron in the pit" (which originally had no floor or benches), c. 1600, from ground (n.) in an Elizabethan sense of "pit of a theater" + -ling. From the beginning emblematic of bad or unsophisticated taste. Old English grundling was a type of fish.
growth (n.): 1550s, "stage in growing," from grow + -th (2), on model of health, stealth, etc. Compare Old Norse groði, from groa "to grow." Meaning "that which has grown" is from 1570s; "process of growing" is from 1580s. Old English used grownes "increase, prosperity."
glissade (n.): in dancing, 1843, from French glissade, from glisser "to slip, slide" (13c.), from Frankish *glidan or some other Germanic source (cognate with Dutch glissen), from Proto-Germanic *glidan "to glide" (see glide (v.)). Earlier in English as a verb (1832).
goodness (n.): Old English godnes "goodness, virtue, kindliness;" see good (adj.) + -ness. In exclamations from 1610s as a term of emphasis, first recorded in for goodnesse sake, i.e. "as you trust in the divine goodness" (i.e., God).
dock (n.3): name for various tall, coarse weeds, Old English docce, from Proto-Germanic *dokkon (source also of Middle Dutch docke-, German Docken-, Old Danish dokka), akin to Middle High German tocke "bundle, tuft," and ultimately to the noun source of dock (v.).
eke (adv.): "also" (obsolete), from Old English eac, cognate with Old Saxon, Old Dutch ok, Old Norse and Gothic auk, Old Frisian ak, Old High German ouh, German auch "also;" probably related to eke (v.).
scapular (adj.): 1680s, "pertaining to the scapula," from Modern Latin scapularis, from Latin scapula "shoulder" (see scapula). The noun (late 15c., also in Old English) in reference to a short cloak for the shoulders prescribed for certain monks, is from Medieval Latin scapulare, from scapula. Related: Scapulary.
drop (v.): Old English dropian "to fall in drops" (see drop (n.)). Meaning "to fall vertically" is late 14c. Transitive sense "allow to fall" is mid-14c. Related: Dropped; dropping. Exclamation drop dead is from 1934; as an adjective meaning "stunning, excellent" it is first recorded 1970.
dry (v.): Old English drygan, related to dry (adj.). Related: Dried; drying. Of the two agent noun spellings, drier is the older (1520s), while dryer (1874) was first used of machines. Dry out in the drug addiction sense is from 1967. Dry up "stop talking" is 1853.
eggshell (n.): also egg-shell, early 15c., from egg (n.) + shell (n.). It displaced ay-schelle (Old English ægscill), from the native word for "egg." As a color term, from 1894. Emblematic of "thin and delicate" from 1835; the figure of treading on eggshells "to move cautiously" is attested by 1734.
Greece: c. 1300, from Latin Graecia; named for its inhabitants; see Greek. Earlier in English was Greklond (c. 1200). The Turkish name for the country, via Persian, is Yunanistan, literally "Land of the Ionians." Ionia also yielded the name for the country in Arabic and Hindi (Yunan).
shaggy (adj.): "rough, coarse, unkempt," 1590s, from shag (n.) + -y (2). Related: Shaggily; shagginess. Earlier was shagged, from Old English sceacgede "hairy;" compare Old Norse skeggjaðr, Danish skægget "bearded." The shaggy-dog story as a type of joke is attested from 1944, perhaps from vaudeville.
Edwardian (adj.): 1861, in reference to the medieval English kings of that name; 1908 in the sense of "of the time or reign of Edward VII" (1901-10), and, since 1934, especially with reference to the men's clothing styles (as in teddy-boy, 1954, for which see Teddy). From Edward + -ian.
slacker (n.): popularized 1994, but the meaning "person who shirks work" dates to 1897; agent noun from slack (v.). In early use also slackster (1901). Compare Old English sleacornes "laziness," which is not, however, an agent noun. Related: Slackerly; slackerish.
snowy (adj.): Old English snawig; see snow (n.) + -y (2). Related: Snowiness. Similar formation in Middle Low German sneig, Old High German snewac, German schneeig, Old Norse snæugr, Swedish snögig, Danish sneig.
speedy (adj.): Old English spedig "prosperous, wealthy," from speed (n.) + -y (2). Meaning "moving swiftly" is from late 14c. Related: Speedily; speediness. Speedy Gonzales, Warner Brothers studios talking cartoon mouse, debuted in a 1953 short directed by Bob McKimson.
salt water (n.): Old English sealtera watera. As an adjective from 1520s. Salt-water taffy attested by 1886; so called because it originally was sold at seashore resorts, especially Atlantic City, N.J. (see taffy).
saturation (n.): 1550s, formed in English from saturate, or else from Late Latin saturationem (nominative saturatio), noun of action from past participle stem of saturare. Saturation bombing is from 1942, first in reference to Allied air raid on Cologne, Germany.
iamb (n.): 1842, from French iambe (16c.) or directly from Latin iambus "an iambic foot; an iambic poem," from Greek iambos "metrical foot of one unaccented followed by one accented syllable" (see iambic). Iambus itself was used in English in this sense from 1580s.
Icarus: son of Daedalus in Greek mythology, from Latinized form of Greek Ikaros, a name of unknown origin, connected to Icaria and the Icarian Sea. He flew too high on artificial wings and so plunged to his death. Used allusively in English from 1580s.
informative (adj.): 1650s, "instructive, didactic," from Medieval Latin informativus, from Latin informatus, past participle of informare "to train, instruct, educate" (see inform). In Middle English, the same word meant "formative, shaping, plastic, having power to form or animate" (late 14c.). Related: Informatively.
swinish (adj.): c. 1200, originally of persons or behavior, "like a swine; gluttonous, sensual, degraded, beastly," from swine + -ish. Related: Swinishly; swinishness. Similar formation in German schweinisch. Old English had swinlic in same sense.