Online Etymology Dictionary

jural (adj.): "legal, juristic," 1630s, from Latin iur- (see jury (n.)) + -al (1).
kiloton (n.): also kilo-ton, 1950, from kilo- + ton (n.1).
launderer (n.): mid-15c., lawnderer "washerwoman, laundress;" see launder + -er (1).
lead (adj.): "made of or resembling lead," late 14c., from lead (n.1).
hatch (n.2): "that which has hatched; action of hatching," 1620s, from hatch (v.1).
hat-box (n.): also hatbox, 1739, from hat (n.) + box (n.1).
letter-perfect (adj.): 1833, in reference to exact memorization, from letter (n.1) + perfect (adj.).
unlicensed (adj.): 1630s, from un- (1) "not" + past participle of license (v.).
lifespan (n.): also life-span, 1918, from life (n.) + span (n.1).
light-fingered (adj.): "thievish, dexterous in taking," 1540s, from light (adj.1) + finger (n.).
undulant (adj.): 1830, from Latin undulantem (nominative undulans), from unda "a wave," from PIE *unda-, nasalized form of root *wed- (1) "water, wet" (see water (n.1)).
spitball (n.): 1846 in the schoolboy sense, "bit of paper chewed and rounded as a missile;" 1904 in the baseball sense, from spit (n.1) + ball (n.1).
laptop: also lap-top, in reference to a type of portable computer, 1983 (adjective and noun), from lap (n.1) + top (n.1), on model of desktop.
waterboard (n.): 1610s (n.), "gutter," from water (n.1) + board (n.1). Waterboarding as the name of a type of torture is from 2005, but the practice is older.
embolden (v.): 1570s, from em- (1) + bold + -en (1). Or perhaps an extended form of earlier embold, enbold (late 14c.). Related: Emboldened; emboldening.
spectral (adj.): 1718, "capable of seeing spectres;" 1815, "ghostly;" from spectre + -al (1). Meaning "pertaining to a spectrum" is 1832, from stem of spectrum + -al (1). Related: Spectrally.
spellbound (adj.): "to be bound by or as if by a spell," 1742, from spell (n.1) + bound (adj.1) "fastened," past participle of bind (v.).
rooibos (n.): 1911, from Afrikaans rooibos, literally "red bush," from rooi "red," from Dutch roi (see red (adj.1)) + bos "bush" (see bush (n.1)).
wet (adj.): Old English wæt "moist, rainy, liquid," also as a noun. "moisture, liquid drink," from Proto-Germanic *weta- (source also of Old Frisian wet ). Also from cognate Old Norse vatr; all from PIE *wed- (1) "water, wet" (see water (n.1)). Of paint, ink, etc., "not yet dry" from 1510s. Opposed to dry in reference to the U.S. battles over prohibition from 1870. Wet blanket "person who has a dispiriting effect" is recorded from 1871, from use of blankets drenched in water to smother fires (the phrase is attested in this literal sense from 1660s).
Do we not know them, those wet blankets who come down on our pleasant little fires and extinguish them, with no more ruth than the rain feels when it pours on the encampment of the merry picnic party, or floods the tents of a flower show? ["Wet Blankets," in "Godey's Lady's Book and Magazine," February, 1871]
All wet "in the wrong" is recorded from 1923, American English; earlier simply wet "ineffectual," and perhaps ultimately from slang meaning "drunken" (c. 1700). Wet-nurse is from 1610s. The diver's wet-suit is from 1955. Wet dream is from 1851; in the same sense Middle English had ludificacioun "an erotic dream."
He knew som tyme a man of religion, þat gaff hym gretelie vnto chastitie bothe of his harte & of his body noghtwithstondyng he was tempid with grete ludificacions on þe nyght. ["Alphabet of Tales," c. 1450]
bug (n.): "insect," 1620s (earliest reference is to bedbugs), of unknown origin, probably but not certainly from or influenced by Middle English bugge "something frightening, scarecrow" (late 14c.), a meaning obsolete since the "insect" sense arose except in bugbear (1570s) and bugaboo (q.v.).

Probably connected with Scottish bogill "goblin, bugbear," or obsolete Welsh bwg "ghost, goblin" (compare Welsh bwgwl "threat," earlier "fear," Middle Irish bocanách "supernatural being"). Some speculate that these words are from a root meaning "goat" (see buck (n.1)) and represent originally a goat-like spectre. Compare also bogey (n.1) and German bögge, böggel-mann "goblin." Perhaps influenced in meaning by Old English -budda used in compounds for "beetle" (compare Low German budde "louse, grub," Middle Low German buddech "thick, swollen").
In the United States bug is not confined, as in England, to the domestic pest, but is applied to all insects of the Coleoptera order, which includes what in this country are generally called beetles. [Farmer & Henley, "Dictionary of Slang and Colloquial English," 1912 abridged edition]
Meaning "defect in a machine" (1889) may have been coined c. 1878 by Thomas Edison (perhaps with the notion of an insect getting into the works). Meaning "person obsessed by an idea" (such as firebug) is from 1841, perhaps from notion of persistence. Sense of "microbe, germ" is from 1919. Bugs "crazy" is from c. 1900. Bug juice as a slang name for drink is from 1869, originally "bad whiskey." The 1811 slang dictionary has bug-hunter "an upholsterer." Bug-word "word or words meant to irritate and vex" is from 1560s.
set (n.2): "act of setting; condition of being set" (of a heavenly body), mid-14c., from set (v.) or its identical past participle. Many disparate senses collect under this word because of the far-flung meanings assigned to the verb:

"Action of hardening," 1837; also "manner or position in which something is set" (1530s), hence "general movement, direction, tendency" (1560s); "build, form" (1610s), hence "bearing, carriage" (1855); "action of fixing the hair in a particular style" (1933).

"Something that has been set" (1510s), hence the use in tennis (1570s) and the theatrical meaning "scenery for an individual scene in a play, etc.," recorded from 1859. Other meanings OED groups under "miscellaneous technical senses" include "piece of electrical apparatus" (1891, first in telegraphy); "burrow of a badger" (1898). Old English had set "seat," in plural "camp; stable," but OED finds it "doubtful whether this survived beyond OE." Compare set (n.1).

Set (n.1) and set (n.2) are not always distinguished in dictionaries; OED has them as two entries, Century Dictionary as one. The difference of opinion seems to be whether the set meaning "group, grouping" (here (n.2)) is a borrowing of the unrelated French word that sounds like the native English one, or a borrowing of the sense only, which was absorbed into the English word.
genii (n.): Latinate English plural of genius.
canny (adj.): 1630s, Scottish and northern English formation from can (v.1) in its sense of "know how to," + -y (2). "Knowing," hence, "careful." A doublet of cunning that flowed into distinct senses. Often used superciliously of Scots by their southern neighbors (and their American cousins).
The Canny Scot is so well known as scarcely to require description. He carries caution, cunning, and selfishness to excess. Deceitful when a purpose is to be accomplished, he is not habitually deceitful. One thing he never loses sight of--his own interest. But of his own interest he is not the most enlightened judge. ["The Natural History of Scotsmen," in "The Argosy," December 1865]
Related: Cannily; canniness.
curtain (n.): c. 1300, from Old French cortine "curtain, tapestry, drape, blanket," from Late Latin cortina "curtain," but in classical Latin "round vessel, cauldron," from Latin cortem (older cohortem) "enclosure, courtyard" (see cohort). The confusion apparently begins in using cortina as a loan-translation for Greek aulaia ("curtain") in the Vulgate (to render Hebrew yeriah in Exodus xxvi:1, etc.) because the Greek word was connected to aule "court," perhaps because the "door" of a Greek house that led out to the courtyard was a hung cloth. The figurative sense in curtain call is from 1884. Curtains "the end" is 1912, originally from stage plays. An Old English word for "curtain" was fleonet "fly-net."
jettison (v.): 1848, "to throw overboard," especially to save a ship in danger, from jettison (n.) "act of throwing overboard" to lighten a ship. This noun was an 18c. Marine Insurance writers' restoration of the earlier form and original sense of the 15c. word that had become jetsam, probably because jetsam had taken on a sense of "things cast overboard" and an unambiguous word was needed for "act of casting things overboard."

Middle English jetteson (n.) "act of throwing overboard" is from Anglo-French getteson, Old French getaison "act of throwing (goods overboard)," especially to lighten a ship in distress, from Late Latin iactionem (nominative iactatio) "a throwing, act of throwing," noun of action from past participle stem of iactare "to throw, toss about" (see jet (v.1)). Related: Jettisoned.
knee (n.): "joint between the principal bones of the leg," Old English cneo, cneow "knee," from Proto-Germanic *knewam (source also of Old Norse kne, Old Saxon kneo, Old Frisian kni, Middle Dutch cnie, Dutch knie, Old High German kniu, German Knie, Gothic kniu), from PIE root *genu- (1) "knee; angle" (source also of Sanskrit janu, Avestan znum, Hittite genu "knee;" Greek gony "knee," gonia "corner, angle;" Latin genu "knee"). For pronunciation, see kn-.

To be across (someone's) knee in reference to spanking is from 1866. Knee-breeches is from 1827; knee-pants is from 1858. Knee-slapper "funny joke" is from 1955.
imbecility (n.): early 15c., "physical weakness, feebleness (of a body part), impotence," from Middle French imbécillité and directly from Latin imbecillitatem (nominative imbecillitas) "weakness, feebleness, helplessness," from imbecillus "weak, feeble," of uncertain origin. "Weakness in mind" (as opposed to body) was a secondary sense in Latin but was not attested in English until 1620s.

The Latin word traditionally is said to mean "unsupported" or "without a walking stick" (Isidore: quasi sine baculo), from assimilated form of in- "not, opposite of" (see in- (1)) + baculum "a stick" (see bacillus), but Century Dictionary finds that "improbable" and de Vaan adds "it seems to me that exactly the persons who can walk without a support are the stronger ones."
James: masc. proper name, New Testament name of two of Christ's disciples, late 12c. Middle English vernacular form of Late Latin Jacomus (source of Old French James, Spanish Jaime, Italian Giacomo), altered from Latin Jacobus (see Jacob).

The Welsh form was Iago, the Cornish Jago. James the Greater (July 25) was son of Zebedee and brother of St. John; James the Less (May 1) is obscure and scarcely mentioned in Scripture; he is said to have been called that for being shorter or younger than the other. Fictional British spy James Bond dates from 1953, created by British author Ian Fleming (1908-1964), who plausibly is said to have taken the name from that of U.S. ornithologist James Bond (1900-1989), an expert on Caribbean birds.
larceny (n.): "theft; wrongful or fraudulent taking of the personal goods of another with felonious intent," late 15c., from Anglo-French larcin (late 13c.), Old French larrecin, larcin "theft, robbery" (11c.), from Latin latrocinium "robbery, freebooting, highway-robbery, piracy," from latro "robber, bandit," also "hireling, mercenary," ultimately from a Greek source akin to latron "pay, hire, wages," from a suffixed form of PIE root *le- (1) "to get" (source also of Greek latreia "worship, service paid to the gods, hired labor," latron "pay, hire," latris "servant, worshipper").

Perhaps with -y (3) added in English or else the word was altered by influence of burglary, felony. Formerly distinguished into grand larceny, involving property valued in excess of a stated amount, and petty larceny.
lachrymose (adj.): also lacrymose, 1660s, "tear-like," from Latin lacrimosus "tearful, sorrowful, weeping," also "causing tears, lamentable," from lacrima, lacryma "a tear," a dialect-altered borrowing of Greek dakryma "a tear," from dakryein "to shed tears, weep, lament with tears," from dakry "a tear" (from PIE *dakru- "tear;" see tear (n.1)). Meaning "given to tears, tearful" is first attested 1727; meaning "of a mournful character" is from 1822. Related: Lachrymosely.

The -d- to -l- alteration in Latin is the so-called "Sabine -L-"; compare Latin olere "smell," from root of odor, and Ulixes, the Latin form of Greek Odysseus. The Medieval Latin practice of writing -ch- for -c- before Latin -r- also altered anchor, pulchritude, sepulchre. The -y- is pedantic, from the former belief that the word was pure Greek. Earlier in the same sense was lachrymental (1620s). Middle English had lacrymable "tearful" (mid-15c.).
prove (v.): late 12c., pruven, proven "to try, test; evaluate; demonstrate," from Old French prover, pruver "show; convince; put to the test" (11c., Modern French prouver), from Latin probare "to make good; esteem, represent as good; make credible, show, demonstrate; test, inspect; judge by trial" (source also of Spanish probar, Italian probare), from probus "worthy, good, upright, virtuous," from PIE *pro-bhwo- "being in front," from *pro-, extended form of root *per- (1) "forward, through" (see per), + root *bhu- "to be" (source also of Latin fui "I have been," futurus "about to be;" Old English beon "to be;" see be). Related: Proved; proven; proving.
Prussian: 1550s (n.), 1560s (adj.), from Prussia + -an. Prussian blue pigment (1724) came to English from French bleu de Prusse, so called for being discovered in Berlin, the Prussian capital.
All in all, it seems that Prussian blue was synthesised for the first time around 1706 by the Swiss immigrant Johann Jacob Diesbach in Berlin. [Jens Bartoll and Bärbel Jackisch, "Prussian Blue: A Chronology of the Early Years," "Zeitschrift für Kunsttechnologie und Konservierung" 24, No. 1, 2010]
Early German sources refer to it as Preußisches Ultra-Marin and berliner blau. Prussic acid (1790), is from French acide prussique, so called in reference to prussian blue pigment, to which it is chemically related.
pupil (n.2): "center of the eye," early 15c. (in English in Latin form from late 14c.), from Old French pupille (14c.), from Latin pupilla, originally "little girl-doll," diminutive of pupa "girl; doll" (see pupil (n.1)), so called from the tiny image one sees of oneself reflected in the eye of another. Greek used the same word, kore (literally "girl;" see Kore), to mean both "doll" and "pupil of the eye;" and compare obsolete baby "small image of oneself in another's pupil" (1590s), source of 17c. colloquial expression to look babies "stare lovingly into another's eyes."
Self-knowledge can be obtained only by looking into the mind and virtue of the soul, which is the diviner part of a man, as we see our own image in another's eye. [Plato, "Alcibiades," I.133]
Tammany: in 19c. American English political jargon synonymous with "Democratic Party in New York City," hence, late 19c., proverbial for "political and municipal corruption," from Tammany Hall, on 14th Street, headquarters of a social club incorporated 1789, named for Delaware Indian chief Tamanen, who sold land to William Penn in 1683 and '97. Around the time of the American Revolution he was popularly canonized as St. Tammany and taken as the "patron saint" of Pennsylvania and neighboring colonies, sometimes of the whole of America. He was assigned a feast day (May 1 Old Style, May 12 New Style) which was celebrated with festivities that raised money for charity, hence the easy transfer of the name to what was, at first, a benevolent association. The club's symbol was a tiger.
rapport (n.): 1660s, "reference, relation, relationship," from French rapport "bearing, yield, produce; harmony, agreement, intercourse," back-formation from rapporter "bring back; refer to," from re- "again" (see re-) + apporter "to bring," from Latin apportare "to bring," from ad- "to" (see ad-) + portare "to carry" (see port (n.1)).

Psychological meaning "intense harmonious accord," as between therapist and patient, is first attested 1894, though the word had been used in a very similar sense with reference to mesmerism from 1845 (first recorded in Poe). See also report (n.). Johnson frowns on the word and credits its use in English to Sir William Temple, naturalizer of French terms, who did use it but was not the first to do so.
infer (v.): in logic, "to 'bring in' as a conclusion of a process of reasoning," 1520s, from Latin inferre "bring into, carry in; deduce, infer, conclude, draw an inference; bring against," from in- "in" (see in- (2)) + ferre "carry, bear," from PIE *bher- (1) "to bear, to carry, to take" (source also of Sanskrit bharati "carries;" Avestan baraiti "carries;" Old Persian barantiy "they carry;" Armenian berem "I carry;" Greek pherein "to carry;" Old Irish beru/berim "I catch, I bring forth;" Gothic bairan "to carry;" Old English and Old High German beran, Old Norse bera "barrow;" Old Church Slavonic birati "to take;" Russian brat' "to take," bremya "a burden").

General sense of "draw a conclusion" is first attested 1520s; intransitive sense is from 1570s.
harpoon (n.): 1610s, from French harpon, from Old French harpon "cramp iron, clamp, clasp" (described as a mason's tool for fastening stones together), from harper "to grapple, grasp," which is of uncertain origin. It is possibly of Germanic origin; or the French word might be from Latin harpa "hook" (related to harpagonem "grappling hook"), from Greek harpe "sickle," from PIE root *serp- (1) "sickle, hook." Earlier word for it was harping-iron (mid-15c.). Sense and spelling perhaps influenced by Dutch (compare Middle Dutch harpoen) or Basque, the language of the first European whaling peoples, who often accompanied English sailors on their early expeditions. Also see -oon.
fern (n.): Old English fearn "fern," from Proto-Germanic *farno- (source also of Old Saxon farn, Middle Dutch vaern, Dutch varen, Old High German farn, German Farn). Watkins and other sources propose an etymology on the notion of "having feathery fronds" from a possible PIE *por-no- "feather, wing" (source also of Sanskrit parnam "feather;" Lithuanian papartis "fern;" Russian paporot'; Greek pteris "fern"), a proposed suffixed form of the root *per- (2) "to lead, pass over" on the notion of "that which carries a bird in flight" (see port (n.1)).

The plant's ability to appear as if from nothing accounts for the ancient belief that fern seeds conferred invisibility (1590s). Filicology "science or study of ferns" (1848) is from Latin filix "fern."
carrot (n.): 1530s, from Middle French carrotte, from Latin carota, from Greek karoton "carrot," probably from PIE *kre-, from root *ker- (1) "horn, head" (see horn (n.)); so called for its horn-like shape. Originally white-rooted and a medicinal plant to the ancients, who used it as an aphrodisiac and to prevent poisoning. Not entirely distinguished from parsnips in ancient times. Reintroduced in Europe by Arabs c. 1100. The orange carrot, which existed perhaps as early as 6c., probably began as a mutation of the Asian purple carrot and was cultivated into the modern edible plant 16c.-17c. in the Netherlands. Thus the word is used as a color name but not before 1670s in English, originally of red hair.
temper (v.): late Old English temprian "to moderate, bring to a proper or suitable state, to modify some excessive quality, to restrain within due limits," from Latin temperare "observe proper measure, be moderate, restrain oneself," also transitive, "mix correctly, mix in due proportion; regulate, rule, govern, manage." This is often described as from Latin tempus "time, season" (see temporal), with a sense of "proper time or season." But as the root sense of tempus seems to be "stretch," the words in the "restrain, modify" sense might be from a semantic shift from "stretching" to "measuring" (compare temple (n.1)). Meaning "to make (steel) hard and elastic" is from late 14c. Sense of "tune the pitch of a musical instrument" is recorded from c. 1300. Related: Tempered; tempering.
opus (n.): "a work, composition," especially a musical one, 1809, from Latin opus "a work, labor, exertion" (source of Italian opera, French oeuvre, Spanish obra), from PIE root *op- (1) "to work, produce in abundance" (Germanic *ob-) "to work, produce in abundance," originally of agriculture later extended to religious acts (source also of Sanskrit apas- "work, religious act;" Avestan hvapah- "good deed;" Old High German uoben "to start work, to practice, to honor;" German üben "to exercise, practice;" Dutch oefenen, Old Norse æfa, Danish øve "to exercise, practice;" Old English æfnan "to perform, work, do," afol "power"). The plural, seldom used as such, is opera.
mania (n.): late 14c., "mental derangement characterized by excitement and delusion," from Late Latin mania "insanity, madness," from Greek mania "madness, frenzy; enthusiasm, inspired frenzy; mad passion, fury," related to mainesthai "to rage, go mad," mantis "seer," menos "passion, spirit," all from PIE *men- (1) "to think, to have one's mind aroused, rage, be furious" (see mind (n.)). Sense of "fad, craze" is 1680s, from French manie in this sense. Sometimes nativized in Middle English as manye. Used since 1500s (in imitation of Greek) as the second element in compounds expressing particular types of madness (such as nymphomania, 1775; kleptomania, 1830; megalomania, 1890).
pare (v.): "to trim by cutting close," c. 1300, from Old French parer "arrange, prepare; trim, adorn," and directly from Latin parare "make ready, prepare, furnish, provide, arrange, order; contrive, design, intend, resolve; procure, acquire, obtain, get; get with money, buy, purchase" (related to parere "produce, bring forth, give birth to"), from PIE *par-a-, suffixed form of root *pere- (1) "produce, procure, bring forward, bring forth," and derived words in diverse senses (source also of Lithuanian pariu "to brood," Greek poris "calf, bull," Old High German farro, German Farre "bullock," Old English fearr "bull," Sanskrit prthukah "child, calf, young of an animal," Czech spratek "brat, urchin, premature calf"). Generalized meaning "to reduce something little by little" is from 1520s. Related: Pared; paring.
parish (n.): c. 1300, "district with its own church; members of such a church," from Anglo-French paroche, parosse (late 11c.), Old French paroisse, from Late Latin parochia "a diocese," alteration of Late Greek paroikia "a diocese or parish," from paroikos "a sojourner" (in Christian writers), in classical Greek, "neighbor," from para- "near" (see para- (1)) + oikos "house" (see villa).

Sense development unclear, perhaps from "sojourner" as epithet of early Christians as spiritual sojourners in the material world. In early Church writing the word was used in a more general sense than Greek dioikesis, though by 13c. they were synonymous. Replaced Old English preostscyr, literally "priest-shire."
hetero-: before vowels heter-, word-forming element meaning "other, different," from Greek heteros "the other (of two), another, different; second; other than usual." It is a compound; the first element means "one, at one, together," from PIE *sem- (1) "one" (see same); the second is cognate with the second element in Latin al-ter, Gothic an-þar, Old English o-ðer "other."

Compounds in classical Greek show the range of the word there: Heterokretes "true Cretan," (that is, of the old stock); heteroglossos "of foreign language;" heterozelos "zealous for one side;" heterotropos "of a different sort or fashion," literally "turning the other way;" heterophron "raving," literally "of other mind."
hide (n.2): a measure of land (obsolete), Old English hid "hide of land," earlier higid, from hiw- "family," from or related to hiwan "household," hiwo "a husband, master of a household," from Proto-Germanic *hiwido-, from PIE *keiwo- (source also of Latin civis "citizen"), from root *kei- (1) "to lie; bed, couch; beloved, dear" (see cemetery, and compare city).

The notion was of "amount of land needed to feed one free family and dependents," usually 100 or 120 acres, but the amount could be as little as 60, depending on the quality of the land. Often also defined as "as much land as could be tilled by one plow in a year." Translated in Latin as familia.
reindeer (n.): c. 1400, from a Scandinavian source such as Old Norse hreindyri "reindeer," from dyr "animal" (see deer) + hreinn, by itself the usual name for the animal, from Proto-Germanic *khrinda- (source also of Old English hran "reindeer;" German Renn "reindeer," which was altered by folk etymology influence of rennen "to run;" Swedish ren-ko "female reindeer," with ko "cow" (n.)).

Probably from PIE *krei-, from base *ker- (1) "horn, head," with derivatives referring to horned animals (both male and female reindeer have horns; those of the male are remarkable), and thus perhaps cognate with Greek krios "ram" (see kerato-). Older sources connect it to words in Lapp or Finnish. French renne, Spanish reno, Italian renna ultimately are from Germanic.
bio-: word-forming element, from Greek bio-, comb. form of bios "one's life, course or way of living, lifetime" (as opposed to zoe "animal life, organic life"), from PIE root *gweie- (1) "to live" (source also of Sanskrit jivah "alive, living;" Old Persian *jivaka- "alive," Middle Persian zhiwak "alive;" Old English cwic, cwicu "living, alive;" Latin vivus "living, alive," vita "life;" Old Church Slavonic zivo "to live;" Lithuanian gyvas "living, alive," gyvata "(eternal) life;" Old Irish bethu "life," bith "age;" Welsh byd "world"). The correct usage is that in biography, but in modern science it has been extended to mean "organic life."
fore (adv., prep.): Old English fore (prep.) "before, in front of, in presence of; because of, for the sake of; earlier in time; instead of;" as an adverb, "before, previously, formerly, once," from Proto-Germanic *fura "before" (source also of Old Saxon fora, Old Frisian fara, Old High German fora, German vor, Danish for, Old Norse fyrr, Gothic faiura "for"), from PIE *prae-, extended form of root *per- (1) "forward, through" (see per).

Now displaced by before. In nautical use, "toward the bows of the ship." Merged from 13c. with the abbreviated forms of afore and before and thus formerly often written 'fore. As a noun, "the front," from 1630s. The warning cry in golf is first recorded 1878, probably a contraction of before.
Greenwich: town on the south bank of the Thames adjoining London, Old English Gronewic (918), Grenewic (964), literally "green harbor" or "green trading place." The Royal Observatory there was founded June 22, 1675, by King Charles II specifically to solve the problem of finding longitude while at sea. In October 1884, 41 delegates from 25 nations met in Washington, D.C., for the International Meridian Conference. They decided to adopt a single world meridian, passing through the principal Transit Instrument at the observatory at Greenwich, as the basis of calculation for all longitude and a worldwide 24-hour clock. The Greenwich motion passed 22-1; San Domingo voted against it; France and Brazil abstained. The Greenwich Village quarter of New York City has been symbolic of "American bohemia" at least since 1903.