Online Etymology Dictionary

ficus (n.): c. 1400, from Latin ficus "fig, fig tree" (see fig). With capital letter, as the name of a large genus of trees and shrubs, chosen by Linnaeus (1753).
Florentine (adj.): 1540s, literally "of or pertaining to the Italian city of Florence," from Latin Florentinus, from Florentia, the Roman name of the city (see Florence). Earliest reference in English is to a type of textile fabric. As a noun from 1590s.
intelligencer (n.): 1580s, "spy, informant," agent noun from intelligence. Perhaps modeled on French intelligencier or Italian intelligentiere. Meaning "bringer of news, one who conveys intelligence" is from 1630s; as a newspaper name from 1640s.
juicer (n.): agent noun in various senses from juice (v.); from 1892 as the name of an appliance for extracting juice; from 1928 as "an electrician;" by 1967 as "an alcoholic."
Bengal: region in South Asia, named for its people, said to be from Banga, name of a founding chief. It is attested in Europe as far back as Marco Polo (1298), who wrote of Bangala.
kendal (n.): green woolen cloth, late 14c., from place name in Westmoreland where it was manufactured. The place (which is in the Domesday Book) is "Kent-dale," so called for being in the dale of the River Kent.
Kashmir: formerly also Cashmere, 1747, from Sanskrit Kashypamara "land of Kashyap," said to be the name of a renowned sage. As a type of carpet, from 1900. Related: Kashmiri (1832); Kashmirian.
Laurasia: Paleozoic supercontinent comprising North America and Eurasia, 1931, from German (1928), from Laurentia, geologists' name for the ancient core of North America (see Laurentian) + second element of Eurasia.
lazar (n.): "filthy beggar, leper," c. 1300, from Medieval Latin lazarus "leper," from Lazarus (q.v.), the name of the beggar in the biblical parable. Sometimes also lazard, with pejorative suffix.
lawrencium (n.): 1961, Modern Latin, from the name of Ernest O. Lawrence (1901-1958), U.S. physicist, cyclotron pioneer and founder of the lab where it was discovered. With metallic element ending -ium.
Lacedaemonian (adj.): "pertaining to Sparta," 1709, from Latin Lacedaemonius, from Greek Lakedaimonios, from Lakedaimon, an ancient Greek name for Sparta as the capital of Lakonia (see laconic). From 1713 as a noun.
Claire: fem. proper name, from French claire, fem. of clair literally "light, bright," from Latin clarus "clear, bright, distinct" (see clear (adj.); also compare Clara).
clerihew (n.): humorous verse form, 1928, from English humorist Edmund Clerihew Bentley (1875-1956), who described it in a book published 1906 under the name E. Clerihew.
carbon monoxide (n.): 1869, so called because it consists of one carbon and one oxygen atom (as opposed to carbon dioxide, which has two of the latter). An older name for it was carbonic oxide gas.
cornelian (n.): "red variety of chalcedony," a variant of corneline (c. 1400), from Old French corneline (Modern French cornaline), diminutive of corneola, probably from Vulgar Latin *cornea, from Latin cornus, name of a type of berry (see cornel).
Coriolis effect (n.): 1969 (earlier Coriolis force, 1923, and other references back to 1912), from the name of French scientist Gaspard Gustave de Coriolis (1792-1843) who described it c. 1835.
Delilah: "temptress, treacherous lover," 1590s, from the name of the woman who seduced and betrayed Samson in Judges, from Hebrew Delilah, literally "delicate, languishing, amorous," from Semitic root d-l-l "to hang down, to languish."
Denise: fem. form of masc. proper name Dennis. Little used in U.S. before 1920s; was at its most popular (top 50) for girls born between 1951 and 1973.
Coventry: city in Warwickshire, Old English Couentre (1043) "Cofa's tree," from Old English masc. personal name Cofa (genitive Cofan) + tree (n.). Probably a boundary marker or public assembly place.
cytosine (n.): 1894, from German cytosin (1894), from cyto- "cell" + -ose + chemical suffix -ine (2). "The name cytosine (due to Kossel and Neumann) is misleading. Cytosine is not, like adenosine and guanosine, a nucleoside but the sugar-free base." [Flood]
Montmartre: district in Paris, from Latin Mons Martyrum "Martyrs' Mount," in reference to St. Denis, first bishop of Paris, beheaded here with two companions in 258. The older name was Mons Mercurii.
checkers (n.): U.S. name for the game known in Britain as draughts, 1712, from plural of checker (n.1). So called for the board on which the game is played.
chimichanga (n.): "deep-fried burrito," by 1964; the thing and the name for it seem to have originated somewhere along the western U.S.-Mexico border (Arizona, Sonora), but beyond that all is obscure.
cayuse (n.): "horse, Indian pony," 1841, American English, said to be a Chinook (native Pacific Northwest) word; also the name of an Indian group and language (1825), of unknown origin.
cephalopod (n.): 1825, from French cephalopode, from Modern Latin Cephalopoda (the class name), from Greek kephale "head" (see cephalo-) + pod-, stem of pous "foot," from PIE root *ped- (1) "a foot" (see foot (n.)).
Ceres: Roman goddess of agriculture (identified with Greek Demeter), also the name given to the first-found and largest asteroid (discovered 1801); see cereal. Her festival, Cerealia, was April 10.
Chad (n.2): African nation, former French colony (Tchad), independent since 1960, named for Lake Chad, which is from a local word meaning "lake, large expanse of water." An ironic name for such a desert country.
Cochise: (c. 1815-1874), leader of the Chiricahua Apache people; his name is Athabaskan, perhaps from chizh "firewood" (compare ko-chizh "his firewood"), or from ch'izhi "the rough one."
comedo (n.): "blackhead," etc., 1866, from Latin comedo "glutton," from comedere "to eat up" (see comestible). A name formerly given to worms that devour the body; transferred in medical use to secretions that resemble them.
Bacchus: Greek god of wine and revelry, a later name of Dionysus, late 15c., from Latin Bacchus, from Greek Bakkhos, perhaps related to Latin bacca "berry, olive-berry, bead, pearl." Perhaps originally a Thracian fertility god.
bacchanalia (n.): "drunken revelry," 1630s, from the name of the Roman festival held in honor of Bacchus, from neuter plural of Latin bacchanalis (see bacchanal). A participant is a Bacchant (1690s), fem. Bacchante, from French. The plural of both is Bacchantes.
Bella: fem. proper name, from Italian bella "fair," from Latin bella, fem. of bellus "beautiful, fair" (see bene-). In some cases short for Isabella (see Isabel).
Lima: Peruvian capital, founded 1535 by Pizarro, from Spanish corruption of Quechua (Inca) Rimak, name of a god and his temple, from rima "to speak" (perhaps a reference to priests who spoke from concealed places in statues of the gods).
Viet Minh (n.): also Vietminh, 1945, name of the independence movement in French Indo-China 1941-50, in full Viêt Nam Dôc-Lâp Dông-Minh "Vietnamese Independence League."
massif (n.): "cluster of hills," 1520s, from French massif (see massive), also used as a noun in French, as in Massif Central, name of the plateau in the middle of southern France.
Mercedes: fem. proper name, from Spanish, abbreviation of Maria de las Mercedes "Mary of the Mercies," from plural of merced "mercy, grace," from Latin mercedem (nominative merces); see mercy.
middleman (n.): in the trading sense, 1795, from middle + man. From mid-15c. as the name of some type of workman in wire-making. From 1741 as "one who takes a middle course."
Olympus: high mountain in Thessaly, abode of the gods, from Greek Olympos, of unknown origin. The name was given to several mountains, each seemingly the highest in its district.
halfway (adv.): also half-way, Old English healfweg; see half + way (n.). Halfway house originally was a common name for inns midway between cities or stages.
IRS: also I.R.S., initialism (acronym) of Internal Revenue Service, U.S. federal government tax collection agency, attested by 1954. The office dates to 1862; name changed 1953 from Bureau of Internal Revenue.
in memoriam: Latin, literally "in memory of," from accusative of memoria "memory" (see memory). The phrase was much-used in Latin writing; Tennyson's poem of that name (published in 1850) seems to have introduced the phrase to English.
jerboa (n.): small desert rodent, 1660s, Modern Latin, from Arabic jarbu "flesh of the loins," also the name of a small jumping rodent of North Africa. So called for the strong muscles of its hind legs. Compare gerbil.
John Hancock: colloquial for "signature," 1903 (sometimes, through some unexplainable error, John Henry), from the Boston merchant and rebel (1736-1793), signer of the U.S. Declaration of Independence. The extended sense is from his signing that dangerous document first or most flamboyantly.
John Hancock, president of Congress, was the first to sign the Declaration of Independence, writing his name in large, plain letters, and saying: "There; John Bull can read my name without spectacles. Now let him double the price on my head, for this is my defiance." [Hélène Adeline Guerber, "The Story of the Thirteen Colonies," New York, 1898]
The family name is attested from 1276 in Yorkshire, a diminutive (see cock (n.1)) of Hann, a very common given name in 13c. Yorkshire as a pet form of Henry or John.
Jovian (adj.): 1520s, "of Jove," from Late Latin Iovianus, from Latin Iovis (see Jove) + -ian. Meaning "of the planet Jupiter" is recorded from 1794. Classical Latin Iovianus was a masculine proper name.
karst (n.): name of a high, barren limestone region around Trieste; used by geologists from 1894 to refer to similar landforms. The word is the German form of Slovenian Kras, which might be related to words in Slavic meaning "red."
Katie: fem. proper name, diminutive form of Kate. Noun Katie-bar-the-door "a brouhaha, a turbulent and combative situation" is by 1888; the notion is "get ready for trouble."
kibitzer (n.): 1915, from Yiddish, agent noun from kibitz (q.v.). Kibitz as a verb is attested in English from 1915; "Der Kibitzer" is noted as the name of a humorous Yiddish weekly published in New York 1908-1912.
nard (n.): late 14c., from Old French narde (Modern French nard), from Latin nardus, from Greek nardos, of Eastern origin (compare Hebrew ner'd, plural n'radim; Arabic and Persian nardin, Sanskrit narada, nalada, name of an aromatic balsam).
New Orleans: founded 1718 as Nouvelle Orléans, in honor of French regent Philippe, duc d'Orléans (1674–1723). The name was Englished after the place as purchased by the U.S. in 1803.
Eldred: masc. proper name, from Old English Ealdred, literally "great in counsel," from eald "old; great" (see old) + ræd "advice, counsel" (see read (v.)).