Online Etymology Dictionary

Ignatius: masc. proper name, from Latin Ignatius, collateral form of Egnatius. St. Ignatius, bishop of Antioch, was one of the apostolic fathers, martyred under Trajan; a set of epistles was attributed to him. Ignatius Loyola (1491-1556) was the founder of the Jesuits. Related: Ignatian.
hornpipe (n.): c. 1400, hornepype, musical instrument formerly used in England, with bell and mouthpiece made of horn, from horn (n.) + pipe (n.1). From late 15c. as the name of a lively country-dance (later especially popular with sailors) originally performed to music from such an instrument.
designation (n.): late 14c., "action of pointing out," from Old French designacion or directly from Latin designationem (nominative designatio) "a marking out, specification," noun of action from past participle stem of designare (see design (v.)). Meaning "descriptive name" is from 1824.
individualism (n.): "quality of being distinct or individual, individuality," 1815, from individual + -ism. As the name of a social philosophy favoring non-interference of government in lives of individuals (opposed to communism and socialism) first attested 1851 in writings of J.S. Mill.
lactic (adj.): 1790, "procured from milk," in the chemical name lactic acid, which is so called because it was obtained from sour milk. From French lactique, from Latin lactis, genitive of lac "milk" (see lacto-) + French -ique (see -ic).
labrum (n.): lip or lip-like part, 1816, in various anatomical and zoological uses, from Latin labrum "a lip," cognate with labium "lip" (see lip (n.)). The same word is also noted in Middle English as the name of some herb.
brewster (n.): early 13c. as a surname, probably originally "a female brewer" (even though most of the early surnames on the records are of men), from brew (v.) + -ster. Compare Old French braceresse "female brewer," Middle English name Clarice le Breweres on the 1312 Colchester Borough Court Rolls.
freedman (n.): "manumitted slave," c. 1600, from past participle of free (adj.) + man (n.). Especially in U.S. history. The older word is freeman. Freedman's Bureau (1865) was the popular name of the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, established by Congress March 3, 1865, and discontinued in 1872.
frottage (n.): 1933 as the name of a sexual perversion, from French frottage "rubbing, friction," from frotter "to rub," from Old French froter "to rub, wipe; beat, thrash" (12c.), from Vulgar Latin *frictare, frequentative of Latin fricare "to rub" (see friction). As a paraphilia, it is known now as frotteurism.
fairy-tale (n.): "oral narrative centered on magical tests, quests, and transformations," 1749, translating French Conte de feés, the name given to her collection by Madame d'Aulnois (1698, translated into English 1699). As an adjective (also fairytale), attested by 1963.
faience (n.): fine kind of pottery or earthenware, 1714, from French faïence (16c.), probably from Fayence, French form of Faenza, city in Italy that was a noted ceramics center 16c. The city name is Latin faventia, literally "silence, meditation," perhaps a reference to a tranquil location.
fibromyalgia (n.): 1981, said to have been coined by U.S. rheumatologist Mohammed Yunus, from Latin fibra "a fiber, filament" (see fiber) + Greek mys (genitive myos) "muscle" (see muscle (n.)) + -algia "pain." The earlier name for the condition was fibrositis.
flapjack (n.): pre-1600, from flap (v.) + jack (n.), using the personal name in its "generic object" sense. So called from the process of baking it by flipping and catching it in the griddle when done on one side.
foosball (n.): debuted in U.S. 1963 and was a craze on some college campuses for a few years thereafter. Said to have been designed c. 1930s in Switzerland. The name is presumably from the pronunciation of Fußball, the German form of (Association) football.
gannet (n.): Old English ganot, name of a kind of sea-bird, from Proto-Germanic *ganton- (source also of Dutch gent, Middle High German ganiz, Old High German ganazzo "a gander"), from PIE *ghans- "a goose" (see goose (n.)). Old French gante is from Germanic.
gavotte (n.): lively dance, 1690s, from French gavotte (17c.), from Old Provençal gavoto "mountaineer's dance," from gavot, a local name for an Alpine resident, said to mean literally "boor, glutton," from gaver "to stuff, force-feed poultry," from Old Provençal gava "crop." From the same source is French gavache "coward, dastard." The Italianized form is gavotta.
jerk (n.1): 1550s, "stroke of a whip," from jerk (v.1). Sense of "sudden sharp pull or twist" first recorded 1570s. Meaning "involuntary spasmodic movement of limbs or features" first recorded 1805. As the name of a popular dance, it is attested from 1966.
jilt (n.): 1670s, "loose, unchaste woman; harlot;" also "woman who gives hope then dashes it;" probably a contraction of jillet, gillet, from Middle English gille "lass, wench," a familiar or contemptuous term for a woman or girl (mid-15c.), originally a shortened form of woman's name Gillian (see Jill).
junior (n.): "a person younger than another; one of less experience or standing," 1520s, from junior (adj.). Generically as a name for a young boy, a young son from 1917, American English. In the U.S. college sense "student in the third year" from 1862.
languet (n.): "something in the shape of a little tongue," early 15c., from Old French languete (Modern French languette), literally "little tongue," diminutive of langue "tongue," from Latin lingua "tongue" (see lingual). As the name of a kind of hood in 17c. women's dress it probably is a separate borrowing of the French word.
Chrysler: U.S. automobile corporation, organized 1925 as Chrysler Corporation by Walter P. Chrysler (1875-1940) out of the old Maxwell Motor Co. (Maxwell produced a car named Chrysler in 1924). The name is a spelling variant of German Kreisler, perhaps related to kreisel "spinning top," but the sense connection is unclear.
clavier (n.): 1708, "keyboard," from French clavier, originally "a key-bearer," from Latin clavis "key" (see slot (n.2)). The French word also is the source of German Klavier, Dutch klavier, Danish klaver, etc. The German word is the direct source of the name of the musical instrument, a sense attested from 1845 in English.
Carmen (n.): French opera by Georges Bizet (1838-1875), premiered in Paris March 3, 1875. As a proper name, it can represent (especially in Italian and Spanish) a diminutive of Carmel/Carmelo or Latin carmen "song, poem, incantation, oracle" (see charm (n.)).
Carnivora (n.): order of mammals, 1830, from Latin (animalia) carnivora "flesh-eating (animals)," neuter plural of carnivorus (see carnivorous). Applied as the scientific name of a large order of flesh-eating mammals by French naturalist Georges Léopole Chrétien Frédéric Dagobert, Baron Cuvier (1769-1832).
carpaccio (n.): raw meat or fish served as an appetizer, late 20c., from Italian, often connected to the name of Renaissance painter Vittore Carpaccio (c. 1460-1526) but without any plausible explanation except perhaps that his pictures often feature an orange-red hue reminiscent of some raw meat.
Catawba (n.): type of American grape, 1857, the name is that of a river in South Carolina, U.S., where the grape was found. The river is named for the Katahba Indian group and language (Siouan), from katapu "fork of a stream," itself a Muskogean loan-word.
contra dance: 1803, from French contre-danse, altered from English country dance by folk etymology from French contra "against," suggested by the arrangement of the partners in the dance. The dances and the name were taken up in France c. 1720s and from there passed to Spain and Italy (Spanish, Italian contra danza) then back to English.
Dallas: city in Texas, U.S., settled 1841, named 1846 for George M. Dallas (1792-1864), U.S. vice president under Polk (1845-49); the family name (13c.) is from the barony of Dallas (Moray) or means "dweller at the house in the dale."
Damascus: ancient city in Syria, famous in medieval times for silk and steel, mid-13c., from Latin Damascus, from Greek Damaskos, from Semitic (compare Hebrew Dammeseq, Arabic Dimashq), from a pre-Semitic name of unknown origin. Related: Damascene, from Latin Damascenus "of Damascus."
Curacao: West Indian island, Curaçao, discovered 1499 by Alonso de Hojeda, who called it Isla de los Gigantes in reference to the stature of the natives. The modern name probably is a Europeanized version of some lost native word. The liqueur is made from the dried peel of the Curaçao orange.
cordovan (n.): 1590s, "fine Spanish leather," from adjective Cordovan, from Spanish cordovan (modern cordoban), from cordovano (adj.) "of Cordova," the Spanish city, former capital of Moorish Spain; a later adoption of the same word that became cordwain (see cordwainer). The city name is from Phoenician qorteb "oil press."
cotyledon (n.): from 1540s, in various sense, from Latin cotyledon "pennywort, navelwort," from Greek kotyledon "cup-shaped cavity," from kotyle "hollow thing, small vessel," also the name of a small liquid measure (nearly a half-pint); which is of uncertain origin. Botanical sense is 1776, from Linnaeus (1751).
denier (n.): French coin, early 15c., from Old French dener, a small coin of slight value, roughly equivalent to the English penny, in use in France from the time of Charlemagne to early modern times, from Latin denarium, from denarius, name of a Roman coin (source also of Spanish dinero; see denarius).
davit (n.): also david, "crane-like structure used to lower things off a ship, etc.," late 15c., apparently a use of the masc. proper name David on the pattern of applying common Christian names to useful devices (compare jack, jenny, jimmy).
Boxer Rebellion: 1900, a name based on mistranslation of Chinese xenophobic society I-He-T'uan, "Righteous Harmony Band," rendered by British as I-He-Ch'uan "Righteous Uniting Fists," and so associated with the pugilistic boxer.
elfin (adj.): "of or pertaining to elves," 1590s, from elf; first found in Spenser, who also used it as a noun and might have been thinking of elven but the word also is a proper name in the Arthurian romances (Elphin).
matutinal (adj.): 1650s, from Latin matutinalis "pertaining to morning," from matutinus "of or pertaining to the morning," from Matuta, name of the Roman goddess of dawn, related to maturus "early" (see mature (v.)). Earlier in same sense was matutine (mid-15c.). Related: Matutinally.
millennial (adj.): 1660s, "pertaining to the millennium," from stem of millennium + -al (1). Meaning "pertaining to a period of 1,000 years" is from 1807. As a noun from 1896, originally "thousandth anniversary." From 1992 as a generational name for those born in the mid-1980s and thus coming of age around the year 2000.
draughts (n.): British name for the tabletop game that in U.S. is checkers, c. 1400, from draught, perhaps because the pieces are "dragged" over the board in moves. Earlier it is recorded as jeu de dames (late 14c.).
Cher: U.S. pop performer, born Cherilyn Sarkisian (1946). As a given name for girls in U.S., it hit a bump of popularity 1972-73 around the time she starred in a popular TV variety show.
Como: lake in Italy, named for the town along its shore, which is Roman Comum, from Celtic cumba "valley" (compare coomb). Its ancient name was Lacus Larius; Lacus Comacinus begins to appear 4c. It is associated with Virgil and the two Plinys.
Connor: masc. proper name, little used in U.S. before 1980; in the top 100 names given to boys from 1992; apparently an alteration and appropriation of the surname Conner (13c.), representing Old English cunnere "examiner, inspector" (as in ale-conner (see con (n.2)).
constance (n.): mid-14c., "steadfastness," from Old French constance "steadfastness, permanence" (14c.), from Latin constantia (source of Italian costanza, Spanish constancia), noun of action from constantem (see constant (adj.)). Obsolete since 17c. except as a given name for a girl, which enjoyed a mild popularity in U.S. c. 1945-1955.
CDC: abbreviation of Centers for Disease Control, renamed 1970 from earlier U.S. federal health lab, originally Communicable Diseases Center (1946). Since 1992, full name is Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, but the usual initialism (acronym) remains CDC.
Celtic (adj.): also Keltic, 1650s, of archaeology or history, from French Celtique or Latin Celticus "pertaining to the Celts" (see Celt). In reference to languages, from 1707; of other qualities, 19c. The Boston basketball team was founded 1946. Celtic twilight is from Yeats's name for his collection of adapted Irish folk tales (1893).
Chamorro: indigenous people of Guam and the Marianas Islands, from Spanish Chamorro, literally "shorn, shaven, bald." Supposedly because the men shaved their heads, but the name also has been connected to native Chamoru, said to mean "noble," so perhaps Chamorro is a Spanish folk etymology.
cockscomb (n.): c. 1400, "comb or crest of a cock," from possessive of cock (n.1) + comb (n.). Meaning "cap worn by a professional fool" is from 1560s; hence "conceited fool" (1560s), a sense passing into the derivative coxcomb. As a plant name, from 1570s.
Colosseum (n.): 1560s, Medieval Latin name for the classical Amphitheatrum Flavium (begun c.70 C.E.), noun use of neuter of adjective colosseus "gigantic;" perhaps a reference to the colossal statue of Nero that long stood nearby (see colossus).
commendation (n.): "expression of approval," late 14c. (from c. 1200 as the name of one of the Offices of the Dead), from Old French commendacion "approval, praise," from Latin commendationem (nominative commendatio) "recommendation, commendation," noun of action from past participle stem of commendare "commit to one's care, commend" (see commend).
beautiful (adj.): mid-15c., "pleasing to the eye," from beauty + -ful. The beautiful people "the fashionable set" first attested 1964 in (where else?) "Vogue" (it also was the title of a 1941 play by U.S. dramatist William Saroyan). House Beautiful is from "Pilgrim's Progress," where it is a proper name of a place. Related: Beautifully.