Online Etymology Dictionary

Sammy (n.): British slang for "U.S. soldier in World War I," 1918, a reference to Uncle Sam.
A Sammie may be defined as an American soldier as he appears in an English newspaper or a French cinema. It is a name he did not invent, does not like, never uses and will not recognize. ["Stars & Stripes," March 29, 1918]
Sardinia: large island west of Italy, Latin, from Greek Sardo; perhaps named for the local Iberian people who settled there; the original form and meaning of the name is lost. A Punic (Phoenician) stelle from 7c. B.C.E. refers to it as Shardan. The oblique cases are sometimes Sardonos, etc., as if from *Sardon. Related: Sardinian.
sartorial (adj.): "pertaining to a tailor," 1807, from Modern Latin sartorius, from Late Latin sartor "tailor" (source also of French sartre "tailor"), literally "patcher, mender," from Latin sart-, past participle stem of sarcire "to patch, mend," from PIE root *serk- "to make whole." Earlier in English in same sense was Related: sartorian (1660s). Sartorius as the name of the long leg muscle is because it is used in crossing the legs to bring them into the position needed to sit like a tailor. Related: Sartorially.
sassafras (n.): small flowering tree of North America, 1570s, from Spanish sasafras, perhaps an adaptation of saxifraga "saxifrage," from Late Latin saxifragia, variant of saxifraga (see saxifrage). But the connection of the plants is difficult to explain, and the word perhaps represents a lost Native American name that sounded like Spanish saxifraga and was altered to conform to it. The tree supposedly was discovered by the Spanish in 1528.
Cornwall: Old English Cornwalas (891), Cornubia (c.705), "the Corn Welsh," from original Celtic tribal name, *Cornowii, Latinized as Cornovii, literally "peninsula people, the people of the horn," from Celtic kernou "horn," hence "headland," from PIE *ker- (1) "horn; head, uppermost part of the body" (see horn (n.)), in reference to the long "horn" of land on which they live. To this the Anglo-Saxons added the plural of Old English walh "stranger, foreigner," especially if Celtic (see Welsh).
shark (n.): 1560s, of uncertain origin; apparently the word and the first specimen were brought to London by Capt. John Hawkins's second expedition (landed 1565; see Hakluyt).
There is no proper name for it that I knowe, but that sertayne men of Captayne Haukinses doth call it a 'sharke' [handbill advertising an exhibition of the specimen, 1569]
The meaning "dishonest person who preys on others," though attested only from 1599 (sharker "artful swindler" in this sense is from 1594), may be the original sense, later transferred to the large, voracious marine fish. If so, it is possibly from German Schorck, a variant of Schurke "scoundrel, villain," agent noun of Middle High German schürgen (German schüren) "to poke, stir."

But on another theory, the English word is from a Mayan word, xoc, which might have meant "shark." Northern Europeans seem not to have been familiar with sharks before voyages to the tropics began. A slightly earlier name for it in English was tiburon, via Spanish (where it is attested by 1520s), from the Carib name for the fish.

The English word was applied (or re-applied) to voracious or predatory persons, on the image of the fish, from 1707 (originally of pick-pockets); loan shark is attested from 1905. Sharkskin (1851) was used for binding books, etc. As the name of a type of fabric held to resemble it, it is recorded from 1932.
There is the ordinary Brown Shark, or sea attorney, so called by sailors; a grasping, rapacious varlet, that in spite of the hard knocks received from it, often snapped viciously at our steering oar. [Herman Melville, "Mardi"]
shawl (n.): 1660s, originally of a type of scarf worn in Asia, from Urdu and other Indian languages, from Persian shal, sometimes said to be named for Shaliat, town in India where it was first manufactured [Klein]. French châle, Spanish chal, Italian scialle, German Shawl (from English), Russian shal all are ultimately from the same source. As the name of an article of clothing worn by Western women, it is recorded from 1767.
sheriff (n.): late Old English scirgerefa "representative of royal authority in a shire," from scir (see shire) + gerefa "chief, official, reeve" (see reeve). As an American county official, attested from 1660s; sheriff's sale first recorded 1798. Sheriff's tooth (late 14c.) was a common name for the annual tax levied to pay for the sheriff's victuals during court sessions.
shimmy (v.): "do a suggestive dance," 1918, perhaps via phrase shake the shimmy, which is possibly from shimmy (n.), a U.S. dialectal form of chemise (mistaken as a plural; compare shammy) first recorded 1837. Or perhaps the verb is related to shimmer (v.) via a notion of glistening light. Transferred sense of "vibration of a motor vehicle" is from 1925. Related: Shimmied; shimmying. As a noun, the name of a popular, fast, suggestive pre-flapper dance, by 1919.
sere (adj.): Old English sear "dried up, withered, barren," from Proto-Germanic *sauzas (source also of Middle Low German sor, Dutch zoor "dry"), from PIE root *saus- "dry" (source also of Sanskrit susyati "dries, withers;" Old Persian uška- "dry" (adj.), "land" (n.); Avestan huška- "dry;" Greek auos "dry," auein "to dry;" Latin sudus "dry"). A good word now relegated to bad poetry. Related to sear. Sere month was an old name for "August."
servile (adj.): late 14c., from Latin servilis "of a slave" (as in Servile Wars, name given to the slave revolts in the late Roman Republic), also "slavish, servile," from servus "slave" (see serve (v.)). Earliest sense was legal, servile work being forbidden on the Sabbath; sense of "cringing, fawning" first recorded c. 1600.
schlemiel (n.): "awkward, clumsy person," 1868, from Yiddish shlemiel "bungler," from main character in A. von Chamisso's German fable "The Wonderful History of Peter Schlemihl" (1813), probably from Biblical name Shelumiel (Num. i:6), chief of the tribe of Simeon, identified with the Simeonite prince Zimri ben Salu, who was killed while committing adultery. Compare schlemazel.
silicon (n.): nonmetallic element, 1817, coined by British chemist Thomas Thomson from silica (silicon dioxide), from which it was isolated. The name is patterned on carbon, etc. Silicon chip first attested 1965; Silicon Valley for the Santa Clara Valley south of San Francisco, U.S., first attested 1974, from the concentration of manufacturers of silicon chips used in computers, watches, etc.
simon-pure (adj.): 1815, from the true Simon Pure "the genuine person or thing" (1795), from Simon Pure, name of a Quaker who is impersonated by another character (Colonel Feignwell) in part of the comedy "A Bold Stroke for a Wife" (1717) by Susannah Centlivre, English dramatist and actress. The real Simon Pure is dealt with as an imposter in the play and is believed only after he has proved his identity.
slam (n.2): "a winning of all tricks in a card game," 1660s, earlier the name of a card game (also called ruff), 1620s, used especially in whist, of obscure origin. Grand slam in bridge first recorded 1892; earlier in related card games from 1814; figurative sense of "complete success" is attested from 1920; in baseball sense from 1935.
slop (n.): c. 1400, "mudhole," probably from Old English -sloppe "dung" (in plant name cusloppe, literally "cow dung"), related to slyppe "slime" (see slip (v.)). Meaning "semiliquid food" first recorded 1650s; that of "refuse liquid of any kind, household liquid waste" (usually slops) is from 1815. Meaning "affected or sentimental material" is from 1866.
Singapore: from Sanskrit Simhapuram "Lion City," from simhah "lion" + puram "city," from PIE *pele- "citadel, fortified high place" (see polis (n.)). The name is perhaps metaphoric of something, as no lions are found there. Singapore sling attested from 1930; said on the island to have been invented there 1915 by a barman named Ngian Tong Dron.
sire (n.): c. 1200, title placed before a name and denoting knighthood, from Old French sire "lord (appellation), sire, my lord," from Vulgar Latin *seior, from Latin senior "older, elder" (see senior (adj.)). Standing alone and meaning "your majesty" it is attested from early 13c. General sense of "important elderly man" is from mid-14c.; that of "father, male parent" is from mid-13c.
scud (v.): "to move quickly," 1530s, of uncertain origin, perhaps a variant of Middle English scut "rabbit, rabbit's tail," in reference to its movements (see scut (n.1)), but there are phonetic difficulties. Perhaps rather from a North Sea Germanic source akin to Middle Low German, Middle Dutch schudden "to shake" (see quash). Related: Scudded; scudding. As a noun from c. 1600, from the verb. It also was the NATO reporting name for a type of Soviet missile introduced in the 1960s.
seacoal (n.): also sea-coal, old name for "mineral coal" (as opposed to charcoal), mid-13c.; earlier, in Old English, it meant "jet," which chiefly was found washed ashore by the sea. The coal perhaps so called from resemblance to jet, or because it was first dug from beds exposed by wave erosion. From sea + coal. As it became the predominant type used, the prefix was dropped.
Selene: moon goddess, equivalent of Latin Luna, from Greek selene "the moon; name of the moon goddess," related to selas "light, brightness, bright flame, flash of an eye," from PIE root *swel- (2) "to shine, beam" (source also of Sanskrit svargah "heaven," Lithuanian svilti "to singe," Old English swelan "to be burnt up," Middle Low German swelan "to smolder"); related to swelter, sultry. Related: Selenian "of or pertaining to the moon as a world," 1660s.
Sephardim: plural of Sephardi "a Spanish or Portuguese Jew" (1851), from Modern Hebrew Sepharaddim "Spaniards, Jews of Spain," from Sepharad, name of a country mentioned only in Obad. v:20, probably meaning "Asia Minor" or a part of it (Lydia, Phrygia), but identified by the rabbis after the Jonathan Targum as "Spain." Related: Sephardic.
seraglio (n.): "harem," also the name of a former palace of the sultan in Istanbul, 1580s, from Italian seraglio, alteration of Turkish saray "palace, court," from Persian sara'i "palace, inn," from Iranian base *thraya- "to protect" (source also of Avestan thrayeinti "they protect"), from PIE *tra-, variant form of root *tere- (2) "to cross over, pass through, overcome" (see through).

The Italian word probably reflects folk etymology influence of serraglio "enclosure, cage," from Medieval Latin serraculum "bung, stopper" (see serried).
cadmium (n.): bluish-white metal, 1822, discovered 1817 by German scientist Friedrich Strohmeyer, coined in Modern Latin from cadmia, a word used by ancient naturalists for various earths and oxides (especially zinc carbonate), from Greek kadmeia (ge) "Cadmean (earth)," from Kadmos "Cadmus," legendary founder of Boeotian Thebes. With metallic element ending -ium. So called because the earth was first found in the vicinity of Thebes (Kadmeioi was an alternative name for "Thebans" since the time of Homer).
Camp David: U.S. presidential retreat near Thurmont, Maryland, built 1939 as Hi-Catoctin, in reference to the name of the mountains around it; called Shangri-La by F.D. Roosevelt, after the mythical hard-to-get-to land in the novel "Lost Horizon;" named Camp David by Eisenhower in 1953 for his grandson, born 1947. The Camp David Accords were signed there Sept. 17, 1978.
caparison (n.): 1570s, "cloth spread over a saddle," also "personal dress and ornaments," from Middle French caparasson (15c., Modern French caparaçon), from Spanish caparazón, perhaps from augmentative of Old Provençal caparasso "a mantle with a hood," or Medieval Latin caparo, the name of a type of cape worn by women, literally "chaperon" (see chaperon). Past participle adjective caparisoned is attested from c. 1600, from a verb caparison (1590s), from French caparaçonner, from caparaçon.
Bombay: city in western India, from Portuguese, and popularly explained as Portuguese bom bahia "good bay," but that seems folk etymology (for one, the adjective is masculine and the noun is feminine), and the more likely candidate is the local Mumbadevi "Goddess Mumba," a Hindu deity worshipped there. The city's name officially changed to Mumbai in 1995.
Toby: familiar form of masc. proper name Tobias, in various colloquial usages, such as "jug" (1840), "drinking mug in the form of a stout old man;" as a type of collar (1882) it refers to that worn by the dog Toby in 19c. Punch and Judy shows. Also in Toby show (by 1942, American English) "comedy act based on the stock character of a boisterous, blundering yokel."
Washington: U.S. capital, founded 1791, named for President George Washington (1732-1799); the family name is from a town in northeastern England, from Old English, literally "estate of a man named Wassa." The U.S. state was named when it was formed as a territory in 1853 (admitted to the union 1889). Related: Washingtonian.
xeno-: before vowels, xen-, word-forming element meaning "strange, foreign; stranger, foreigner," from Greek xeno-, comb. form of xenos "a guest, stranger, foreigner, refugee, guest-friend, one entitled to hospitality," cognate with Latin hostis (see guest (n.)). "The term was politely used of any one whose name was unknown" [Liddell & Scott].
woody (adj.): late 14c., "overgrown with trees and shrubs," from wood (n.) + -y (2). Of plants, "having a stem of wood," from 1570s. Related: Woodiness. Old English had wudulic. As a name for a kind of station wagon with wood panels, by 1961, U.S. surfer slang (real wood exterior panels were rare after 1951 and the last use of real wood was in the 1953 Buick Roadmaster Estate Wagon). Slang meaning "erection" attested by 1990 (for hardness).
Flushing: New York village established 1645 by English Puritans (now a neighborhood in Queens), an English corruption of Dutch Vlissingen, name of Dutch town where the Puritans had taken refuge, literally "flowing" (so called for its location on an estuary of the West Scheldt), and thus perhaps distantly related to flush (v.1).
Kellogg: surname, attested from late 13c. (Gilbert Kelehog), literally "kill hog," a name for a butcher (compare kill-buck, a medieval surname, also noted as a term of contempt for a butcher). The U.S. cereal company began in Battle Creek, Michigan, in 1906, founded by W.K. Kellogg (1860-1951), business manager of the Battle Creek Sanatorium, as Battle Creek Toasted Corn Flake Company.
Sisyphus: King of Corinth, famed as "the craftiest of men," he was condemned in the afterlife to roll uphill a stone which perpetually rolls down again; Greek Sisyphos, a name of unknown origin. Liddell & Scott suggest a reduplication of syphos "the crafty" (with Aeolic -u- for -o-), but Klein calls this folk-etymology.
Adam's apple (n.): 1731, corresponding to Latin pomum Adami, perhaps an inexact translation of Hebrew tappuah haadam, literally "man's swelling," from ha-adam "the man" + tappuah "anything swollen." The reference is to the legend that a piece of the forbidden fruit (commonly believed to be an apple) that Eve gave Adam stuck in his throat. The term is mentioned in early 15c. as the name of an actual oriental and Mediterranean fruit, a variety of lime with an indentation fancied to resemble the marks of Adam's teeth.
fylfot (n.): supposedly a native name for the swastika (used as a decorative device), but only attested in a single, damaged c. 1500 manuscript, and in that it might rather refer to any sort of device used to fill the bottom (foot) of a design. "[I]t is even possible that it may have been a mere nonce-word" [OED].
Galicia: region in Central Europe, perhaps ultimately from Lithuanian galas "end, peak," in reference to the Carpathian Mountains which rise there, or from the root of Gaul. The region in northwestern Spain of the same name is from the ancient Roman province of Gallaecia, which is perhaps from the Celtic root cala "watercourse," or else it, too, might be from the root of Gaul. Related: Galician (1749 of Spain, 1835 of Eastern Europe).
grallatorial (adj.): "of or pertaining to wading birds," 1825, from Latin grallotores "stilt-walkers," plural of grallator "one who walks on stilts," from grallae "stilts," ultimately from stem of gradi "to walk, go" (see grade (n.)). Grallatores was formerly used as the name of an order of birds comprising herons, cranes, etc. Related: Grallatory (1835).
prius (n.): "that which takes precedence," noun use of Latin neuter of prior "former, earlier" (see prior (adj.)). The hybrid car (with a capital P- ) debuted in 1997 in Japan, 2001 in U.S. and Europe. Name supposedly chosen because the car is a predecessor of new types. Proper plural is said to be Priora, but that is for the adjective.
hold-out (n.): also holdout, one who abstains or refrains when others do not, by 1911, from verbal expression hold out, which is attested from 1907 in the sense "keep back, detain, withhold" (see hold (v.) + out (adv.)). Earlier as the name of a card-sharper's device (1893). The verbal phrase is attested from 1520s as "stretch forth," 1580s as "resist pressure."
Huron: North American lake, named for the native people who lived nearby, whose name is attested in English from 1650s, from French, from obsolete French huron "bristle-haired" (the French word frequently was used in reference to head-dresses, and that might be its original sense here), from Old French huré "bristly, unkempt, shaggy," which is of uncertain origin, but French sources indicate it probably is from Germanic.
inspirer (n.): c. 1500, agent noun from inspire (v.). The Late Latin form, inspirator, is attested in English in 17c. in the Latin figurative sense but later was used literally as the name of a steam-engine part (1890). Inspirationist is "one who believes in the inspiration of the Scriptures (1846). As a fem. form of inspirer, inspiratrix (1819) has been used.
hornblende (n.): common dark mineral, 1770, from German Hornblende, from horn "horn of an animal" (see horn (n.)) + blende (see blende).
The term "Hornblende" is an old German name for any dark, prismatic crystal found with metallic ores but containing no valuable metal (the word "Blende" indicates "a deceiver") [Herbert Bucksch, "Dictionary Geotechnical Engineering," 1995]
Related: Horneblendic.
gull (n.2): cant term for "dupe, sucker, credulous person," 1590s, of uncertain origin. Perhaps from verb meaning "to dupe, cheat" (see gull (v.)). Or it is perhaps from (or influenced by) the bird name (see gull (n.1)); in either case with a sense of "someone who will swallow anything thrown at him." Another possibility is Middle English gull, goll "newly hatched bird" (late 14c.), which is perhaps from Old Norse golr "yellow," from the hue of its down.
marcasite (n.): crystalized pyrite, early 15c., from Medieval Latin marchasita, of obscure origin, perhaps via Spanish, probably from Arabic, though OED doubts this. Perhaps ultimately from Persian marquashisha [Klein]. "This name has been used for a number of substances but mainly for iron pyrites and especially for the crystalline forms used in the 18th century for ornaments." [Flood]
gloomy (adj.): 1580s, probably from gloom (n.) even though that word is not attested as early as this one. Shakespeare used it of woods, Marlowe of persons. Gloomy Gus has been used in a general sense of "sullen person" since 1902, the name of a pessimistic and defeatist newspaper comics character introduced about that time by U.S. illustrator Frederick Burr Opper. Related: Gloomily; gloominess.
economic (adj.): 1590s, "pertaining to management of a household," perhaps shortened from economical, or else from French économique or directly from Latin oeconomicus "of domestic economy," from Greek oikonomikos "practiced in the management of a household or family" (also the name of a treatise by Xenophon on the duties of domestic life), hence, "frugal, thrifty," from oikonomia "household management" (see economy (n.)). Meaning "relating to the science of economics" is from 1835 and now is the main sense, economical retaining the older one of "characterized by thrift."
existentialism (n.): 1941, from German Existentialismus (1919), replacing Existentialforhold (1849), ultimately from Danish writer Søren Kierkegaard (1813-1855), who wrote (1846) of Existents-Forhold "condition of existence," existentielle Pathos, etc. (see existential), and whose name means in Danish, literally, "churchyard" (compare Middle English cognate kirrkegærd (c. 1200), dialectal church-garth).
imagism (n.): name of a movement in poetry that sought clarity of expression through use of precise visual images, "hard light, clear edges" [Pound], coined 1912 by Ezra Pound; see image (n.) + -ism. Related: Imagist.
—Say it, no ideas but in things—
nothing but the blank faces of the houses
and cylindrical trees
bent, forked by preconception and accident—
split, furrowed, creased, mottled, stained—
secret—into the body of the light!

[William Carlos Williams, from "Paterson"]
independence (n.): 1630s, "fact of not depending on others or another, self-support and self-government;" see independent + -ence. Earlier in same sense was independency (1610s). U.S. Independence Day (July 4, commemorating events of 1776) is recorded under that name by 1791.

An Old English word for it was selfdom, with self + dom "law," but in form this is closer to privilege (n.). The two concepts are not always distinguishable.