Online Etymology Dictionary

standard (n.2): "weight, measure, or instrument by which the accuracy of others is determined," late 14c., from standard (n.1) "military standard, banner," a particular use in English of this word, but the sense evolution is "somewhat obscure" [OED]. The standard weights and measures were set by royal ordinance and were known as the king's standard, so perhaps metaphoric, the royal standard coming to stand for royal authority in matters like setting weights and measures. Hence the meaning "authoritative or recognized exemplar of quality or correctness" (late 15c.). Meaning "rule, principal or means of judgment" is from 1560s. That of "definite level of attainment" is attested from 1711 (as in standard of living, 1903).
standard (adj.): 1620s, "serving as a standard," from standard (adj.). Earlier it meant "upright" (1530s). Standard-bred "bred up to some agreed-upon standard of excellence" is from 1888.
standard (n.1): mid-12c., "flag or other conspicuous object to serve as a rallying point for a military force," from shortened form of Old French estandart "military standard, banner." According to Barnhart and others, this is probably from Frankish *standhard, literally "stand fast or firm," a compound of unrecorded Frankish words cognate stand (v.) and hard. So called because the flag was fixed to a pole or spear and stuck in the ground to stand upright. The more common theory [OED, etc.] calls this folk-etymology and connects the Old French word to estendre "to stretch out," from Latin extendere (see extend). Some senses (such as "upright pole," mid-15c.) seem to be influenced by if not from stand (v.). Standard-bearer in the figurative sense is from 1560s.
non-standard (adj.): also nonstandard, 1926, from non- + standard. A linguist's value-neutral term for language formerly stigmatized as "bad" or "vulgar."
standardize (v.): 1857, a hybrid from standard (adj.) + -ize. Related: Standardized; standardizing. Earlier verb was simply standard (1690s).
substandard (adj.): also sub-standard, 1909, from sub- + standard (adj.).
ISBN: 1969, acronym for International Standard Book Number.
gauge (n.): early 15c., "fixed standard of measure" (surname Gageman is early 14c.), from Old North French gauge "gauging rod" (see gauge (v.)). Meaning "instrument for measuring" is from 1670s; meaning "distance between rails on a railway" is from 1841.
Railway-gage, the distance between perpendiculars on the insides of the heads of the two rails of a track. Standard gage is 4 feet 8 1/2 inches; anything less than this is narrow gage; anything broader is broad gage. The dimension was fixed for the United States by the wheels of the British locomotive imported from the Stephenson Works in 1829. [Century Dictionary]
double (adj.): early 13c., from Old French doble (10c.) "double, two-fold; two-faced, deceitful," from Latin duplus "twofold, twich as much" from duo "two" (see two) + -plus "more" (see -plus). Double standard attested by 1951. Military double time (1833) originally was 130 steps per minute.
standardization (n.): 1888, originally in pharmacology publications, noun of action from standardize.
raven (n.): Old English hræfn (Mercian), hrefn; hræfn (Northumbrian, West Saxon), from Proto-Germanic *khrabanaz (source also of Old Norse hrafn, Danish ravn, Dutch raaf, Old High German hraban, German Rabe "raven," Old English hroc "rook"), from PIE root *ker- (2), imitative of harsh sounds (source also of Latin crepare "to creak, clatter," cornix "crow," corvus "raven;" Greek korax "raven," korone "crow;" Old Church Slavonic kruku "raven;" Lithuanian krauklys "crow").
Raven mythology shows considerable homogeneity throughout the whole area [northern regions of the northern hemisphere] in spite of differences in detail. The Raven peeps forth from the mists of time and the thickets of mythology, as a bird of slaughter, a storm bird, a sun and fire bird, a messenger, an oracular figure and a craftsman or culture hero. [Edward A. Armstrong, "The Folklore of Birds," 1958]
Old English also used hræmn, hremm. The raven standard was the flag of the Danish Vikings. The Quran connects the raven with Cain's murder of Abel; but in Christianity the bird plays a positive role in the stories of St. Benedict, St. Paul the Hermit, St. Vincent, etc. It was anciently believed to live to great old age, but the ancients also believed it wanting in parental care. The vikings, like Noah, were said to have used the raven to discover land. "When uncertain of their course they let one loose, and steered the vessel in his track, deeming that the land lay in the direction of his flight; if he returned to the ship, it was supposed to be at a distance" [Charles Swainson, "The Folk Lore and Provincial Names of British Birds," London, 1886].
ASCII: 1963, initialism (acronym) from "American Standard Code for Information Interchange."
labarum (n.): the imperial standard adopted by Constantine, from Greek labaron, which is of unknown origin.
titration (n.): in chemistry, "the establishment of a standard strength or degree of concentration of a solution," 1864, noun of action from titrate (v.).
miz: 1907 as graphing of U.S. Southern pronunciation of Mrs. or Miss; 1972 as standard pronunciation of Ms.
ancient (n.): "standard-bearer," 1550s, a corruption of ensign. Archaic, but preserved in Shakespeare's character Aunchient Pistoll in "Henry V."
kilogram (n.): "one thousand grams," standard of mass in the metric system, 1797, from French kilogramme (1795); see kilo- + gram.
titrate (v.): 1854, with -ate (2) + French titrer, from titre "standard, title," also "fineness of alloyed gold" (see title (n.)).
banner (n.): c. 1200, from Old French baniere (Modern French bannière) "flag, banner, standard," from Late Latin bandum "standard," borrowed from a West Germanic cognate of Gothic bandwa "a sign" (see band (n.2)). Figurative use from early 14c. Of newspaper headlines, from 1913.
sulfuric (adj.): "of, pertaining to, or obtained from sulfur," also sulphuric, 1790, from French sulfurique; see sulfur + -ic. The spelling with -ph- is standard in Britain.
ideal (n.): "(hypothetical) perfect person, thing, or state," 1796, in a translation of Kant, from ideal (adj.). Hence "standard or model of perfection" (1849).
true (v.): "make true in position, form, or adjustment," 1841, from true (adj.) in the sense "agreeing with a certain standard." Related: Trued; truing.
criterion (n.): 1660s, from Latinized form of Greek kriterion "means for judging, standard," from krites "judge," from PIE root *krei- (see crisis). Used in English as a Greek word from 1610s.
Koran: book which contains the Islamic religious and moral code; the standard work of classical Arabic, 1610s, from Arabic qur'an "a reading, recitation, book," from root of quara-a "he read, recited." Related: Koranic.
against (adv.): early 12c., agenes "in opposition to," a southern variant of agen "again" (see again), with adverbial genitive. The parasitic -t turned up mid-14c. and was standard by early 16c., perhaps from influence of superlatives.
Sheila: fem. proper name, Irish equivalent of Celia, shortened form of Cecilia, the fem. form of Cecil. A standard type of an Irish women's name since 1828; slang for "girlfriend, young woman" dates from 1839.
sulfate (n.): salt of sulfuric acid, 1790 (sulphat), from French sulphate (1787), from Modern Latin sulphatum acidum, from Latin sulpur, sulphur (see sulfur) + chemical ending -ate (3). The spelling with -ph- is standard in Britain.
thru (prep.): by 1839, altered spelling of through; at first often in representations of dialect (Scottish, Yankee), by 1880s in standard use as a simplified spelling.
beachfront (adj.): also beach-front, 1903, American English, from beach (n.) + front (n.). The beach front was a standard way in late 19c. to express "the seashore of a town" such as Atlantic City.
coolth (n.): 1540s, from cool on the model of warmth. It persists, and was used by Pound, Tolkien, Kipling, etc., but it never has shaken its odor of facetiousness and become standard.
deci-: in the metric system, word-forming element denoting weights of one-tenth of the standard unit of measure, 1801, from French deci-, taken arbitrarily from Latin decimus "tenth," from decem "ten" (see ten).
conformism (n.): 1890, "tendency or need to conform" to some group standard, from conform + -ism. In religion, from c. 1902. In geology from c. 1912. Modern, general sociological sense (social conformism) popularized from c. 1948.
first-class (adj.): "of the highest class" with reference to some standard of excellence, 1837, from first (adj.) + class (n.). Specifically in reference to conveyances for travel, 1846. In reference to U.S. Mail, 1875.
troy: late 14c., standard system of weights for gems and precious metals, from Troyes, city in France (Roman (Civitas) Tricassium, capital of the Tricasses, a Celtic people whose name was said to mean "those with three tresses"), former site of an important fair at which this weight is said to have been used. Many medieval towns had their own standard weights. The pound troy contains 5,760 grains and is divided into 12 ounces.
caddy (n.): "small box for tea," 1792, from Malay kati a weight equivalent to about a pound and a third (in English from 1590s as catty), adopted as a standard mid-18c. by British companies in the East Indies. Apparently the word for a measure of tea was transferred to the chest it was carried in.
faro (n.): 18th century gambling game with cards, 1726, sometimes said to be altered from pharaoh, perhaps his image was on one of the cards, but early descriptions of the game give no indication of this and it seems to have been played with a standard deck.
ea (n.): the usual Old English word for "river, running water" (still in use in Lancashire, according to OED); see aqua-. "The standard word in place-names for river denoting a watercourse of greater size than a broc or a burna" [Cambridge Dictionary of English Place-Names].
norm (n.): "standard, pattern, model," 1821, from French norme, from Latin norma "carpenter's square, rule, pattern," of unknown origin. Klein suggests a borrowing (via Etruscan) of Greek gnomon "carpenter's square." The Latin form of the word, norma, was used in English in the sense of "carpenter's square" from 1670s.
pendragon (n.): "Welsh warlord" (mainly known now in Arthurian Uther Pendragon), late 15c., title of a chief leader in war of ancient Britain or Wales, from pen "head" (see pen-) + dragon, which figured on the standard of a cohort.
classic (adj.): 1610s, "of the highest class; approved as a model," from French classique (17c.), from Latin classicus "relating to the (highest) classes of the Roman people," hence, "superior," from classis (see class). Originally in English, "of the first class;" meaning "belonging to standard authors of Greek and Roman antiquity" is attested from 1620s.
guidon (n.): "small flag," originally one borne by a military unit to direct movements, 1540s, from Middle French guidon (16c.), from Italian guidone "battle standard," from guidare "to direct, guide," from Old Provençal guidar "to guide," from Proto-Germanic *witanan "to look after, guard" (see guide (v.)).
could (v.): Old English cuðe, past tense of cunnan "to be able" (see can (v.1)); ending changed 14c. to standard English -d(e). The excrescent -l- was added 15c.-16c. on model of would, should, where it is historical.
fane (n.): "weathercock," late 14c., from Old English fana "flag, banner," from Proto-Germanic *fanon (source also of Old Frisian fana, Gothic fana "piece of cloth," Old High German fano, German Fahne "flag, standard"); possibly cognate with Latin pannus "piece of cloth" (see pane).
crawl (n.): 1818, from crawl (v.); in the swimming sense from 1903, the stroke developed by Frederick Cavill, well-known English swimmer who emigrated to Australia and modified the standard stroke of the day after observing South Seas islanders. So called because the swimmer's motion in the water resembles crawling.
pwned (adj.): "dominated, humiliatingly defeated, taken over," by 2001, "leetspeak" slang, probably from the common typographical mistake for owned (the -p- and -o- keys being adjacent on standard English keyboards) in the gamer slang sense "completely dominated by another" (in a contest).
canon (n.1): "church law," Old English canon, from Old French canon or directly from Late Latin canon "Church law," in classical Latin, "measuring line, rule," from Greek kanon "any straight rod or bar; rule; standard of excellence," perhaps from kanna "reed" (see cane (n.)). Taken in ecclesiastical sense for "decree of the Church." General sense of "standard of judging" is from c. 1600. Harold Bloom writes that "The secular canon, with the word meaning a catalog of approved authors, does not actually begin until the middle of the eighteenth century ...." ["The Western Canon," 1994]. Related: Canonicity.
are (v.): present plural indicative of be (q.v.), from Old English earun (Mercian), aron (Northumbrian). Also from Old Norse cognates. In 17c., began to replace be, ben as first person plural present indicative in standard English. The only non-dialectal survival of be in this sense is the powers that be. But in southwest England, we be (in Devonshire us be) remains non-standard idiom as a contradictory positive ("You people aren't speaking correct English." "Oh, yes we be!").
hers: c. 1300, hires, from her; thus a double possessive. Possessive pronouns in Modern English consist of the predicative (mine, thine, his, ours, yours, theirs) that come after the subject, and the attributive (my, thy, his, her, our, your, their) that come before it. In Old English and early Middle English, they were identical. To keep speech fluid, speakers began to affix an -n to the end of predicative my and thy before words that began with vowels. This began late 13c. in the north of England, and by 1500 was standard.

Then the predicative and attributive pronouns split, and the remaining pronouns in that class took up -s, the regular affix of possession. But the non-standard speech of the Midlands and south of England extended -n throughout (hisn, hern, yourn), a habit attested from 14c. and more regular than the standard speech, which mixes -s and -n.
qwerty: 1929, from the first six keys on a standard typewriter keyboard, read as though text, from top left. Mechanical typewriter patented 1867; the QWERTY layout itself is said to date to 1887, dominant in U.S. from early 20c.; it is not meant to slow down typists, but to separate the letters in common digraphs (-sh-, -ck-, etc.) to reduce jamming of swing-arms in old-style machines. It actually speeds typing by requiring alternate-hand strokes, which is one reason the alternative DVORAK keyboard is not appreciably faster. Remnants of the original alphabetic typewriter keyboard remain in the second row of letter keys: FGH-JKL. The French standard was AZERTY; in Germany, QWERTZ; in Italy, QZERTY.
kn-: Middle English spelling of a common Germanic consonant-cluster (in Old English it was graphed as cn-; see K). The sound it represented persists in most of the sister languages, but in English it was reduced to "n-" in standard pronunciation by 1750, after about a century of weakening and fading. It was fully voiced in Old and Middle English.