Online Etymology Dictionary

goy (n.): "a gentile, a non-Jew" (plural goyim), 1835, from Hebrew goy "people, nation;" in Mishnaic and Modern Hebrew, also "gentile" (compare gentile). The fem. form of the Hebrew word entered Middle French as gouge "a wench" (15c.).
graft (n.2): "corruption," 1865, perhaps 1859, American English, perhaps from British slang graft "one's occupation" (1853), which is perhaps from the identical word meaning "a ditch, moat," literally "a digging" (1640s), from Middle Dutch graft, from graven "to dig" (see grave (v.)).
hellion (n.): "naughty child or person," 1811, American English, altered (by association with Hell) from Scottish/northern England dialectal hallion "worthless fellow, scamp" (1786), a word of unknown origin. Explained humorously in Irving's "Salmagundi" (1811) as "A deputy scullion employed in regions below to cook up the broth."
hemi-: word-forming element meaning "half," from Latin hemi- and directly from Greek hemi- "half," from PIE root *semi-, which is the source of Sanskrit sami, Latin semi- (see semi-), Old High German sami- "half," and Old English sam-, denoting a partial or imperfect condition (see sandblind).
hemoglobin (n.): also hæmoglobin, coloring matter in red blood cells, 1862, shortening of hæmatoglobin (1845), from Greek haimato-, comb. form of haima (genitive haimatos) "blood" (see -emia) + globulin, a type of simple protein, from globule, formerly a word for "corpuscle of blood."
heresy (n.): "doctrine or opinion at variance with established standards" (or, as Johnson defines it, "an opinion of private men different from that of the catholick and orthodox church"), c. 1200, from Old French heresie, eresie "heresy," and by extension "sodomy, immorality" (12c.), from Latin hæresis, "school of thought, philosophical sect." The Latin word is from Greek hairesis "a taking or choosing for oneself, a choice, a means of taking; a deliberate plan, purpose; philosophical sect, school," from haireisthai "take, seize," middle voice of hairein "to choose," a word of unknown origin, perhaps from PIE *ser- (5) "to seize" (source of Hittite šaru "booty," Welsh herw "booty").

The Greek word was used by Church writers in reference to various sects, schools, etc. in the New Testament: the Sadducees, the Pharisees, and even the Christians, as sects of Judaism. Hence the meaning "unorthodox religious sect or doctrine" in the Latin word as used by Christian writers in Late Latin. But in English bibles it usually is translated sect. Transferred (non-religious) use in English is from late 14c.
floozie (n.): also floozy, "woman of disreputable character," 1902, perhaps a variation of flossy "fancy, frilly" (1890s slang), with the notion of "fluffiness." The c. 1700 "Dictionary of the Canting Crew" defines Florence as a slang word for "a Wench that is touz'd and ruffled."
flue (n.): "smoke channel in a chimney," 1580s, of uncertain origin, perhaps related to Middle English flue, flewe "mouthpiece of a hunting horn" (early 15c.), which is perhaps from Old French fluie "stream;" or the modern word is perhaps from Old English flowan "to flow." Originally a small chimney in a furnace connected to the main chimney.
flummox (v.): 1837, cant word, also flummux, of uncertain origin, probably risen out of a British dialect (OED finds candidate words in Herefordshire, Gloucestershire, southern Cheshire, and Sheffield). "The formation seems to be onomatopœic, expressive of the notion of throwing down roughly and untidily" [OED]. Related: Flummoxed; flummoxing.
gloss (n.2): "word inserted as an explanation, translation, or definition," c. 1300, glose (modern form from 1540s; earlier also gloze), from Late Latin glossa "obsolete or foreign word," one that requires explanation; later extended to the explanation itself, from Greek glossa (Ionic), glotta (Attic) "language, a tongue; word of mouth, hearsay," also "obscure or foreign word, language," also "mouthpiece," literally "the tongue" (as the organ of speech), from PIE *glogh- "thorn, point, that which is projected" (source also of Old Church Slavonic glogu "thorn," Greek glokhis "barb of an arrow").

Glosses were common in the Middle Ages, usually rendering Hebrew, Greek, or Latin words into vernacular Germanic, Celtic, or Romanic. Originally written between the lines, later in the margins. By early 14c. in a bad sense, "deceitful explanation, commentary that disguises or shifts meaning." This sense probably has been colored by gloss (n.1). Both glossology (1716) and glottology (1841) have been used in the sense "science of language."
glossary (n.): "collected explanations of words (especially those not in ordinary use), a book of glosses," mid-14c., from Latin glossarium "collection of glosses," from Greek glossarion, diminutive of glossa "obsolete or foreign word" (see gloss (n.2)). Related: Glossarial.
hermeneutic (adj.): "interpretive," 1670s, from Latinized form of Greek hermeneutikos "of or for interpreting," from hermeneutes "interpreter," from hermeneuein "to interpret (foreign languages); interpret into words, give utterance to," a word of unknown origin (formerly considered ultimately a derivative of Hermes, as the tutelary divinity of speech, writing, and eloquence).
Hermes: son of Zeus and Maia in Greek mythology; Olympian messenger and god of commerce, markets, and roads; protector of herdsmen, travelers, and rogues; giver of good luck, god of secret dealings, and conductor of the dead. from Greek Hermes, a word of unknown origin. He was identified by the Romans with their Mercury.
hexameter (adj.): 1540s, from Latin hexameter, from Greek hexametros "of six measures, composed of six feet; hexameter," from hex "six" (see six) + metron "meter" (see meter (n.2)). As a noun, "a verse consisting of six measures," from 1570s. Chaucer has the word as exametron. Related: Hexametric.
ingle (n.1): "fireplace," c. 1500, from Scottish, usually said to be from Gaelic aingeal "fire, light" ("but there are difficulties" [OED]), a word of uncertain origin. The vogue for Scottish poetry in late 18c. introduced ingleside "fireside" (1747) and ingle-nook "corner by the fire" (1773) to literary English.
inglorious (adj.): "with bad fame, dishonorable," 1570s, from in- (1) "not, opposite of" + glorious. Latin ingloriosus meant "without fame, unhonored, inconspicuous, without trophies." The classical sense "without fame, obscure" is attested in the English word from 1590s but is marked "rare" in OED. Related: Ingloriously; ingloriousness.
inhale (v.): 1725, "to breathe in, draw air into the lungs," a back-formation from inhalation or else from French inhaler in this sense; used as a word to be the opposite of exhale. Slang sense of "eat rapidly" is recorded from 1924. As a noun, "act of inhaling," by 1904. Related: Inhaled; inhaling.
injudicious (adj.): 1640s, "incapable of judging aright, wanting good judgement," from in- (1) "not, opposite of" + judicious. Meaning "ill-advised" is from 1711. In the older sense the earlier English word was injudicial (c. 1600). Related: Injudiciously; injudiciousness.
entree (n.): 1724, "opening piece of an opera or ballet," from French entrée, from Old French entree (see entry). Cookery sense is from 1759; originally the dish which was introductory to the main course. Meaning "entry, freedom of access" is from 1762. The word had been borrowed in Middle English as entre "act of entering."
marine (adj.): early 15c., "pertaining to the sea," from Middle French marin, from Old French marin "of the sea, maritime," from Latin marinus "of the sea," from mare "sea, the sea, seawater," from PIE *mori- "body of water, lake" (see mere (n.)). The Old English word was sælic.
marshmallow (n.): Old English mersc-mealwe "kind of mallow plant (Althea officinalis) which grows near salt marshes;" from marsh + mallow. The confection (so called from 1877) originally was made from paste from the roots of this plant. The Greek word for the plant, althaea, is from althein "to heal."
renounce (v.): late 14c., from Old French renoncier "give up, cede" (12c., Modern French renoncer), from Latin renuntiare "bring back word; proclaim; protest against, renounce," from re- "against" (see re-) + nuntiare "to report, announce," from nuntius "messenger" (see nuncio). Related: Renounced; renouncing.
tetragrammaton (n.): c. 1400, from Greek (to) tetragrammaton "(the word) of four letters," from tetra- "four" (see four) + gramma (genitive grammatos) "letter, something written" (see -gram). The Hebrew divine name, transliterated as YHWH, usually vocalized in English as "Jehovah" or "Yahweh."
thanatology (n.): "scientific study of death," 1837, from thanato- "death" + -logy. In 1970s, some undertakers made a bid to be called thanatologists; but from 1974 that word has been used principally in reference to specialists in the needs of the terminally ill.
ornitho-: before vowels ornith-, word-forming element meaning "bird, birds," from comb. form of Greek ornis (genitive ornithos) "a bird" (in Attic generally "domestic fowl"), often added to the specific name of the type of bird, from PIE *or- "large bird" (see erne).
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.
remnant (n.): late 14c., contraction of remenant (c. 1300), from Old French remanant "rest, remainder, surplus," noun use of present participle of remanoir "to remain" (see remain (v.)). Specific sense of "end of a piece of drapery, cloth, etc." is recorded from early 15c. An Old English word for "remnant" was endlaf.
patchouli (n.): perfume made from an Indian plant of the mint family, 1845, from the native name for the plant in Madras, said to be from Tamil pachchai "green" + ilai "leaf." The form of the word appears French, but this has not been explained and the record of it in English predates that in French.
-path: word-forming element used in modern formations to mean "one suffering from" (a disease or condition), from Greek -pathes, from pathos "suffering" (see pathos). Also "one versed in" (a certain type of treatment), in which cases it is a back-formation from -pathy in the related sense.
pedo-: before vowels ped-, word-forming element meaning "boy, child," from Greek pedo-, comb. form of pais "boy, child," especially a son, from PIE root *peu- "small, little, few, young" (see few (adj.)). The British form paed- is better because it avoids confusion with ped-.
osier (n.): species of willow used in basket-work, c. 1300, from Old French osier "willow twig" (13c.) and directly from Medieval Latin osera "willow," ausaria "willow bed," of unknown origin, perhaps from Gaulish. Old English had the word as oser, from Medieval Latin.
Osmanli: "an Ottoman Turk," 1813, from Turkish Osmanli "of or pertaining to Osman," founder of the Ottoman dynasty (he reigned 1259-1326); his name is the Turkish pronunciation of Arabic Uthman. This is the native word where English generally uses Ottoman.
overplay (v.): "to emphasize (something) too much," 1933, a metaphor from card games, in to overplay (one's) hand, "to spoil one's hand by bidding in excess of its value" (1926), from over- + play (v.). The word was used earlier in a theatrical sense. Related: Overplayed; overplaying.
these (pron.): Old English þæs, variant of þas (which became those and took the role of plural of that), nominative and accusative plural of þes, þeos, þis "this" (see this). Differentiation of these and those is from late 13c. OED begins its long entry with the warning, "This word has a complicated history."
thieve (v.): Old English þeofian "to thieve, steal," from þeof (see thief). Rare in Old English, rarer in Middle English, not common until 17c.; perhaps the modern word is a late 16c. re-formation. Thieving (adj.) first attested 1520s.
alp (n.): 1590s, "any high, snow-capped mountain," from Alps, from French Alpes, from Latin Alpes "the Alps," perhaps from altus "high," or albus "white" or from a Celtic word (according to Servius), or a pre-Indo-European root. Alps, the European mountain range, attested by that name in English from 1550s.
binge (n.): 1854, "drinking bout," also (v.) "drink heavily, soak up alcohol;" dialectal use of binge "soak" (a wooden vessel). Noted originally as a Northampton dialect word. Sense extended c. World War I to include eating as well as drinking. Related: Binged; binging.
biography (n.): 1680s, probably from Latin biographia, from Late Greek biographia "description of life," from Greek bio- "life" (see bio-) + graphia "record, account" (see -graphy). Biographia was not in classical Greek (bios alone was the word for it), though it is attested in later Greek from c.500.
bird (n.2): "maiden, young girl," c. 1300, confused with burd (q.v.), but felt by later writers as a figurative use of bird (n.1). Modern slang meaning "young woman" is from 1915, and probably arose independently of the older word.
amnesia (n.): "loss of memory," 1786 (as a Greek word in English from 1670s), Modern Latin, coined from Greek amnesia "forgetfulness," from a-, privative prefix, "not" (see a- (3)) + stem from mnasthai "to recall, remember," related to mnemnon "mindful," mneme "memory;" from PIE root *men- "to think, remember" (see mind (n.)).
bevy (n.): early 15c., collective noun of quails and ladies, from Anglo-French bevée, which is of unknown origin. One supposed definition of the word is "a drinking bout;" this perhaps is a misprint of bever (see beverage), but if not perhaps the original sense is birds gathered at a puddle or pool for drinking or bathing.
beware (v.): c. 1200, probably a contraction of be ware "be wary," from Middle English ware (adj.), from Old English wær "prudent, aware, alert, wary" (see wary). Old English had the compound bewarian "to defend," which perhaps contributed to the word.
escargot (n.): "edible snail," 1892, from French escargot, from Old French escargol "snail" (14c.), from Provençal escaragol, ultimately from Vulgar Latin *coculium, from classical Latin conchylium "edible shellfish, oyster" (see cockle (n.1)). The form of the word in Provençal and French seems to have been influenced by words related to scarab.
etymology (n.): late 14c., ethimolegia "facts of the origin and development of a word," from Old French etimologie, ethimologie (14c., Modern French étymologie), from Latin etymologia, from Greek etymologia "analysis of a word to find its true origin," properly "study of the true sense (of a word)," with -logia "study of, a speaking of" (see -logy) + etymon "true sense," neuter of etymos "true, real, actual," related to eteos "true," which perhaps is cognate with Sanskrit satyah, Gothic sunjis, Old English soð "true."

Latinized by Cicero as veriloquium. In classical times, with reference to meanings; later, to histories. Classical etymologists, Christian and pagan, based their explanations on allegory and guesswork, lacking historical records as well as the scientific method to analyze them, and the discipline fell into disrepute that lasted a millennium. Flaubert ["Dictionary of Received Ideas"] wrote that the general view was that etymology was "the easiest thing in the world with the help of Latin and a little ingenuity."

As a modern branch of linguistic science treating of the origin and evolution of words, from 1640s. As "account of the particular history of a word" from mid-15c. Related: Etymological; etymologically.
discotheque (n.): 1954 as a French word in English; nativized by 1965, from French discothèque "nightclub with recorded music for dancing," also "record library," borrowed 1932 from Italian discoteca "record collection, record library," coined 1927 from disco "phonograph record" + -teca "collection," probably on model of biblioteca "library."
cherish (v.): early 14c., cherischen, from Old French cheriss-, present participle stem of chierir "to hold dear" (12c., Modern French chérir), from chier "dear," from Latin carus "dear, costly, beloved" (see whore). The Latin word also is the source of Italian, Spanish, Portuguese caro; Old Provençal, Catalan car. Related: Cherished; cherishing.
chill (n.): Old English ciele, cele "cold, coolness, chill, frost," from Proto-Germanic *kal- "to be cold," from PIE root *gel- "cold" (see cold). According to OED, the word seems to have been obsolete after c. 1400 (displaced by cold) and the modern use is a back-formation since c. 1600 from the verb.
chitin (n.): 1836, from French chitine, from Greek khiton "frock, tunic," of soldiers, "coat of mail," used metaphorically for "any coat or covering." "Probably an Oriental word" [Liddell & Scott]. Klein compares Hebrew kuttoneth "coat," Aramaic kittana, Arabic kattan "linen."
disperse (v.): late 14c., from Latin dispersus, past participle of dispergere "to scatter," from dis- "apart, in every direction" (see dis-) + spargere "to scatter" (see sparse). The Latin word is glossed in Old English by tostregdan. Related: Dispersed; dispersing.
highball (n.): type of alcoholic drink, 1898, probably from ball "drink of whiskey;" high (adj.) because it is served in a tall glass. The word also was in use around the same time as railway jargon for the signal to proceed (originally by lifting a ball).