Online Etymology Dictionary

tortoise (n.): 1550s, altered (perhaps by influence of porpoise) from Middle English tortuse (late 15c.), tortuce (mid-15c.), tortuge (late 14c.), from Medieval Latin tortuca (mid-13c.), perhaps from Late Latin tartaruchus "of the underworld" (see Tartarus). Others propose a source in Latin tortus "twisted," based on the shape of the feet. The classical Latin word was testudo, from testa "shell." First record of tortoise shell as a pattern of markings is from 1782.
-phagous: word-forming element meaning "eating, feeding on," from Latin -phagus, from Greek -phagos "eater of," from phagein "to eat," literally "to have a share of food," from PIE root *bhag- "to share out, apportion, distribute," also "to get a share" (cognates: Sanskrit bhajati "assigns, allots, apportions, enjoys, loves," bhagah "allotter, distributor, master, lord," bhaksati "eats, drinks, enjoys;" Persian bakhshidan "to give;" Old Church Slavonic bogatu "rich").
philistine (n.): "person deficient in liberal culture," 1827, originally in Carlyle, popularized by him and Matthew Arnold, from German Philister "enemy of God's word," literally "Philistine," inhabitants of a Biblical land, neighbors (and enemies) of Israel (see Philistine). Popularized in German student slang (supposedly first in Jena, late 17c.) as a contemptuous term for "townies," and hence, by extension, "any uncultured person." Philistine had been used in a humorous figurative sense of "the enemy" in English from c. 1600.
philology (n.): late 14c., "love of learning," from Latin philologia "love of learning, love of letters, love of study, literary culture," from Greek philologia "love of discussion, learning, and literature; studiousness," from philo- "loving" (see philo-) + logos "word, speech" (see logos).

Meaning "science of language" is first attested 1716 (philologue "linguist" is from 1590s; philologer "linguistic scholar" is from 1650s); this confusing secondary sense has not been popular in the U.S., where linguistics is preferred. Related: Philological.
rip-rap (n.): also riprap, "loose stone thrown down in water or soft ground as foundation," 1822, American English, perhaps connected with earlier nautical word rip-rap meaning "stretch of rippling water" (often caused by underwater elevations), 1660s, probably of imitative origin (compare riprap "a sharp blow," 1570s).
photograph (n.): 1839, "picture obtained by photography," coined by Sir John Herschel from photo- + -graph "instrument for recording; something written." It won out over other suggestions, such as photogene and heliograph. Neo-Anglo-Saxonists prefer sunprint; and sun-picture (1846) was an early Englishing of the word. The verb, as well as photography, are first found in a paper read before the Royal Society on March 14, 1839. Related: Photographed; photographing.
piaster (n.): also piastre, 1620s, "Spanish dollar, piece of eight," also used as the name of a monetary unit and coin of Turkey (1610s, in Turkish called ghurush, but originally debased Spanish dollars), from French piastre, from Italian piastra "thin metal plate," short for impiastro "plaster," from Latin emplastrum, from Greek emplastron (see plaster). The Italian word was applied to the Spanish silver peso, later to the Turkish coin based on it. Compare shinplaster.
piccolo (n.): 1856, piccolo flute, from French piccolo, from Italian flauto piccolo "small flute," from piccolo "small," perhaps a children's made-up word, or from picca "point," or from Vulgar Latin root *pikk- "little," related to *piccare "to pierce" (see pike (n.2)). Other sources suggest it is from the same source as French petit (see petit (adj.)).
piecemeal (adv.): c. 1300 (originally two words), from piece (n.) + Middle English meal "fixed time, period of time, occasion," from Old English mælum "at a time," dative plural of mæl "appointed time, food served" (see meal (n.1)). The second element once was more common, as in Old English styccemælum "bit by bit," gearmælum "year by year." One-word form from 15c.
piker (n.): "miserly person," 1872, formerly "poor migrant to California" (1860), earlier pike (1854), perhaps originally "vagrant who wanders the pike (n.1)" (which is the notion in Sussex dialectal piker "vagrant, tramp, gypsy," 1838), but Barnhart, OED and others suggest the American English word ultimately is a reference to people from Pike County, Missouri.
pile (n.1): "mass, heap," early 15c., originally "pillar, pier of a bridge," from Middle French pile and directly from Latin pila "stone barrier, pillar, pier" (see pillar). Sense development in Latin from "pier, harbor wall of stones," to "something heaped up." In English, sense of "heap of things" is attested from mid-15c. (the verb in this sense is recorded from mid-14c.). The meaning "large building" (late 14c.) is probably the same word.
toxic (adj.): 1660s, from French toxique and directly from Late Latin toxicus "poisoned," from Latin toxicum "poison," from Greek toxikon (pharmakon) "(poison) for use on arrows," from toxikon, neuter of toxikos "pertaining to arrows or archery," and thus to a bow, from toxon "bow," probably from a Scythian word that also was borrowed into Latin as taxus "yew." Watkins suggests a possible source in Iranian taxša- "bow," from PIE *tekw- "to run, flee." As a noun from 1890.
apo-: before vowels ap-, word-forming element meaning "from, away from, separate, free from," from Greek apo "from, away from; after; in descent from," in compounds, "from, asunder, away, off; finishing, completing; ceasing from; back again," from PIE root *apo- "off, away" (source also of Sanskrit apa "away from," Avestan apa "away from," Latin ab "away from, from," Gothic af, Old English of "away from").
Appaloosa: breed of horses favored by Indian tribes in U.S. West, 1849, either from Opelousa in Louisiana or from Palouse Indians, who lived near the river of that name in Idaho, in which case it probably is a Nez Percé word. Opelousa is perhaps from Choctaw api losa "black body;" while Palouse is from Sahaptin palou:s "what is standing up in the water."
aqua-: word-forming element meaning "water," from Latin aqua "water; the sea; rain," cognate with Proto-Germanic *akhwo, source of Old English ea "river," Gothic ahua "river, waters," Old Norse Ægir, name of the sea-god, Old English ieg "island;" all from PIE *akwa- "water" (source also of Sanskrit ap "water," Hittite akwanzi "they drink," Lithuanian uppe "a river").
aquarium (n.): 1830, noun use of neuter of Latin aquarius "pertaining to water," as a noun, "water-carrier," genitive of aqua "water" (see aqua-). The word existed in Latin, but there it meant "drinking place for cattle." Originally especially for growing aquatic plants; An earlier attempt at a name for "fish tank" was marine vivarium.
arbalest (n.): "crossbow," c. 1300, from Old French arbaleste "large crossbow with a crank" (12c., Modern French arbalète), from Vulgar Latin arbalista, from Late Latin arcuballista "catapult," from Latin arcus "bow" (see arc (n.)) + ballista "machine for throwing projectiles" (see ballistic). German armbrust is from the same French word but mangled by folk etymology.
bombard (n.): early 15c., "catapult, military engine for throwing large stones," from Middle French bombarde "mortar, catapult" (14c.), from bombe (see bomb (n.)). The same word, from the same source, was used in English and French late 14c. in reference to the bass shawm, a bassoon-like musical instrument, preserving the "buzzing" sense in the Latin.
message (n.): c. 1300, "communication transmitted via a messenger," from Old French message "message, news, tidings, embassy" (11c.), from Medieval Latin missaticum, from Latin missus "a sending away, sending, despatching; a throwing, hurling," noun use of past participle of mittere "to send" (see mission). The Latin word is glossed in Old English by ærende. Specific religious sense of "divinely inspired communication via a prophet" (1540s) led to transferred sense of "the broad meaning (of something)," first attested 1828. To get the message "understand" is from 1960.
meticulous (adj.): 1530s, "fearful, timid," from Latin meticulosus "fearful, timid," literally "full of fear," from metus "fear, dread, apprehension, anxiety," of unknown origin. Sense of "fussy about details" is first recorded in English 1827, from French méticuleux "timorously fussy" [Fowler attributes this use in English to "literary critics"], from the Latin word. Related: Meticulosity.
microphone (n.): 1680s, "ear trumpet for the hard-of-hearing," coined from Greek mikros "small" (see mica) + phone "sound," from PIE root *bha- (2) "to speak, tell, say" (see fame (n.)). Modern meaning dates from 1929, from use in radio broadcasting and movie recording. Earlier, "amplifying telephone transmitter" (1878). Of the two spellings of the short form of the word, mike (1927) is older than mic (1961).
hunker (v.): "to squat, crouch," 1720, Scottish, of uncertain origin, possibly a nasalized borrowing of a Scandinavian word such as Old Norse huka "to crouch," hoka, hokra "to crawl." Hunker down, Southern U.S. dialectal phrase, is from 1902, popularized c. 1965; in this use the verb is perhaps from northern British hunker "haunch." Related: Hunkered; hunkering.
husk (n.): late 14c., huske "dry, outer skin of certain fruits and seeds," of unknown origin. "A common word since c 1400 of which no earlier trace has been found" [OED]. Perhaps from Middle Dutch huuskyn "little house, core of fruit, case," diminutive of huus "house," or from an equivalent formation in English (see house (n.)).
hut (n.): 1650s, from French hutte "a cottage" (16c.), from Middle High German hütte "cottage, hut," probably from Proto-Germanic *hudjon-, which is related to the root of Old English hydan "to hide," from PIE *keudh-, from root (s)keu- "to cover, conceal" (see hide (n.1)). Apparently first in English as a military word. Old Saxon hutta, Danish hytte, Swedish hytta, Frisian and Middle Dutch hutte, Dutch hut are said to be from High German.
hutch (n.): c. 1200, "storage chest" (also applied to the biblical "ark of God"), from Old French huche "chest, trunk, coffer; coffin; kneading trough; shop displaying merchandise," from Medieval Latin hutica "chest," a word of uncertain origin. Sense of "cupboard for food or dishes" first recorded 1670s; that of "box-like pen for an animal" is from c. 1600.
hybrid (n.): c. 1600, "offspring of plants or animals of different variety or species," from Latin hybrida, variant of ibrida "mongrel," specifically "offspring of a tame sow and a wild boar," of unknown origin but probably from Greek and somehow related to hubris. A rare word before the general sense "anything a product of two heterogeneous things" emerged c. 1850. The adjective is attested from 1716. As a noun meaning "automobile powered by an engine that uses both electricity and gasoline," 2002, short for hybrid vehicle, etc.
drown (v.): c. 1300, transitive and intransitive, perhaps from an unrecorded derivative word of Old English druncnian (Middle English druncnen) "be swallowed up by water" (originally of ships as well as living things), probably from the base of drincan "to drink."

Modern form is from northern England dialect, probably influenced by Old Norse drukna "be drowned." Related: Drowned; drowning.
dub (v.1): "give a name to," originally "make a knight," from late Old English dubbian "knight by striking with a sword" (11c.), a late word, perhaps borrowed from Old French aduber "equip with arms, adorn" (11c.) which is of uncertain origin, but there are phonetic difficulties. Meaning "provided with a name" is from 1590s. Related: Dubbed; dubbing.
bordello (n.): c. 1300, bordel "house of prostitution," from Old French bordel "small hut, cabin; brothel" (12c.), diminutive of borde "hut made of planks," from Frankish *bord "wooden board" or some other Germanic source related to board (n.1). The modern form is a result of the French word being borrowed by Italian then passed back to French with a suffix and re-borrowed into English in its current form by 1590s.
bowler (n.1): "hard round hat," 1861, said to be from a J. Bowler, 19c. London hat manufacturer. A John Bowler of Surrey, hat manufacturer, was active from the 1820s to the 1840s, and a William Bowler, hat-manufacturer, of Southwark Bridge Road, Surrey, sought a patent in 1854 for "improvements in hats and other coverings for the head." But perhaps the word is simply from bowl (n.); compare Old English heafodbolla "brainpan, skull." The earliest usages are with a lower-case b-.
bowsprit (n.): "large spar extending from the bow of a ship with one or more sails of its own," late 13c., probably from Middle Low German bochspret, from boch "bow of a ship" (see bow (n.2)) + spret "pole" (compare Old English spreot "pole," Dutch spriet "spear;" see sprit). French beaupre is a Dutch loan word.
hyperbola (n.): curve formed by the intersection of a plane with a double cone, 1660s, from Latinized form of Greek hyperbole "extravagance," literally "a throwing beyond (others);" see hyperbole, which in English is the same word in its Greek garb. Perhaps so called because the inclination of the plane to the base of the cone exceeds that of the side of the cone.
hyssop (n.): Old English ysope, from Irish Latin hysopus (Medieval Latin ysopus), from Greek hyssopos, a plant of Palestine, used in Jewish purification rites, from Hebrew 'ezobh (compare Syriac zupha, Arabic zufa). Since Old English the word has been used both of a small, bushy, aromatic herb native to southern Europe and the Biblical hyssop, a different plant, used in purification rituals, variously identified.
milliner (n.): mid-15c., "vendor of fancy wares, especially those made in Milan," Italian city, famous for straw works, fancy goods, ribbons, bonnets, and cutlery. Meaning "one who sells women's hats" may be from 1520s, certainly by 18c. (it is difficult in early references to know whether the word means a type of merchant or "a resident of Milan" who is selling certain wares).
miniature (n.): 1580s, "a reduced image," from Italian miniatura "manuscript illumination or small picture," from past participle of miniare "to illuminate a manuscript," from Latin miniare "to paint red," from minium "red lead," used in ancient times to make red ink, a word said to be of Iberian origin. Sense development is because pictures in medieval manuscripts were small, but no doubt there was influence as well from the similar-sounding Latin words that express smallness: minor, minimus, minutus, etc.
brach (n.): "bitch hound" (archaic), mid-14c., brache, originally "hound that hunts by scent," from Old French braches "hound, hunting dog," brachez, plural of brachet, of West Germanic origin (compare Middle Dutch brache, Old High German braccho "hound, setter"), from PIE *bhrag- "to smell" (source also of Middle High German bræhen "to smell," Latin fragrare "to smell sweetly"). Italian bracco is a Germanic loan word.
brae (n.): "steep slope," in northern England especially "the sides of a hill," early 14c., from Scottish, "slope, river bank," from Old Norse bra "eyelash," cognate with Old English bræw "eyelid," German Braue "eyebrow" (see brow). "The word must have passed through the sense of 'eye-brow' to 'brow of a hill', supercilium (cf. OE. eaghill 'eye-hill'=eyebrow)" [OED].
bran (n.): c. 1300, "the husk of wheat, barley, etc., separated from the flour after grinding," from Old French bren "bran, scurf, scales, feces" (12c., Modern French bran), perhaps connected with Gaulish *brenno- "manure," or with burn (v.). The word also was used 16c. in English for "dandruff flakes."
cobra (n.): 1802, short for cobra capello (1670s), from Portuguese cobra de capello "serpent (of the hood)," from Latin colubra "a snake, female serpent" (source of French couleuvre "adder"), which is of uncertain origin. So called for the expandable loose skin about its neck. The word came to English via Portuguese colonies in India, where the native name is nag (see naga).
cobweb (n.): early 14c., coppewebbe; the first element is Old English -coppe, in atorcoppe "spider," literally "poison-head" (see attercop). Spelling with -b- is from 16c., perhaps from cob. Cob as a stand-alone for "a spider" was an old word nearly dead even in dialects when J.R.R. Tolkien used it in "The Hobbit" (1937).
cocaine (n.): 1874, from Modern Latin cocaine (1856), coined by Albert Niemann of Gottingen University from coca (from Quechua cuca) + chemical suffix -ine (2). A medical coinage, the drug was used 1870s as a local anaesthetic for eye surgery, etc. "It is interesting to note that although cocaine is pronounced as a disyllabic word it is trisyllabic in its formation." [Flood]
cod (n.): large sea fish, mid-14c. (late 13c. in a surname, Thomas cotfich), of unknown origin; despite similarity of form it has no conclusive connection to the widespread Germanic word for "bag" (represented by Old English codd, preserved in codpiece). Cod-liver oil known since at least 1610s, was recommended medicinally since 1783, but not popular as a remedy until after 1825.
coerce (v.): mid-15c., cohercen, from Middle French cohercer, from Latin coercere "to control, restrain, shut up together," from com- "together" (see co-) + arcere "to enclose, confine, contain, ward off," from PIE *ark- "to hold, contain, guard" (see arcane). Related: Coerced; coercing. No record of the word between late 15c. and mid-17c.; its reappearance 1650s is perhaps a back-formation from coercion.
comely (adj.): "beautiful, handsome," c. 1400, probably from Old English cymlic "lovely, splendid, finely made," from cyme "exquisite, glorious, delicate," from West Germanic *kumi- "delicate, feeble" (source also of Old High German chumo "with difficulty," chumig "weak, delicate;" German kaum "hardly, scarcely"). Or perhaps the modern word is from Middle English bicumelic (c. 1200) "suitable, exquisite," literally "becomely" (compare becoming).
comestible (n.): 1837, "article of food," from French comestible (14c.), from Late Latin comestibilis, from Latin comestus, past participle of comedere "eat up, consume," from com- "thoroughly" (see com-) + edere "to eat" (see edible). It was attested earlier as an adjective (late 15c.) meaning "fit to eat" but seems to have fallen from use 17c., and the word was reintroduced from French.
dragon (n.): early 13c., from Old French dragon, from Latin draconem (nominative draco) "huge serpent, dragon," from Greek drakon (genitive drakontos) "serpent, giant seafish," apparently from drak-, strong aorist stem of derkesthai "to see clearly," from PIE *derk- "to see." Perhaps the literal sense is "the one with the (deadly) glance."

The young are dragonets (14c.). Obsolete drake "dragon" is an older borrowing of the same word. Used in the Bible to translate Hebrew tannin "a great sea-monster," and tan, a desert mammal now believed to be the jackal.
planxty (n.): in Irish music, "harp tune of a sportive and animated character" [OED], 1790, of unknown origin, evidently not a native Irish word; some suggest ultimate derivation from Latin plangere "to strike, beat" (see plague (n.)). See also [Katrin Thier, "Of Picts and Penguins -- Celtic Languages in the New Edition of the OED," in "The Celtic Languages in Contact," 2007.
minnesinger (n.): one of a class of medieval German poets who imitated the troubadours, 1825, from German minnesinger, from minne "love," especially "sexual love" (from Old High German minna "loving memory," originally "memory;" see mind (n.)) + singer (see singer). German minne by c. 1500 no longer was considered decent, and it became a taboo word until revived 18c. in poetic language.
mint (n.1): aromatic herb, Old English minte (8c.), from West Germanic *minta (source also of Old Saxon minta, Middle Dutch mente, Old High German minza, German Minze), a borrowing from Latin menta, mentha "mint," from Greek minthe, personified as a nymph transformed into an herb by Proserpine, probably a loan-word from a lost Mediterranean language.
mint (n.2): place where money is coined, early 15c., from Old English mynet "coin, coinage, money" (8c.), from West Germanic *munita (source also of Old Saxon munita, Old Frisian menote, Middle Dutch munte, Old High German munizza, German münze), from Latin moneta "mint" (see money). Earlier word for "place where money is coined" was minter (early 12c.). General sense of "a vast sum of money" is from 1650s.