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1632981 No.1632981 [Reply] [Original]

ITT: Etymology.

You ask the etymology of a word or phrase, 4channers attempt to find the answer.

I'll start the ball rolling.

Avocado: Comes from the Aztec name for the fruit, " ahucatl", meaning "testicle" in their language. Apparently they had leathery purple-green balls.

Anyone know where "tongue in cheek" comes from? Why'd you stick your tongue in your cheek to imply something?

>> No.1632984

*

History

Putting one's tongue into a cheek was formerly used to signify contempt. For example, in Tobias George Smollett's The Adventures of Roderick Random, which was published in 1748, the eponymous hero is taking a coach to Bath and apprehends a highwayman. This provokes an altercation with a less brave passenger:[6]
“ He looked black and pronounced with a faultering voice, 'O! 'tis very well — damn my blood! I shall find a time.' I signified my contempt of him by thrusting my tongue in my cheek, which humbled him so much, that he scarce swore another oath aloud during the whole journey. ”

A similar usage appears in 1828 in The Fair Maid of Perth by Sir Walter Scott, "The fellow who gave this all-hail thrust his tongue in his cheek to some scapegraces like himself."

The more modern ironic sense appears in the 1842 poem, "The Ingoldsby Legends", in which a Frenchman inspects a watch and cries:[3][7]

'Superbe! Magnifique!'
(with his tongue in his cheek)

The ironic usage originates with the idea of suppressed mirth — biting one's tongue to prevent an outburst of laughter.[8]

>> No.1632993

I wanna know the etymology of etymology

>> No.1633014

Sect.

>> No.1633026

>>1633014

c.1300, "distinctive system of beliefs or observances; party or school within a religion," from O.Fr. secte, from L.L. secta "religious group, sect," from L. secta "manner, mode, following, school of thought," lit. "a way, road," from fem. of sectus, variant pp. of sequi "follow," from PIE *sekw- "to follow" (see sequel). Confused in this sense with L. secta, fem. pp. of secare "to cut" (see section). Meaning "separately organized religious body" is recorded from 1570s.

>> No.1633036

>>1632981
rape

>> No.1633048

I like "bad"'s.

>>1632993
true + logos

>> No.1633047

>>1633036
I remain unchalledged

>> No.1633076

>>1633036

rape (v.)
late 14c., "seize prey, take by force," from Anglo-Fr. raper "to seize, abduct," a legal term, probably from L. rapere "seize, carry off by force, abduct" (see rapid). Latin rapere was used for "sexual violation," but only very rarely; the usual Latin word being stuprum, lit. "disgrace." Sense of "sexual violation or ravishing of a woman" first recorded in English as a noun, late 15c. (the noun sense of "taking anything -- including a woman -- away by force" is from c.1400). The verb in this sense is from 1570s. Related: Raped; raping. Uncertain connection to Low Ger. and Du. rapen in the same sense. Rapist is from 1883.

>>1633048
logo
1937, probably a shortening of logogram "sign or character representing a word" (1840), from Gk. logos "word" + gram "what is written."