Online Etymology Dictionary

See where our familiar English words originally came from and how their uses and meanings has changed over the centuries.

http://www.etymonline.com/index.php

 

Thank you (I think), Bill. I could get lost on this site for hours. What a delight.

It confirmed one of several surprising things a linguistics professor said in a class many years ago: that, in effect, "an orange" used to be "a norange."

But not his claim that "gorilla" was originally "porilla" -- but a Greek scribe left one of the vertical lines off the "pi" turning it into a "gamma."

 

This webpage could not be found.

 

Ted: "This webpage could not be found."
John: It works for me. (1 pm Pacific time)

 

OK. It's working now. Not sure what was wrong earlier.

 

Thank you for this! I have been meaning to look up a few words I have stumbled upon.