acorn
From oak: oak-corn, oak-horn. Or the Gr. ακρον top, point, peak
From Goth. akran, probably from Goth. akr field, originally open unenclosed country, the plain. Hence akran the fruit of unenclosed land, natural produce of the forest, extended to fruit generally, and gradually confined to the most important forest produce, the acorn.
admiral
From med.L. admirari to wonder at.
From the Arabic am r commander, as in emir.
Often followed by -al- of the, as in
am r-al-bahr commander of the seas. Christian writers
wrongly took am r-al- to be a substantive.
antimony
According to Johnson, in his Dictionary: the stibium of the ancients, by the Greeks called στιμμι. The reason of its modern denomination is referred to Basil Valentine, a German monk; who, as the tradition relates, having thrown some of it to the hogs, observed, that, after it had purged them heartily, they immediately fattened; and therefore, he imagined, his fellow monks would be the better for a little dose. The experiment, however, succeeded so ill, that they all died of it; and the medecine was thenceforward called Fr. antimoine antimonk.
According to Smart, in Walker Remodelled: probably so called because, being seldom found pure,
but mostly mixed with other metals, it seems repugnant to solitude.
Presumably from Gr. μονος alone.
Probably, like other terms of alchemy, a corruption of some Arabic word, refashioned so as to wear a Gr. or L. aspect. Perhaps from Arab. ithmid, whence Arab. uthmud, whence L. athimodium, atimonium, antimonium. The popular etymology is, as usual in such cases, supported by an idle tale; however the chemist Basil Valentine is from the end of the 15th century, and the word was already used by Constantinus Africanus of Salerno at the end of the 11th century.
artichoke
An artichoke has a choke or chock in its heart. Or,
through some connection with It. arci- chief, ciocco stump, or F. -chou cabbage, or L. -cactus the cardoon.
From the Arab. al-kharshuf, via O.Sp. and north.It., in various
latinized forms. The word choke in this sense derives from the popular etymology.
avocado
Associated with Sp. avocado lawyer.
According to the Online Etymology Dictionary,
from Aztec
ahuacatl testicle, so called for its shape.
The prim OED only tells us the word
ahuacatl, not the meaning!
belfry
From the bell it houses.
Most likely from OHG. berg- to protect, defend, and
fridu place of shelter, safety, the whole meaning 'defensive place
of shelter', an obvious description of a pent-house fitted to ward off missiles from
those to whom it gave shelter during siege operations. Whence watch tower, alarm-bell tower,
bell tower, place where bell is hung.
brake
An alteration of break, since we use brakes to break
our motion.
Perhaps from OF. brac arm, as in braquer le timon to turn the rudder, hence meaning lever. Or related to mod.Du. braak a flax-break, a toothed instrument for braking flax, extended to refer to a nose-ring for a draught ox by confusion with breaking a horse.
carnival
From L. carne meat, and vale farewell;
a festival immediately preceding Lent.
From med.L. carnelevarium, from levare putting away.
quiz
According to B.H.Smart, in his 1836 Walker Remodelled:
quiz,
something to puzzle; one whom an observer cannot make out, an odd fellow; also to examine narrowly with
an air of mockery. All of these words, which occur only in vulgar or colloquial use, and which Webster traces to learned
roots, originated in a joke: Daly, the manager of a Dublin play-house, wagered that a word of no meaning should be the common
talk and puzzle of the city in twenty-four hours; in the course of that time the letters
Q,u,i,z were chalked or pasted
on all the walls of Dublin with an effect that won the wager.
Of obscure origin. Perhaps from in-quis-ition. Smart's anecdote is omitted in his 1840 edition.