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Glossary

Elementary Level

Topic: The ABC

Alphabet - comes from ancient Greece. It is the combination of two first letters alpha and beta. Also it can be called «ABC» and has the same meaning.

How the letters came about (can be used as an introductory word to the topic either in English or Ukrainian).

The alphabet that is used in modern European languages came down through the Phoenician, Greek and Latin. All writing that you know grows from drawing. People began with pictures first: a picture of an animal, a person or an object. Later the pictures turned into a linguistic symbol, first it was the representation of a word, then a syllable, by the times of the Greeks there was a symbol for each sound.

A - in ancient Phoenician letter A was called aleph and meant ox. It looked like a «V», representing the horns of an ox, and had a slanted bar across it. But later the Greeks turned it upside down, and that is the way we know it. It stands as first letter, because ox was very important in life, it served for work, was food and shoes and clothing.

B - in Phoenician was called beth and it meant a house. It originally looked like a two-chambered house, with one room for the men and the other for the women. And it still preserves two parts even in its modern form.

G - was the picture of a camel with its curved neck.

H - was a picture of a fence.

I - was a human finger.

K - was kaleph in Phoenician and meant «the palm of the hand», originally K was the exact picture of hand.

L - was a word sign for the whip with which they drove the camel.

M - was called mem and meant water (imitate waves, ruffling the sea).

O - was a human eye, and even had a dot in the center for the pupil.

Q - was the picture for monkey with its tail hanging down.

T - was a mark used for branding the oxen.

V - was a picture that showed a hook to hang things on.

Y - it was a hand with a thumb held away from other fingers.

Z - it has not always been the last of twenty-two letters of the English alphabet. As a matter of fact, it was the sixth in the ancient Greek alphabet. When the Romans took over they thought that they would have no use for «Z», so they dropped it. Later on they found that it was a necessary sound. But by that time «Z» had lost its old position and had to be put at the end of the line.

 All the other letters also were depictions of something, but later they were all formalized by the Greeks and the Romans and the pictures have long disappeared.

Topic: School

School - the word originates from the Greek word schole which meant leisure. Some people were busy working, others had leisure time to be educated. At first education was just a discussion: people were talking about different problems of life. Time passed, education became wide spread and more formal. Teaching was done at regular times and in special places. So, the word school that first meant «leisure» began to mean «learning which is done in leisure time». Later the word began to name «the place in which learning is done».

Book  -  this word appeared in the language of ancient Germanic tribes before they came to Britain. In early times the word boc was the name of the tree which grew in the place where the Germanic tribes lived. The old Germans made cuts on the trees as a kind of writing, later people began to make tablets of the bark of the tree. Then people began to use parchment for writing, bur the word remained. Years passed and people began to write on paper, but still they used the same word.

Paper  - the English word paper developed from the French papier, which, in turn, came from Latin papyrus and is relative to the Greek papyros. The Greeks gave the name papyros to a reed which was once plentiful in Egypt. When the Egyptians needed something to write on, they made it from this reed. Late people found another way of making material for writing and this product is still called by the old name paper.

Map -    this word meant cloth and came into English from Latin, the Latin mappa was cloth. First maps were drawn on fabrics. In Latin the combination of the words appeared: mappa mundi - «cloth of the world». It was the first representation of the world as a drawing on the cloth. Later maps began to be made of paper, but the word remained.

Pupil -   this word came into English language through French from Latin. In Latin it was the word pupa, a girl, and pupus, a boy. When the Latin ending -illawas added to pupa or pupus, the word meant «a little girl» or «a little boy». Children begin to go to school at an early age when they are still «pupils».

Answer - this is a very old word. In Old English the noun was andswaru and the verb- andswearing. The word consisted of two parts: and and sweare. The word and at that time meant against; sweare meant to give a solemn oath. In the youth of the English language andswaru was «to give a solemn oath against the accusation». In the course of historical development the word lost its solemnity and it means now a reply, to reply.

Write -   this word was spelled writan in Old English. It first meant to scratch, and it is exactly what the primitives did on their birch-bark or shingles with sharp stones and other pointed instruments. In the more sophisticated lands that surrounded the Mediterranean the papyrus plant was used instead of the bark of the trees.

Pen  -    this word comes from Latin penna, which meant a feather.

Pencil - inherits its name from the Latin penniculum, meaning a little tail, and this refers to the time when writing was done with a tiny brush that looked indeed like a little tail.

Intermediate Level

Academy - the name comes from a garden founded in a suburb of Athens by Academus. It was at one time a pleasure resort, conserated to the Goddes Athene. In its grove Plato held his morning philosophical conferences, hence its application to learning.

Alabama -  the place to which all the song-writers declare they want to «go back to». And no wonder, for Alabama is an Indian (American Red Indians) word for «here we rest».

Anecdote - this word, meaning a story which is told to all and sundry, has come to a curious corruption. Strictly speaking it should be something told in confidence, its origin being Greek a (or an) «not» and ekdotos «published», or «given out» - «not to be published or given out».

Aristocracy - from the Greek aristo - cratia «rule of the best born». It originally meant government of the state by its best citizens. This did not, however, mean the best intellect and activities, because «best» in those times meant the best in birth.

Beefeater - name is given to the Yeomen of the Guard at the Tower of London. They were called Beefeaters because that is exactly what they were - eaters of beef. In medieval England eater was the synonym for servant. Loaf-eater meant a menial servant, one who waited on the superior servants; the highest class of servant was the fighting man, who ate beef - the Beefeater.

Booking office - in the olden days, when accommodation  in the stage-coaches was limited, the would-be traveler entered his name in a book kept in the office of the coaching inn, and waited his turn to travel. The name persist today, even though no booking is now required.

Cenotaph - the name is derived from the Greek kenos «empty» and taphos «a tomb», and means a monument of death in memory of a person buried in another place.

City        -  in Biblical  days a city meant a town surrounded with a wall, having gates. Executions or burials were never lowed in the city precints. In Britain a city was originally a town having a cathedral, but of late years many towns have been created cities by their commercial importance.

 City of Magnificent Distances. Washington, USA, because of its wide streets and avenues.

 City of Palaces. Calcutta, India.

 City of Saints. Montreal, Canada. All its streets are named after saints.

 City of the Golden Gate. San Francisco.

 City of Seven Hills. Rome. Biult on the seven hills of Aventine, Caelian, Capitoline, Esquiline, Palatine, Viminal and Vatican.

Dictionary - the word is from Latin dicto «saying». The earliest Greek and Latin «Lexicons» were mainly collections of unusual words and phrases.

Gentleman- in feudal days there was a strict class distinction between the laborer, the yeomen, and the man of «gentle birth», though not noble birth. The gentle birth entitled him to bear arms.

Iceberg -   means ice mountain, the word beorh, or berg, being Anglo-Saxon for hill, or mountain.

King      -   in the Anglo-Saxon tongue cyn meant «a people», or «a nation». The suffix -ing meant «of», in the sense of «son of». Thus, put together, there emerged cyning, son of the nation, or of the people.

Legend   -  it is a fable. The meaning is in complete variance with the origin of the word. Legend is the Latin legenda, from legere «to read»; and the Legenda was a book containing the narratives of the lives of the Saints, read in the religious houses of olden days. These narratives, with their tales of miracles, and their exaggeration and wealth of flowery language so beloved of the east, are the reason for the word legend being regarded as a mythical story.

Mediterranean - the name means the sea in the middle of the earth, from the Latin medius «middle», terra «land».

Melodrama - is derived from the Greek melos «a song», and drama «a play»; melodrama was originally a play in which music was used, but of minor importance.

Money   - the name for our coinage is derived from the Latin moneta. The word is more plainly recognizable in our word used to describe financial transactions - moneta-ry.

Museum - the home or seat of Muses and of the arts. The first building to be given the name was the university built at Alexandria by Ptolemy about 300 B.C.

Oxford -   is called in Domesday Book Oxeneford - a ford for the passage of oxen across the river Isis.

Queen    -  in Anglo-Saxon days a queen was just a woman, spelled cwen. In Old Norse, a woman was kvaen; in Gothic it was qens; in Old German kwaeni. There seems to be a reason for Oxford English Dictionary to apologize for the fact and to add a footnote to the effect that «even in Old English cwen was just an ordinary term for a wife and also applied to the wife of a king or important personage».

University - the word comes from the Latin universitas «the whole»; but it does not mean, as nearly every philologist has said, that various colleges and halls incorporated as one great educational center. When the word was first coined for our University in the twelfth century, it was done so because of the entire, as whole, range of literature taught in the colleges - the universitas literaturum.

Woolsack - the seat in office in the House of Lords of the Lord Chancellor of England is so named because it is a large bag of wool covered with red cloth. The story of it goes back to Queen Elizabeth’s days, when a law was passed stopping the export of wool. To ensure that the judges should keep in mind the importance of woolen manufacture in England (it was the source of wealth in those days) seats were filled with wool and placed for the judges in the House of Lords.

Advanced Level

Topic: Meals

Appetite -   comes from Latin appetitus which meant «great desire». It came to the Old English through Old French where had form apetit and then changed it to appetyt.

Apple -     the word has Indo-European roots and probably is connected with the name of ancient city in Southern Italy «Abella», which was famous for its apple-trees. English word apple developed from old English appel, eppel, appil.

Apricot - there are two points of view according to its developing. It could be formed either from the Latin praecox «early» or from the Latin apricus «warmed with the sun». From the Latin the word was borrowed by many languages: Arabic - al-barquq, Portugal - albricoque, Spanish - albercoque, then it came to French - apricot, and to Holland - abricoos and others. To the English language it came from Latin through all the languages showed above. And it became widely spread in English since 18^th century.

Bottle  -     the word comes from the Latin buttis which was transformed in Old French botele and then came to Old English - botel.

Cherry  -    it comes from Greek kerasos «cherry-tree», which later was borrowed by Latin cerasus. They say the Greek word developed from the name of the city Kerasos in Asia, which was famous for its cherries. In English this word appeared during the time of Norman invasion from French cherise and had the form chery. In the 16^th century a new form of the word appeared - cherry.

Coffee   -   the origin is the Arabic gahwah. In Turkish, it is pronounced kahveh. It is said by the Arabic lexicographers to have meant, originally, a drink of wine, and to be a derivative of a verb-root gahiva, meaning «to have no appetite». But some etymologists say that it is connected with the name Kaffa - a place in Ephiopia where coffee was grown. To English this word came in 16-17^th centuries as a borrowing from Italian, which in its turn borrowed it from Turkish.

Gooseberry - was not derived from goose. It was originally grose or groise, from the old French groisele, or groselle. There was also the Irish grosaid, but one and all of them meant simply what the word still is - just, gooseberry.

Guinea-fowl - have nothing to do with the coinage. They were introduced into England from Guinea, West Africa.

Lent   -       it is the shorten form of lencten, the Anglo-Saxon word for Spring. From the same root comes the word lengthening; and lencten marked for tje Anglo-Saxons the beginning of the lengthening of the days.

Lunch   -    some people think it comes from an old Spanish word lonje, a piece of ham. Many others suppose it comes from a dialect from the word lump, a piece of bread, which was distorted into lunch. The only thing is clear: lunch meant something to eat.

Ragout  -   the name for a seasoned meat stew, with vegetables cut small, comes from the French ragouter, meaning «to bring back taste», and from the Latin gustare «taste». A reference to the spiced seasoning.

Salad    -   the origin is the Italian salata meaning «salted», and is a derivative of a verb salare. English salad developed from Old English salade, which was borrowed from French salade.

Salt      -    from the Anglo-Saxon sealt. The Norman word for the salt-stand was saliere, from which we get our salt-cellar.

Soup     -   the word was borrowed from French, in which it came from old Germanic languages. First the French word soper, super meant «to have supper», then it was transformed into soupe with meaning «a piece of bread», and from this we have bread soup, and just soup.

Sugar   -    the word comes from Old Indian sakkhara «sand». Sweet crystalline substance was named with this word, because it looked like sand. From India this word and product came to Persia where the word was written shahar. Trough the Arabic the word was borrowed by the Greek - sakharon, and Italian - saccharum. To the English language the word came through French.

Supper  -   the word was borrowed from French. There is a supposition that supper comes from sup, which originates from an Indo-European base relating to drinking. Supper is the name of a meal taken at the end of the day. In old times when people had little heat in their houses they used to have a hot drink before going to bed. That was supper, so first supper meant «to drink» at bed-time, later it began to refer to the last meal of the day.

Tea     -      the word originates from Chinese language, but from different dialects: from northern dialects word cha came to Slavic languages, and from southern dialects te came to European languages. English word was borrowed in the 17^th century from the French.

Tumbler -  the name for the drinking glass, has existed from the glasses of the 16^th century - the earliest glasses. They had a rounded or pointed base and could stand only on being emptied and invented. Any other way they «tumbled» over.

Walnut   -  has nothing to do with walls. The Anglo-Saxon word for foreign was wealh, and in the Middle English word for walnut was walnote, from wealh and hnut. The walnut was so called by our ancestors in explanation of its foreign origin; it came from Persia.