"Moonshine" (unaged spirits illicitly distilled "by the light of the moon") is thought to be inspired by "moonrakers," a name for apocryphal English brandy smugglers who raked up kegs from ponds. When caught, they pretended to be fools attempting to rake cheese from the reflection of the moon. Moonshine, obviously, first referred to the literal light of… Continue reading The Etymology of “Moonshine”
“Moxie,” used generally from 1930, comes from the brand name of a bitter syrup first marketed as the medicine “Moxie Nerve Food” in 1876, then sold as a soft drink starting in 1884. The brand may be from a Native American Abenaki word for “dark water,” from Maine lake and river names.
In the early 14th century, "dandelion" was spelled dent-de-lioun, literally "lion's tooth," a direct loan from French, but over time, colloquial use morphed it into the current spelling. Here's an image of the leaf-shape to which the name refers. Regarding some of its other English names: Tell-time refers to the practice of determining the time by picking mature white… Continue reading The Etymology of “Dandelion”
Useless Etymology 