The word "daisy" comes from the Old English dægesege, formerly dæges eage, meaning "day's eye," because the petals of some species of daisy open at dawn and close at dusk. For the same reason, in Medieval Latin, a common term for daisy was solis oculus, meaning "sun's eye." The name Daisy was at one time… Continue reading The Etymology of “Daisy”
The Etymology of “Mantis”
The praying mantis (Mantis religiosa) and other insects in the order Mantodea get their name from the Greek mantis, literally "one who divines, a seer, prophet," which in turn is from mainesthai, "be inspired." Many people misinterpret the name as "preying mantis," partially thanks to the fact that many mantis species are excellent ambush hunters… Continue reading The Etymology of “Mantis”
The Etymology of “Carpenter”
"Carpenter" is from the Late Latin carpentum ("wagon, carriage, cart"), with a maker of wooden carts known as an artifex carpentarius. In English, "carpenter" replaced the word treowwyrhta, literally "tree-wright." "Carpenter" began to replace treowwyrhta in the 1300s, adopted from the Anglo-French carpenter (Old North French carpentier) and first specifically referring to someone who does… Continue reading The Etymology of “Carpenter”
The Truest Sense: An Etymology of “Etymology”
Like many words of its kind, etymology found its way to English in the 14th century by way of Old French, at which point it simply robbed the older language of the term etimologie or ethimologie. English is quite the thief, you see.
Useless Etymology 