Name:

Date:

Group:

Pick the etymology you think is true for each of the following words.

torpedo:

  1. comes from the Spanish word torpe, meaning clumsy, and was first used for people who would often bump into other people or knock over furniture
  2. comes from the name of an electric eel so powerful that it’s shock would leave people torpid or knocked-out and numb

feckless:

  1. originally developed from the word effect, and started being used in Scotland, where they began calling weak or less powerful men “effect-less” which transformed into feckless
  2. is a shortening of the word “freckleless” and comes from Victorian times when freckles were considered to be the highpoint of beauty; therefore, someone without freckles was “feckless” or undesireable

calculus:

  1. comes from a Latin word meaning “a little pebble” because the Romans did their math by counting up little stones
  2. comes from an Arabic word meaning to “coldly calculate an exchange to try to swindle someone” when bargaining

salary:

  1. comes from a combination of the Latin words “sala” (meaning bucket) and “rarely” and used to refer to place where people would keep their money in their homes
  2. comes from salt-money, which was an extra bit of money given to Roman soldiers in order to buy salt, a culinary delicacy at that time

punk:

  1. early twentieth-century American term for homosexual, turned into a generalised insult, claimed by the noisy rockers in the 1970’s
  2. comes from adjective meaning "inferior, bad" in the 1800s, also was used first in the 1600s as a noun meaning "rotten wood used to make fires"
  3. also used as a word for “Chinese incense" in the 1870s

Language can change for a number of reasons. Categorize the following examples using the terms we discussed:

Economy, Analogy, Contact, Medium of communication, and/or Environment.

Ahuacatl→aguacate→avocado / ______
Arahkun→raccoon / ______
He runs→He run / ______
idiot→twidiot / ______
MexiCoke / ______
Sidewalk Salsa / ______
Swelled→swoll / ______
They aren’t→they ain’t / ______
Une licorne→unicorn / ______
vuestra merced→usted / ______
Rickroll / ______

How did English evolve? – Kate Gardoqui

Who lived in Britain in 400 CE? / ______
What made it possible for the Saxons to invade? / ______
What’s another name for Old English? / ______
Who showed up in the 700s? / ______
Where do “freckle” and “want” come from? / ______
Who invaded in 1066? / ______

Why do we think French words sound fancy?

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