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Word Origins :
[Warning : Some material here may be objectionable to minors ]
RULES :
1. No Googling
2. IMPORTANT : Each person is allowed to guess only ONE answer (ONE answer total; not one per question)...unless I inform you otherwise.
Please read the rules again...thank you !
In the following questions I describe the the etymological basis of a present day word/phrase/slang term. You have to guess the word. Typically, the solution is quite easily derivable from the question (without requiring any mastery over Greek & Latin).
Here we go...
Q1) A little over 400 years ago, this bird, native to Africa, was first imported to England, via Constantinople. The qualities of the bird, however, had been known since the times of Aristotle and Pliny, who had both praised it heartily.
Q2) This word was coined by the Czech playwright (for the play titled R.U.R), Karel Capek, and is derived from the Slavik word for laborer or peasant.
Q3) The ancients believed that of all things required for the support of human life, salt was the most important. Whenever a Roman soldier was sent to a foreign land, he was given, over and above his regular pay, an amount of money for the purchase of salt. What word is derived from this ?
Q4) The Nizaris were a sub-sect of Shi'ite Muslims from around the 12th Century AD. Operating out mountain forts, they engaged in a long campaign of murdering numerous Sunni officials of the Abbasid and Seljuk Dynasties. The members of the sect were promised eternal paradise - by the leader - in return for martyrdom. To enhance the appeal of this promise, they were given hashish (a hallucinogen from the cannabis family), before being ordered out on missions. This word comes from a byname for the Nizaris.
Q5) The Bogomils were a heretical movement that first flowered in the Balkans in the mid-tenth century, and were considered a serious threat to religious orthodoxy. At the time, all heretics were accused of sexual deviance, whether or not the accusation was justified - and the Bogomils soon became labeled as deviants. What word comes from Bulgar (pronounced bull-gahr, this was the region that is now the country, Bulgaria) ?
Q6) This one's straight : What word is derived from the Irish Uisce Beatha meaning 'water of life' ?
Q7) During WWII, Lt. Col. Evan Carlson, an admirer of the Chinese work ethic, set up what he called _______ meetings, for his own troops. This term is derived from the Chinese word for 'working together', which was a popular communist motto at the time.
Q8) What word owes its origin to this Civil War General ? <see attached picture, ARB.BMP>
Get crackin'...
[Warning : Some material here may be objectionable to minors ]
RULES :
1. No Googling
2. IMPORTANT : Each person is allowed to guess only ONE answer (ONE answer total; not one per question)...unless I inform you otherwise.
Please read the rules again...thank you !
In the following questions I describe the the etymological basis of a present day word/phrase/slang term. You have to guess the word. Typically, the solution is quite easily derivable from the question (without requiring any mastery over Greek & Latin).
Here we go...
Q1) A little over 400 years ago, this bird, native to Africa, was first imported to England, via Constantinople. The qualities of the bird, however, had been known since the times of Aristotle and Pliny, who had both praised it heartily.
Q2) This word was coined by the Czech playwright (for the play titled R.U.R), Karel Capek, and is derived from the Slavik word for laborer or peasant.
Q3) The ancients believed that of all things required for the support of human life, salt was the most important. Whenever a Roman soldier was sent to a foreign land, he was given, over and above his regular pay, an amount of money for the purchase of salt. What word is derived from this ?
Q4) The Nizaris were a sub-sect of Shi'ite Muslims from around the 12th Century AD. Operating out mountain forts, they engaged in a long campaign of murdering numerous Sunni officials of the Abbasid and Seljuk Dynasties. The members of the sect were promised eternal paradise - by the leader - in return for martyrdom. To enhance the appeal of this promise, they were given hashish (a hallucinogen from the cannabis family), before being ordered out on missions. This word comes from a byname for the Nizaris.
Q5) The Bogomils were a heretical movement that first flowered in the Balkans in the mid-tenth century, and were considered a serious threat to religious orthodoxy. At the time, all heretics were accused of sexual deviance, whether or not the accusation was justified - and the Bogomils soon became labeled as deviants. What word comes from Bulgar (pronounced bull-gahr, this was the region that is now the country, Bulgaria) ?
Q6) This one's straight : What word is derived from the Irish Uisce Beatha meaning 'water of life' ?
Q7) During WWII, Lt. Col. Evan Carlson, an admirer of the Chinese work ethic, set up what he called _______ meetings, for his own troops. This term is derived from the Chinese word for 'working together', which was a popular communist motto at the time.
Q8) What word owes its origin to this Civil War General ? <see attached picture, ARB.BMP>
Get crackin'...
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