What word is derived from the Irish Uisce Beatha meaning 'water of life'?

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the etymology of various words and phrases, with participants guessing the answers based on clues provided. The scope includes word origins from different languages and historical contexts, with a focus on linguistic connections rather than definitive conclusions.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory, Debate/contested, Meta-discussion

Main Points Raised

  • Post 1 introduces a series of questions about word origins, including one asking for the word derived from the Irish Uisce Beatha meaning 'water of life'.
  • Some participants suggest answers to various questions, with one participant guessing "whiskey" for Q6 based on pronunciation.
  • Another participant confirms "whiskey" as the correct answer for Q6, linking it to the clue about drinking it straight.
  • Multiple participants engage in guessing and discussing other questions, such as the origins of "robot," "salary," and "bugger," but these are separate from the main focus on Q6.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

There is a consensus on the answer to Q6 being "whiskey," but other questions remain contested with various guesses and no definitive resolutions provided for those.

Contextual Notes

Participants are limited to guessing one answer per question, which may affect the breadth of responses. The discussion includes references to historical and cultural contexts that inform the etymology of the words being guessed.

Who May Find This Useful

Individuals interested in linguistics, etymology, and the historical development of language may find this discussion engaging.

  • #31
Dodos were from Mauritius (they're extinct now) - they had no natural predator until Homo sap. arrived. Curious thing is, after the last dodo died, a local tree stopped having baby trees ... the mature trees kept producing fruit, but the fruit never germinated ... for a while there it looked like the tree would follow the dodo, until some bright botanist thought there was a connection, like maybe the dodos ate the fruit, and baby trees germinated happily in the guano (or whatever dodo doo is called)?

Now, there's a nice turkey connection ... turns out turkeys have similar gizzards (or whatever) to dodos, so they fed some turkeys with the (fast disappearing) fruit of this local tree ... tada! baby trees happily sprouting in turkey doo! :approve:
 
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  • #32
I knew they lived near trees, but I had no idea about the doodoo. Thanks Neried, I did not know that! So, Dodo doodoo was special. :approve:

Evo<------worried about why she knows about Dodos. :frown:
 
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  • #33
Solutions, a summary

Okay, let's wrap things up now :

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.

ANS : Turkey...well not exactly, but here's the explanation. Having been imported through Turkey, this bird was referred to as the turkey. Much later, it was re-named 'Guiney Fowl'. Anyway, when early explorers in America came across a very similar bird, they thought is was the same and called that 'turkey' too. As things stand now, the American bird is the Turkey and the African bird is called a Guiney Fowl.

As far as this question goes, I was expecting someone to say 'turkey' (or "the bird formerly known as turkey") to get it right...so I'm giving this to jcsd <sorry Evo>.

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.

ANS : Robot, from slavik robotnik.

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 ?

ANS : Salary, from Latin salarium, derived from (L) sal for salt.

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.

ANS : Assassin, from hashashin, Arabic for 'user of hashish'.

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) ?

ANS : Bugger (slang for sodomize)

Q6) This one's straight : What word is derived from the Irish Uisce Beatha meaning 'water of life' ?

ANS : Whiskey ('Uisce' is pronounced oo-is-kuh)

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.

ANS : Gung-ho, from the Mandarin gonghe, meaning 'work together'.

Q8) What word owes its origin to this Civil War General ? <see attached picture, ARB.BMP>

ANS : Sideburns. Picture shows Gen. Ambrose R. Burnside sporting a magnificent pair of these. :biggrin:

Get crackin'...


All been cracked. That's all folks !

<Thanks, jcsd and Nereid for contributions>
 
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  • #34
Gokul43201, that was great and very educational!

Can we have another, please? :smile:
 
  • #35
Ooh. I learned this the other day... What is the original meaning of the word "decimate" and what are it's origins? Should be pretty easy.
 
  • #36
decimate - strictly, to reduce by a factor of ten, but usually works for any a large reduction in numbers - to fairly wipe out, obliterate. I remember this from (some years ago) when I was going through a list of words for the GRE test.
 
  • #37
This is true. A stab at the origin?
 
  • #38
jimmy p said:
This is true. A stab at the origin?

Latin?

The Bob (2004 ©)
 
  • #39
The origin of "decimate" is a disciplinary measure in the Roman legions when the officers thought the troops need chastisement and morale-boosting:
The troops were divided into groups of ten.
Each member in a tenner group drew a wooden stick; the guy who drew the burnt stick were beaten to death by the other nine in front of the other troops.
That's where "decimation" comes from, folks.
 
  • #40
Hmmm...this seems to be correct - meaning that I was wrong. I thought 'decimate' meant killing/eliminating 90% of the people, but it actually (arch.) means taking out 10% of the people.
 
  • #41
Evo said:
Gokul43201, that was great and very educational!

Thanks, Evo :smile:

Can we have another, please? :smile:

Perhaps some other theme next...
 
  • #42
arildno said:
The origin of "decimate" is a disciplinary measure in the Roman legions when the officers thought the troops need chastisement and morale-boosting:
The troops were divided into groups of ten.
Each member in a tenner group drew a wooden stick; the guy who drew the burnt stick were beaten to death by the other nine in front of the other troops.
That's where "decimation" comes from, folks.


That is close to what I had. Yes it was a disciplinary. I learned that if a unit needed severe disciplining, 10 out the 100 would be selected and slaughtered in front of the century by the centurions.
 
  • #43
Hi, jimmyp:
This is a SERIOUS discrepancy, am I wrong??
I'll report back when I've checked my source..
 
  • #44
arildno said:
Hi, jimmyp:
This is a SERIOUS discrepancy, am I wrong??
I'll report back when I've checked my source..


? Lol. Actually, I don't see much difference :-p

Unless you are being sarcastic :rolleyes: I CANT TELL WITH TEXT!
 
  • #45
OK then, it's not THAT serious :wink:
However, I did think I was right, and I know what the original source is (I'll check it up)
(it was a Greek historian living in Rome as P.O.W. at the time of Cato the elder, and the Bacchus cult scandal (oops, shouldn't have mentioned that sordid affair at this family-oriented forum..))
 
  • #46
arildno said:
OK then, it's not THAT serious :wink:
However, I did think I was right, and I know what the original source is (I'll check it up)
(it was a Greek historian living in Rome as P.O.W. at the time of Cato the elder, and the Bacchus cult scandal (oops, shouldn't have mentioned that sordid affair at this family-oriented forum..))


I'm not sure exactly what the Bacchus Cult scandal was all about but I'm guessing it was related to some female ritual. The Romans called all the female rituals 'scandals', and something involving bacchanalians was all the more likely to be a target. :rolleyes:

And if you're concerned about the nature of the material, I put up an age advisory at the beginning of this thread.
 
  • #47
Gokul43201 said:
I'm not sure exactly what the Bacchus Cult scandal was all about but I'm guessing it was related to some female ritual. The Romans called all the female rituals 'scandals', and something involving bacchanalians was all the more likely to be a target. :rolleyes:

And if you're concerned about the nature of the material, I put up an age advisory at the beginning of this thread.

Oh, it was more sordid than that..:wink:
It was your usual mix of orgies in the night, raped males and wicked relatives conspiring to get your inheritance..but this is really too mundane and depressing to get further into..
 
  • #48
What a great time that was :rolleyes: :-p