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Here's Part Three of Interesting Etymologies (word origins)!
Punch
The drink we like to call punch is derived from
Parsi/Persian or Hindi. The original drink was
named panj, which is Persian for "five". In Hindi, five
is "paanch". This is because the punch was made from five
ingredients: arrack (liquor), sugar, lemon, water, and tea or
spices.
The name punch was popularized by the sailors of the
British East India Company and brought to England. From there it
was introduced into other European countries. British documents
refer to punch as early as 1632.
Pundit
A pundit today is someone who offers mass-media analysis or
commentary on a particular subject (usually politics or sports).
These pundits are presumed to be knowledgeable on this subject;
an alternate word for them would be experts. Pundit
actually comes from the Hindi term
pandit, which in turn is derived from the Sanskrit word
pandita, meaning "learned". It referred to someone who
was a learned scholar in various subjects, conducted religious
ceremonies and offered counsel to the king or mayor. Pundit was
also the term for an official of the Supreme Court in Colonial
India, who advised the English Judges on questions of Hindu law
and culture.
Avatar
In Hindu philosophy, an avatar is the incarnation of a divine
being or God into human form. The Sanskrit word avatāra
literally means "descent". It implies a descent onto Earth for
special purposes. The term is used primarily in Hinduism for
incarnations of the god Vishnu. Today, the word avatar
is a popular term for a user's computer profile icon online
forums and communities, or as 3-D model representations in
games.
Filibuster
A filibuster is an attempt to stop legislation/bills in a
government or other decision-making body, usually involving
prolonged speechmaking. This attempt is made by extending debate
of a proposal to delay its progress, or to completely prevent the
vote from taking place.
The term "filibuster" was first used in 1851. It was derived from
the Spanish filibustero meaning
"pirate" or "freebooter". This term was derived from the French
word flibustier, which came from the Dutch word
vrijbuiter ("freebooter"). The term filibuster was
applied at the time to American adventurers, mostly from Southern
states, who wanted to overthrow the governments of Central
American states - filibustering was seen as a tactic for pirating
or hijacking debate for self-gain.
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general problems concerning matters
such as existence, knowledge, truth, justice, beauty, validity,
mind, and language. The word philosophy is derived from the
Ancient Greek word philosophía. Philo means
"love of" and sophia means "wisdom". So philosophia
combines the two words to mean "love of knowledge" or "love of
wisdom."
Inject and Syringe
When you think of the word inject, you probably think of a doctor
inserting forcing a needle into someone's arm. From the Latin
word in meaning "in" and iacere meaning "to
throw", we get this term. The term syringe also has an
interesting etymology. Syringe comes from the name of a
nymph named Syrinx in ancient Greek mythology. Syrinx changed
into a hollow water reed to escape the romantic advances of Pan.
Pan then used the reed to build his musical pipe (the pan
pipes!).
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