raptor

Popularized (and possibly coined) in 1990 by Michael Crichton in Jurassic Park; clipping of velociraptor, ultimately of the same etymology as above.

(informal, paleontology) One of the dromaeosaurs, a family of carnivorous dinosaurs having tearing claws on the hind legs.


academicism

en-noun

academicism (countable and uncountable, plural academicisms)

academicisms (plural)
Academicism (alternative)
academism (alternative)

(classical studies, sometimes capitalized) The doctrines of Plato's academy; specifically the skeptical doctrines of the later academy stating that nothing can be known; a tenet of the Academic philosophy; state of being Academic.


archaeastronomy

archæastronomy (alternative)
archaeoastronomy (alternative)
archæoastronomy (alternative)
archeastronomy (alternative)
archeoastronomy (alternative)

Archaeoastronomy is an endeavor to find out something about ancient astronomy and related matters through the use of archeological data and the study of ancient texts.

1979, John Howland Rowe, “Review: Archaeoastronomy in Meso America and Peru”, in Latin American Research Review, volume 14, number 2, page 227:

The current fashion is to call the subject archaeoastronomy, as if it were more the business of astronomers or historians of astronomy than of archaeologists.

1989, John Michell, A Little History of Astro-Archaeology, page 6:

(astronomy, archaeology) The historical, especially archeological, study of astronomy; the study of the astronomical systems and methods of ancient cultures often embracing the astrology and cosmology of the past.


point

point (countable and uncountable, plural points)

→ Cantonese: point

→ Indonesian: poin

→ Japanese: ポイント (pointo)

→ Korean: 포인트 (pointeu)

→ Malay: poin

From Middle English poynt, from Old French point m (“dot; minute amount”), from Latin pūnctum (“a hole punched in; a point, puncture”), substantive use of pūnctus m, perfect passive participle of pungō (“I prick, punch”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pewǵ- (“prick, punch”)); alternatively, from Old French pointe f (“sharp tip”), from Latin pūncta f (past participle). Mostly displaced native Middle English ord (“point”), from Old English ord (“point”). Doublet of pointe, ponto, puncto, punctum, punt, and punto.

kärki

position at the front or vanguard of an advancing force

decimal point

not used when reading decimal fractions aloud

Solutrean points resemble the canines of the sabre-toothed cats.

2018, Tim Flannery, Europe: A Natural History:

An object which has a sharp or tapering tip.

(archaeology) A spearhead or similar object hafted to a handle.


man

men (plural)
mang (alternative)
mane (alternative)
mans (alternative)
mon (alternative)
mxn (alternative)
mans (alternative)
mens (alternative)
mandem (alternative)
mens (alternative)
mxn (alternative)
myn (alternative)

Tok Pisin: man

→ Cantonese: man

→ Chinook Jargon: man

→ Korean: 맨 (maen)

→ Mandarin: man (mān)

→ Spanish: man

→ Thai: แมน (mɛɛn)

→ Volapük: man

From Middle English man, from Old English mann m (“human being, person, man”), from Proto-West Germanic *mann, from Proto-Germanic *mann- m, from Proto-Indo-European *mon- (“human being, man”). Doublet of Manu.
See also Saterland Frisian Mon, West Frisian man, Dutch man, Low German Mann, German Mann, Swedish man, Norwegian Nynorsk mann, Danish mand.

inh

чолові́к m (čolovík) (now usually means "man", "male human")

a woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle

a woman without a man is like a fish without a bicycle

behind every great man there stands a woman

behind every successful man there stands a woman

every man is the architect of his own fortune

give a man a fish and you feed him for a day

teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime

it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God

the best laid plans of mice and men go oft astray

the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry

The evidence suggests that close relatives of early man, in lineages that later became extinct, also were able to use tools.

1990, The Almanac of Science and Technology, →ISBN, page 68:

(anthropology, archaeology, paleontology) A member of the genus Homo, especially of the species Homo sapiens.


stock

en-noun

stock (countable and uncountable, plural stocks or (obsolete) stocken)

stocks (plural)
stocken (obsolete plural)

→ Dutch: stock

desctree

→ French: stock
→ Romanian: stoc
→ Turkish: stok

→ Italian: stock

→ Portuguese: estoque

→ Spanish: stock

From Middle English stok, from Old English stocc, from Proto-West Germanic *stokk, from Proto-Germanic *stukkaz (“tree-trunk”), with modern senses mostly referring either to the trunk from which the tree grows (figuratively, its origin and/or support/foundation), or to a piece of wood, stick, or rod. The senses of "supply" and "raw material" arose from a probable conflation with steck (“an item of goods, merchandise”) or the use of split tally sticks consisting of foil or counterfoil and stock to capture paid taxes, debts or exchanges. Doublet of chock.

stark (non-rhotic, father-bother merger)

(folklore) A piece of wood magically made to be just like a real baby and substituted for it by magical beings.


relegate

relegates (plural)
relagate (alternative)

First attested circa 1550: from the Classical Latin relēgātus (“banished person, exile”), the nominative singular masculine substantive form of relēgātus, the past participle of relēgō (“to dispatch, banish”).

uder

(history, obsolete) A person who has been banished from proximity to Rome for a set time, but without losing his civil rights.


mammal

From Modern Latin Mammalia, coined 1758 by Linnaeus for the class of mammals, from neuter plural of Late Latin mammalis (“of the breast”), from Latin mamma (“breast”), perhaps cognate with mamma (mother).

(paleontology) Characterized by having vertebrae and three bones in the inner ear and one in the jaw.

nisäkäs

paleontology: vertebrate with three bones in the inner ear and one in the jaw


acacia

(history, classical studies) A roll or bag, filled with dust, borne by Byzantine emperors, as a memento of mortality. It is represented on medals.


colon

From Latin cōlon (“a member of a verse of poem”), from Ancient Greek κῶλον (kôlon, “a member, limb, clause, part of a verse”).

(palaeography) A clause or group of clauses written as a line, or taken as a standard of measure in ancient manuscripts or texts.


feature

→ German: Feature

→ Polish: ficzer

→ Ukrainian: фі́ча (fíča)

From Middle English feture, from Anglo-Norman feture, from Old French faiture, from Latin factūra, from Latin factus, from Latin faciō (“do, make”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁- (“to put, place, set”). Doublet of facture.

feature

long, prominent article or item in the media

A feature of many Central Texas prehistoric archeological sites is a low spreading pile of stones called a rock midden. Other features at these sites may include small hearths.

(archaeology) Something discerned from physical evidence that helps define, identify, characterize, and interpret an archeological site.


academy

From French académie, from Latin acadēmīa, from Ancient Greek Ἀκαδημία (Akadēmía), a grove of trees and gymnasium outside of Athens where Plato taught; from the name of the supposed former owner of that estate, the Attic hero Akademos. Doublet of academia and Akademeia; compare academe.

(classical studies, usually capitalized) The garden where Plato taught.

(classical studies, usually capitalized) Plato's philosophical system based on skepticism; Plato's followers.


Indo-European

Indo-Europeans (plural)
Indoeuropean (alternative)
IE (alternative abbreviation)
IE. (alternative abbreviation)

/ˌɪndəʊˌjʊəɹəˈpiːən/

Coined by English polymath Thomas Young in 1813, from Indo- + European, relating to the geographical extremes in India and Europe (which was valid before the discovery of Tocharian languages in the early 20th century).

coin

Two theories of the origins of the Indo-Europeans currently compete. M. Gimbutas believes that early Indo-Europeans entered southeastern Europe from the Pontic Steppes starting ca. 4500 B.C. and spread from there. C. Renfrew equates early Indo-Europeans with early farmers who entered southeastern Europe from Asia Minor ca. 7000 BC and spread through the continent.

1992, R.R. Sokal, N.L. Oden, B.A. Thomson, “Origins of the Indo-Europeans: genetic evidence”, in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, volume 89, →DOI, →PMID:

Thus, although at least one term for ‘alder’ can be reconstructed to PIE, the wide distribution of this tree prevents it from being diagnostic of the earlier location of the Indo-Europeans.

1997, J. P. Mallory, Douglas Q. Adams, “ALDER”, in Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture, London, Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, →ISBN, page 12:

(anthropology, archaeology, linguistics) A member of the original ethnolinguistic group hypothesized to have spoken Proto-Indo-European and thus to have been the ancestor for most of India and Western Eurasia.

հնդեվրոպացի

member of Proto-Indo-European ethnolinguistic group


Bigfoot

August/September 1958, originally Big Foot, big + foot, relating to the large size of its supposed footprints relative to human footprints.

Big Foot (alternative)
bigfoot (alternative)

This imprint was made either Wednesday night or early Thursday morning by "Big Foot".

[1958 October 6, Andrew Genzoli, “Huge Foot Prints Hold Mystery Of Friendly Bluff Creek Giant”, in Humboldt Times, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2010-06-11:

Stories of “Bigfoot,” an eight-foot denizen of the forest in Northern California’s wild Trinity County, are among the main topics of conversation in that area. He is supposedly an Indian or half-breed who has reverted to an animal existence. A footprint believed to be his was measured by a Redding shoe store owner and found to be size 24!

1961 July 1, “Big deal”, in Boot and Shoe Recorder, volume 160, number 3, Philadelphia, Pa.: Chilton Company, →OCLC, The Last Word, page 68, column 3:

Some Earth people believe Bigfoot lives in underground caves; others believe Bigfoot is connected with extraterrestrials; still others believe Bigfoot is a spirit that can sometimes manifest in form.

1994, Sun Bear, Wabun Wind, Shawnodese, “A Dream Language of the Earth”, in Dreaming with the Wheel: How to Interpret and Work with your Dreams Using the Medicine Wheel, Fireside, →ISBN, page 145:

Then there are the sharp divisions of opinion about whether Bigfoot is a Gigantopithecus or a Neanderthal or some other hominid.

2016, Bryan Sykes, “The Guru”, in Bigfoot, Yeti, and the Last Neanderthal: A Geneticist’s Search for Modern Apemen, Disinformation Books, →ISBN, part II, page 173:

Many enthusiasts believe that Bigfoot is not some sort of undiscovered hominid, but rather a mystical being that moves between dimensions.

2019, Christopher D. Bader, Joseph O. Baker, “Bigfoot: Undiscovered Primate or Interdimensional Spirit?”, in Deviance Management: Insiders, Outsiders, Hiders, and Drifters, University of California Press, →ISBN, page 77:

(cryptozoology, folklore) A very large, hairy, humanoid creature, similar to the yeti, said to live in the wilderness areas of the United States and Canada, especially the Pacific Northwest.

بيغ فوت

unidentified yeti-like animal (individual creature)


Bigfoot

en-noun

Bigfoot (plural Bigfoot or Bigfeet or Bigfoots)

Bigfoot (plural)
Bigfeet (plural)
Bigfoots (plural)
Big Foot (alternative)
bigfoot (alternative)

My answer to those who believe that all Bigfoot are just huge cuddly Ewoks is to remind them that there is plenty of evidence that every member of the great apes family […] has exhibited hostility […].

2007, Matthew Scott Hansen, The Shadowkiller: A Novel, page 434:

The striking news on the appearance of a Bigfoot on Taibai Mountain in Xi'an, Shaanxi Provnice^([sic – meaning Province]) recently spread among local residents of Mei County located near the foot of Taibai Mountain. Is Taibai Mountain really home to a Bigfoot?
Who encountered the Bigfoot on Taibai Mountain?
Reporters interviewed many residents of Mei County, and their accounts varied.

2010 October 15, “Bigfoot sighted on Taibai Mountain”, in 叶欣, editor, People's Daily, archived from the original on 2015-05-23:

(cryptozoology, folklore) An individual creature of this type.


pit

From Middle English pit, pet, püt, from Old English pytt, from Proto-West Germanic *puti, from Latin puteus (“trench, pit, well”), although there are phonetic difficulties.

he who digs a pit for others falls in himself

The exact sites of Feng and Hao have yet to be verified, but seven pits containing chariots, horses and other Zhou burial objects were discovered at Fengxi, and a concentration of Western Zhou relics and tombs was found in the area of Doumen in Changan County on the east bank of the Feng River.

1991 [1987], Zou Zongxu, translated by Susan Whitfield, The Land Within the Passes: A History of Xian, Viking, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 68:

(archaeology) A hole or trench in the ground, excavated according to grid coordinates, so that the provenance of any feature observed and any specimen or artifact revealed may be established by precise measurement.


adjunct

/ˈæd͡ʒ.ʌŋkt/

From Latin adiunctus, perfect passive participle of adiungō (“join to”), from ad + iungō (“join”). Doublet of adjoint.

(palaeography) A graphic element that modifies another, such as (in Linear B script) a small syllabogram that is attached to a logogram as an abbreviation of an adjective that modifies that logogram (rather than as a phonetic complement that disambiguates the logogram).


mikado

mikado (countable and uncountable, plural mikados or mikado)

Borrowed from Japanese 御門 (mikado), from 御 (mi, “honorable”) + 門 (kado, “gate, portal”).

com

(history) A former title of the emperors of Japan during a certain period.


hole

→ Japanese: ホール (hōru)

→ Korean: 홀 (hol)

Sranan Tongo: olo

Inherited from Middle English hole, hol, from Old English hol (“orifice, hollow place, cavity”), from Proto-West Germanic *hol, from Proto-Germanic *hulą (“hollow space, cavity”), noun derivative of Proto-Germanic *hulaz (“hollow”), which is of uncertain ultimate origin. Related to hollow.

отвор

orifice (see anus etc. for specific body cavities)

know one's ass from a hole in the ground

know one's head from a hole in the ground

know the difference between one's ass and a hole in the ground

(archaeology, slang) An excavation pit or trench.


alligator

]
From early Modern English alligater, alligarta, aligarto, alegarto, alagarto, from Spanish el lagarto (“the lizard”), from Latin lacertus (“lizard”), modern spelling possibly influenced by the unrelated Latin alligator (“one who binds”).

(paleontology) A member of the family Alligatoridae, which includes the caimans.


ochre

From Old French ocre and its source Latin ōchra, from Ancient Greek ὤχρα (ṓkhra, “pale yellow”), from ὠχρός (ōkhrós, “pale, ocher”) (modern Greek ωχρός (ochrós)).

der

(archaeology) Referring to cultures that covered their dead with ochre.


touch

en-verb

touch (third-person singular simple present touches, present participle touching, simple past and past participle touched)

touches (present singular third-person)
touching (participle present)
touched (participle past)
touched (past)
touch (infinitive)
touch (first-person present singular)
touched (first-person past singular)
toucht (archaic first-person past singular)
touch (present second-person singular)
touchest (archaic present second-person singular)
touched (past second-person singular)
touchedst (archaic past second-person singular)
toucht (archaic past second-person singular)
touches (present singular third-person)
toucheth (archaic present singular third-person)
touched (past singular third-person)
toucht (archaic past singular third-person)
touch (plural present)
touched (past plural)
toucht (archaic past plural)
touch (present subjunctive)
touched (past subjunctive)
toucht (archaic past subjunctive)
touch (imperative present)
touching (participle present)
touched (participle past)
toucht (archaic participle past)

From Middle English touchen, tochen, from Old French tochier (“to touch”) (whence Modern French toucher; compare French doublet toquer (“to offend, bother, harass”)), from Vulgar Latin *tuccō (“to knock, strike, offend”), from Frankish *tukkōn (“to knock, strike, touch”), from Proto-Germanic *tukkōną (“to tug, grab, grasp”), from Proto-Indo-European *dewk- (“to draw, pull, lead”). Largely isplaced native Middle English rinen, from Old English hrīnan (whence Modern English rine). Doublet of tuck.
Cognates
Cognate with Old High German zochhōn, zuhhōn (“to grasp, take, seize, snatch”) (whence German zucken (“to jerk, flinch”)), German Low German tucken, tocken (“to fidget, twitch, pull up, entice, throb, knock, repeatedly tap”), Middle Dutch tocken, tucken (“to touch, entice”) (whence Dutch tokkelen (“to strum, pluck”)), Old English tucian, tūcian (“to disturb, mistreat”) (whence Modern English tuck). Compare also Old High German tokkōn, tockōn (“to abut, collide”). Outside Germanic, cognate to Albanian cek (“to touch”), Old Church Slavonic тъкнѫти (tŭknǫti). More at tuck, take.

der

not touch something with a ten-foot pole

The bill was finally touched after many hours of deliberation.

(transitive, Scottish history) To give royal assent to by touching it with the sceptre.


CT

(Egyptology) Initialism of Coffin Texts.


graffiti

en-noun

graffiti (usually uncountable, plural graffiti)

graffiti (plural)
graffito (alternative)

(archaeology, countable) Informal inscriptions, figure drawings, etc., as opposed to official inscriptions.


banshee

banshees (plural)
banshie (alternative dated)
benshee (alternative obsolete)

desc

→ Arabic: بَانْشِي (bānšī)

→ Arabic: بَانْشِي (bānšī)

→ Catalan: banshee

→ Dutch: banshee

→ Esperanto: banŝio

→ Finnish: banshee

→ French: banshee, banshie

→ German: Banshee

→ Japanese: バンシー (banshī)

→ Korean: 반시 (bansi)

→ Northern Kurdish: banşî

→ Portuguese: banshee

→ Russian: ба́нши (bánši), банши́ (banší), ба́ньши (bánʹši), баньши́ (banʹší)

→ Spanish: banshee

Borrowed from Irish bean sí, from Old Irish ben síde (literally “woman of the fairy mound”). The term banshee entered English in 1771.

der

Late had he heard, in prophet's dream, / The fatal Ben-Shie's boding scream […].

1810, The Lady of the Lake, Walter Scott, 3.VII:

(Scotland, Ireland, folklore) A female spirit, usually taking the form of a woman whose mournful wailing warns of an impending death.


neck

The Neck no more upon the river sings.
And no Mermaid to bleach her linen flings
Upon the waves in the mild solar ray.

1828, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, volume I, London: William Harrison Ainsworth, page 234:

(folklore) A shapeshifting water spirit in Germanic mythology and folklore; a nix.


British

From Middle English Brittish, from Old English Brettisċ.
The spelling with single -t- appears in the 13th century under the influence of Medieval Latin Britannicus, but spelling with -tt- persists alongside -t- during the 13th to 17th centuries.
In reference to the island of Great Britain from ca. 1400 (Latin natio Anglica sive Britannica, Brittisshe occean 1398, the Britishe nacion 1548).
As a noun, referring to the British people, British soldiers, etc. from ca. 1600.

Brezhon

history: ancient inhabitants of the southern part of Britain

(history) The earlier inhabitants of southern Britain, prior to the Anglo-Saxon invasion and subsequent migrations.


tribe

PIE word
 *tréyes
From Middle English tribe, tribu, from Old French tribu, from Latin tribus. Doublet of tribus.

the Twelve Tribes of Israel; Germanic tribes; Celtic tribes

The Formation of Kazakh Identity: From Tribe to Nation-state

There have been other encounters with uncontacted tribes in recent years.
In February, a young man from an isolated Indigenous tribe in Brazil made brief contact with the outside world before returning to the Amazon rainforest.

2025 April 4, Lex Harvey and Esha Mitra, “US tourist arrested after allegedly attempting to contact ‘world’s most isolated’ tribe”, in CNN:

(history, anthropology) An ethnic group larger than a band or clan (and which may contain clans) but smaller than a nation (and which in turn may constitute a nation with other tribes). The tribe is often the basis of ethnic identity.


provenance

en-noun

provenance (countable and uncountable, plural provenances)

Borrowed from French provenance (“origin”), from Middle French provenant, present participle of provenir (“come forth, arise”), from Latin provenio (“to come forth”).

This spear is of Viking provenance.

Further support for the Shansi provenance came in 1965, when a bronze quadruped with identical ornamentation and of approximately the same size as the Freer example was unearthed in tomb 126, at Fen-shui-ling, Ch'ang-chih, Shansi Province.

1982, Thomas Lawton, “Bronze Vessels, Fittings, and Weapons”, in Chinese Art of the Warring States Period, Smithsonian Institution, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 79, column 1:

(archaeology) The place and time of origin of some artifact or other object. See Usage notes below.

alkuperä

in archaeology: the place and time of origin of some artifact


cut

cut (countable and uncountable, plural cuts)

From Middle English cutten, kitten, kytten, ketten (“to cut”) (compare Scots kut, kit (“to cut”)), of North Germanic origin, from Old Norse *kytja, *kutta, from Proto-Germanic *kutjaną, *kuttaną (“to cut”), of uncertain origin, perhaps related to Proto-Germanic *kwetwą (“meat, flesh”) (compare Old Norse kvett (“meat”)). Akin to Middle Swedish kotta (“to cut or carve with a knife”) (compare dialectal Swedish kåta, kuta (“to cut or chip with a knife”), Swedish kuta, kytti (“a knife”)), Norwegian Bokmål kutte (“to cut”), Norwegian Nynorsk kutte (“to cut”), Icelandic kuta (“to cut with a knife”), Old Norse kuti (“small knife”), Norwegian kyttel, kytel, kjutul (“pointed slip of wood used to strip bark”). Displaced native Middle English snithen (from Old English snīþan; compare German schneiden), which still survives in some dialects as snithe or snead. See snide. Adjective sense of "drunk" (now rare and now usually used in the originally jocular derivative form of half-cut) dates from the 17th century, from cut in the leg, to have cut your leg, euphemism for being very drunk.

leikkaus

notch, passage, or channel made by cutting or digging

en:any result of cutting, literally or figuratively

(literal, figurative) The result of cutting.

(archaeology) A truncation, a context that represents a moment in time when other archaeological deposits were removed for the creation of some feature such as a ditch or pit.


fly

From Middle English flye (“flying, flight”), from Old English flyge (“flying, flight”), from Proto-Germanic *flugiz.

дюкян

strip that hides the opening of trousers/pants or underpants

(vexillology)
The horizontal length of a flag.


archaic

archaics (plural)
archaeic (alternative archaic hypercorrect)
archæic (alternative archaic hypercorrect)
archaïc (alternative archaic)
archaick (alternative obsolete)

From archaism (“ancient or obsolete phrase or expression”) or from French archaïque, ultimately from Ancient Greek ἀρχαϊκός (arkhaïkós, “old-fashioned”), from ἀρχαῖος (arkhaîos, “from the beginning, antiquated, ancient, old”), from ἀρχή (arkhḗ, “beginning, origin”), from ἄρχω (árkhō, “I am first”), from ἄρχω (árkhō, “I begin”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ergʰ- (“to begin, rule, command”).

der

… Archaic Stage … the stage of migratory hunting and gathering cultures continuing into environmental conditions approximately those of the present.

1958, Wiley, Gordon R., and Philip Phillips, Method and Theory in American Archaeology, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, page #107

(archaeology, US, usually capitalized) The prehistoric period intermediate between the earliest period (‘Paleo-Indian’, ‘Paleo-American’, ‘American‐paleolithic’, etc.) of human presence in the Western Hemisphere, and the most recent prehistoric period (‘Woodland’, etc.).

[...] prefer the third explanation for the advanced-looking features of Neandertals (Chapter 7) and the Ngandong hominins (Chapter 6), but they have had little to say about the post-Erectine archaics from China.

(paleoanthropology) (A member of) an archaic variety of Homo sapiens.


archaic

en-adj

archaic (comparative more archaic, superlative most archaic)

more archaic (comparative)
most archaic (superlative)
archaeic (alternative archaic hypercorrect)
archæic (alternative archaic hypercorrect)
archaïc (alternative archaic)
archaick (alternative obsolete)

(archaeology) Belonging to the archaic period.


bug

bugs (plural)
bugg (alternative obsolete)

First attested in this form around 1620 (referring to a bedbug), from earlier bugge (“beetle”), a conflation of two words:
# Middle English bugge (“scarecrow, hobgoblin”), perhaps from obsolete Welsh bwg ("ghost, hobgoblin"; compare Welsh bwgwl ("threat", older "fear")) or from Proto-Germanic *bugja- (“swollen up, thick”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰew-, *bu- (“to swell”) (compare Norwegian bugge (“big man”), dialectal Low German Bögge (“goblin”, “snot”)). Or, from a word related to buck and originally referring to a goat-shaped spectre.
# Middle English budde (“beetle”), from Old English budda (see sċearnbudda (“dung beetle”)), from Proto-Germanic *buddô, *buzdô, from the same ultimate source as above (compare Low German Budde (“louse, grub”), Norwegian budda (“newborn domestic animal”)). More at bud.
The term is used to refer to technical errors and problems at least as early as the 19th century, predating the commonly known story of a moth being caught in a computer.

cog

given enough eyeballs, all bugs are shallow

We asked Harris if he had any recommendations about seeing the famous trilobite digs. He said we should just drive out to his claim in the Wheeler Quadrangle, and it was just fine with him if we dug a few bugs.

2007, Kirk Johnson, Cruisin' the Fossil Freeway, page 174:


bourgeois

en-noun

bourgeois (usually uncountable, plural bourgeois)

bourgeois (plural)
burgeois (alternative)

Borrowed from French bourgeois (“a class of citizens who were wealthier members of the Third Estate”), from Old French burgeis (“town dweller”), from Frankish *burg, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *burgz (“stronghold; city”) (whence borough). Doublet of burgess; compare also burgish.

der

(history) An individual member of the bourgeoisie, the third estate of the French Ancien Regime.


tell

From Arabic تَلّ (tall, “hill, elevation”) or Hebrew תֵּל (tél, “hill”), from Proto-Semitic *tall- (“hill”).

Succoth is now associated with a large tell situated in the Jordan Valley, Deir Allah.

2001, David L. Lieber, Jules Harlow, Etz Hayim: Torah and Commentary, page 205:

(archaeology) A hill or mound, originally and especially in the Middle East, over or consisting of the ruins of ancient settlements.


change

en-noun

change (countable and uncountable, plural changes)

→ Bulgarian: чейндж (čejndž)

desc

→ Armenian: չեյնջ (čʻeynǰ), չենջ (čʻenǰ)

From Middle English changen, chaungen, from Old French changier, from Late Latin cambiāre, from Latin cambīre (“to exchange, barter”), derived from the noun cambium (“change”) (whence was loaned the English doublet cambium), from Gaulish cambion, earlier *kambyom (“change”), related to Proto-Celtic *kambos (“twisted, crooked”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ḱh₂(e)mbos, *(s)kh₂(e)mbos (“crooked”). More at skimp, scam; see also Proto-Indo-European *kh₂em-.
Cognate with Italian cambiare, Portuguese cambiar, Romanian schimba, Sicilian canciari, Spanish cambiar. Used in English since the 13th century. Displaced Middle English wenden, from wendan (“to turn, change”) (whence wend).
The noun is from Middle English change, chaunge, from Old French change, from the verb changier. See also exchange. Possibly related from the same source is Old English gombe.

der

sexual orientation and gender identity change efforts

the more things change, the more they stay the same

plus ça change(, plus c'est la même chose)

Four bells admit twenty-four changes in ringing.

1669, William Holder, Elements of Speech: An Essay of Inquiry into the Natural Production of Letters: […], London: […] T. N[ewcomb] for J[ohn] Martyn printer to the R[oyal] Society, […], →OCLC:

(campanology) Any order in which a number of bells are struck, other than that of the diatonic scale.


stork

From Middle English stork, from Old English storc, from Proto-West Germanic *stork, from Proto-Germanic *sturkaz, from Proto-Indo-European *sr̥ǵos (“stork”). Near cognates include Dutch stork, German Storch, Swedish stork, and Icelandic storkur. Compare also Latvian stārķis (“stork”), borrowed from Germanic.

My sister's expecting a visit from the stork.

(folklore or euphemistic) The mythical bringer of babies to families, or good news.


salt

en-verb

salt (third-person singular simple present salts, present participle salting, simple past and past participle salted)

salts (present singular third-person)
salting (participle present)
salted (participle past)
salted (past)

PIE word
 *séh₂ls
From Middle English salt, from Old English sealt, from Proto-West Germanic *salt, from Proto-Germanic *saltą, from Proto-Indo-European *séh₂ls (“salt”). Doublet of sal, ultimately from Latin sāl (“salt”), which it superseded as the general term for "salt".

To insert or inject something into an object to give it properties it would not naturally have.

(archaeology) To add bogus evidence to an archaeological site.


blade

From Middle English blade, blad, from Old English blæd (“leaf”), from Proto-West Germanic *blad, from Proto-Germanic *bladą, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰl̥h₃-o-to-m, from *bʰleh₃- (“to thrive, bloom”).
See also West Frisian bled, Dutch blad, German Blatt, Danish blad, Irish bláth (“flower”), Welsh blodyn (“flower”), Tocharian A pält, Tocharian B pilta (“leaf”), Albanian fletë (“leaf”). Similar usage in German Sägeblatt (“saw blade”, literally “saw leaf”). Doublet of blat. More at blow.

teh

typically sharp-edged working end of a knife or other cutting tool

(archaeology) A piece of prepared, sharp-edged stone, often flint, at least twice as long as it is wide; a long flake of ground-edge stone or knapped vitreous stone.


smooth

en-adj

smooth (comparative smoother, superlative smoothest)

smoother (comparative)
smoothest (superlative)
smeeth (alternative dialectal)
smoothe (alternative archaic verb)

From Middle English smothe, smethe, from Old English smēþe, smōþ, both from Proto-West Germanic *smanþī, of unknown origin. Cognate with Scots smuith (“smooth”), Saterland Frisian smoud (“smooth”), Low German smood and smödig (“smooth, malleable, ductile”), Dutch smeuïg (“smooth”) (from earlier smeudig).

a smooth sea never made a skilled sailor

the course of true love never did run smooth

Οὐ becomes οὐκ before a smooth vowel, and οὐχ before an aspirate.

1830, Benjamin Franklin Fisk, A Grammar of the Greek Language, page 5:

(linguistics, classical studies, of a vowel) Lacking marked aspiration.

ilman henkäystä

linguistics, classical studies, of a vowel: lacking marked aspiration


field

→ Japanese: フィールド (fīrudo)

From Middle English feeld, feld, from Old English feld, from Proto-West Germanic *felþu, from Proto-Germanic *felþuz (“field”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pleh₂- (“field, plain”) or *pleth₂- (“flat”) (with schwebeablaut).
Cognate with Scots feld, feild (“field”), North Frisian fjild (“field”), West Frisian fjild (“field”), Dutch veld (“field”), German Feld (“field”), Swedish fält (“field”). Related also to Old English folde (“earth, land, territory”), Old English folm (“palm of the hand”). More at fold.

veld

land area free of woodland, cities, and towns; open country

fushë

sports: area reserved for playing a game

Euclidean domain ⊂ principal ideal domain ⊂ unique factorization domain

Noetherian domain ⊂ integral domain ⊂ commutative ring

Any of various figurative meanings, often dead metaphors.

A physical or virtual location for the input of information in the form of symbols.

(vexillology) The background of the flag.


dictator

dictators (plural)
dictatour (alternative obsolete)

desc

→ Pashto: ديکتاتور (diktātor), ډيکټاټور (ḍikṭaṭor)

→ Swahili: dikteta

→ Urdu: ڈِکْٹیٹَر (ḍikṭeṭar)

→ Urdu: ڈِکْٹیٹَر (ḍikṭeṭar)

From Latin dictātor (“a chief magistrate”), from dictō (“dictate, prescribe”), from dīcō (“say, speak”). By surface analysis, dictate + -or, literally “one who dictates”. Compare Old English tictator (“absolute ruler of the Roman Republic”).

cog

(history) A magistrate without colleague in republican Ancient Rome, who held full executive authority for a term granted by the Senate, typically to conduct a war.


broadsword

broadswords (plural)
broad sword (alternative)

The principal distinction between the broadsword and the rapier is, that the latter is formed only for thrusting, while the former is adapted for cutting also. Indeed, those who use the broadsword are, in my opinion, too apt to neglect the use of the point, and to give their attention almost exclusively to the cuts.

1861, John George Wood, Athletic Sports and Recreations for Boys, page 93:

One version of the broadsword, the Highland broadsword, was adopted as the national sword of Scotland. Another, the schiavona, was Italy's version of the weapon.

1995, Nick Evangelista, The Encyclopedia of the Sword, →ISBN, page 79:

(history) A type of early modern sword that has a broad double-edged blade for cutting (as opposed to the more slender thrust-oriented rapier) and typically a basket hilt.


profile

en-noun

profile (countable and uncountable, plural profiles)

From French profil, from Italian profilo (“a border”), later also proffilo (“a side-face, profile”), from Latin pro (“before”) + filo (“a line, stroke, thread”), from filum (“a thread”); see file. Doublet of purfle.

(archaeology) A smoothed (e.g., troweled or brushed) vertical surface of an excavation showing evidence of at least one feature or diagnostic specimen; the graphic recording of such as by sketching, photographing, etc.

profiili

archaeology: smoothed vertical surface of an excavation


rhinoceros

rhinoceros (plural rhinoceros or rhinoceroses or (uncommon) rhinocerosses or (nonstandard) rhinoceri or (nonstandard) rhinoceroi or (now rare) rhinocerotes)

rhinoceros (plural)
rhinoceroses (plural)
rhinocerosses (plural uncommon)
rhinoceri (nonstandard plural)
rhinoceroi (nonstandard plural)
rhinocerotes (archaic plural)

/ɹɑɪˈnɔs.ə.ɹəs/

From Latin rhīnocerōs, from Ancient Greek ῥῑνόκερως (rhīnókerōs, “nose-horned”), composed of ῥῑ́ς, ῥῑνός (rhī́s, rhīnós, “nose, of (the) nose”) + κέρας (kéras, “horn”).

Rhinos

cf. also the homophones: RINO, RINOs, Republican(s) In Name Only

Rhinoceros Party English Wikipedia has an article on:Rhinoceros Party

(paleontology) A member of the superfamily Rhinocerotoidea, including hornless members of the extinct genus Paraceratherium.


context

en-noun

context (countable and uncountable, plural contexts)

(archaeology) The surroundings and environment in which an artifact is found and which may provide important clues about the artifact's function and/or cultural meaning.


WTO

Warsaw Treaty Organization
w:Warsaw Treaty Organization

(history, international law) Initialism of Warsaw Treaty Organization.


atom

→ Swahili: atomi

From Middle English attome, from Middle French athome, from Latin atomus (“smallest particle”), from Ancient Greek ἄτομος (átomos, “indivisible”), from ἀ- (a-, “not”) + τέμνω (témnō, “I cut”). Atoms are so named because historically the notion was that they were indivisible, given that chemically they are indeed so; the splitting of atoms awaited a later era of science and technology, and nonchemical means. Doublet of atomus.

der

(history of science) A hypothetical particle posited by Greek philosophers as an ultimate and indivisible component of matter.


yu

en-noun

yu (countable and uncountable, plural yu)

A group of slenderer yu also survive from the Shang into the early Chou period, though they are rarer than the other design […] A yu with square body in the Hakuzuru Museum is the finest of these.

1962, William Watson, Ancient Chinese Bronzes, page 34:

(archaeology, countable) An ancient Chinese wine-bucket, often having a decorative cover.


multi

Our Mesozoic antecedents are typified by small size; even the largest of the multis are not larger than a groundhog.

1996, Michael Novacek, Dinosaurs of the Flaming Cliffs, page 316:

(informal, paleontology) A multituberculate.


acephali

From Late Latin, plural of Latin acephalus. See acephal.

(ecclesiastical history) The Eutychians, a Christian sect in the year 482 without a leader. See http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01100c.htm.

(ecclesiastical history) Bishops and certain clergymen not under regular diocesan control.


mail

mail (usually uncountable, plural mails)

From Middle English mayle (“mail armor”), borrowed from Old French maille (“loop, stitch”), from Vulgar Latin *macla, from Latin macula (“blemish, mesh”), probably from Proto-Indo-European *smh₁-tleh₂, from *smeh₁- (“smear, rub”).

thurak

armour consisting of metal rings or plates linked together

The knight is laid in his mail, only the hands and face being bare.

1853, John Ruskin, “Roman Renaissance”, in The Stones of Venice, volume III (The Fall), London: Smith, Elder, and Co., […], →OCLC, § LVII, page 73:

"That's funny looking mail, Sire," said Eustace.
"Aye, lad," said Tirian. "No Narnian dwarf smithied that. […]

(uncountable, history) Armour consisting of metal rings linked together.


matrix

matrices (plural)
matrixes (plural)
matrice (alternative obsolete)

From Middle English matris, matrice, matrix, from Old French matrice (“pregnant animal”), or from Latin mātrīx (“dam, womb”), both ultimately from māter (“mother”). Doublet of mother from Indo-European ancestor.
Slang usage coined with the 1999 sci-fi action film The Matrix.

基質 /基质

analytical chemistry: sampling environment

(archaeology, paleontology) The sediment surrounding and including the artifacts, features, and other materials at a site.

matriu

archaeology: sediment surrounding and including materials


vector

Learned borrowing from Latin vector (“carrier, transporter”), from vehō (“I carry, I transport, I bear”), also ultimately the root of English vehicle.
The “person or entity that passes along an urban legend or other meme” sense derives from the disease sense.
The mathematics sense was coined by Irish mathematician and astronomer William Rowan Hamilton in 1846.

coin

(history) Forces, developments, phenomena, processes, systems, etc. which influence the trajectory of history (e.g. imperialism)


sail

en-noun

sail (countable and uncountable, plural sails)

From Middle English saile, sayle, seil, seyl, from Old English seġl, from Proto-West Germanic *segl, from Proto-Germanic *seglą. Cognate with West Frisian seil, Low German Segel, Dutch zeil, German Segel, Danish sejl, Swedish segel.

mackerel sky and mare's-tails make lofty ships carry low sails

mackerel sky and mare's-tails make tall ships carry low sails

(paleontology) an outward projection of the spine, occurring in certain dinosaurs and synapsids

selkäpurje

paleontology: outward projection of the spine


Piedmont

Derived from Italian Piemonte (“mountain foot”), from Medieval Latin Pedemontium, Pedemontis, from Latin ad pedem montium.

der+

As it was, Greece had no 'Piedmont' with which to begin her Unification – no Piedmont to make alliances with other states, no Piedmontese bureaucracy and diplomatic service, no well-equipped and well-supplied regular army.

1972, Dakin, The Unification of Greece, 1770–1923, →ISBN, page 262:

The rise of an independent Bulgarian state challenged the view of many Serbs that they were the "Piedmont" of the Balkans, the ones to unify all Balkan Slavs.

1994, White, The Territorial Component of Nationalism in Southeastern Europe: The Cases of the Hungarians, Romanians, and Serbs, page 273:

The more influental National Democratic party was founded in 1899, and it hoped to work through existing channels in Austria to create a separate Ukrainian province of eastern Galicia, which someday might become the Piedmont of an independent Ukrainian state on both sides of the Austro-Russian border.

2002, Magocsi, The Roots of Ukrainian Nationalism: Galicia as Ukraine's Piedmont, →ISBN, page 20:

(historiography) Any region that could serve as a basis for national unification, as Piedmont did for the Italian Risorgimento.


Byzantine

en-adj

Byzantine (comparative more Byzantine, superlative most Byzantine)

more Byzantine (comparative)
most Byzantine (superlative)
byzantine (alternative)
Byzantian (alternative)
Bizantian (alternative obsolete)
Bizantine (alternative archaic)

From Late Latin byzantinus, itself from Byzantium. The figurative senses evoke the reputation for palace intrigue of the Byzantium imperial court.

Eastern Roman Empire
Eastern Roman Empire

(history) Belonging to the civilization of the Eastern Roman Empire between 331, when its capital was moved to Constantinople, and 1453, when that capital was conquered by the Turks and ultimately renamed Istanbul.

بِيزَنْطِيّ

belonging to the civilisation of the Eastern-Roman empire


Calabrian

(geology, paleontology) A subdivision of the Pleistocene epoch.


minor

minors (plural)
miner (alternative)
maner (alternative)
minore (alternative)
minour (alternative)
mynor (alternative)
mynour (alternative)
mynowr (alternative)
mi (alternative)

From Middle English minor, menor, menour, etc., from Latin minor (“lesser; young; young person”) both directly and via Norman and Middle French menor, menour, etc. Doublet of minus but not mini-. Cognate with minister, minify, Minorca, Menshevik, and possibly minnow. Compare Latin minimum and minuō, Old High German minniro, Cornish minow.

der

(campanology) Changes rung on six bells.


major

en-adj

major (comparative more major, superlative most major)

more major (comparative)
most major (superlative)
majour (alternative obsolete)

[ˈmeɪ̯d͡ʒɚ(ɹ)]

[ˈmeɪ̯d͡ʒə(ɹ)]

[ˈmæɪ̯d͡ʒə(ɹ)]

From Middle English major, from Latin maior, comparative of magnus (“great, large; noble, important”), from Proto-Indo-European *méǵh₂yōs (“greater”), comparative of *meǵh₂- (“great”). Compare West Frisian majoar (“major”), Dutch majoor (“major”), French majeur. Doublet of mayor.

(campanology) Bell changes rung on eight bells.


major

majors (plural)
majour (alternative obsolete)

[ˈmeɪ̯d͡ʒɚ(ɹ)]

[ˈmeɪ̯d͡ʒə(ɹ)]

[ˈmæɪ̯d͡ʒə(ɹ)]

pääaineopiskelija

student specializing in a specified subject

(campanology) A system of change-ringing using eight bells.


cartouche

Borrowed from French cartouche, from Italian cartuccia, from carta, from Latin charta, from Ancient Greek χάρτης (khártēs). Doublet of cartridge.

Besides the uncial writing on the convex side of the sherd at the top, painted in dull red, on what had once been the lip of the amphora, was the cartouche already mentioned as being on the scarabaeus, which we had also found in the casket.

1887, H. Rider Haggard, chapter 3, in She:

In 1762, Jean-Jacques Barthélemy, a French priest who was a scholar of Eastern languages, had made the inspired guess that the cartouches set off words of great importance, such as the names of gods or rulers.

2013, Margalit Fox, The Riddle of the Labyrinth, Profile 2014, page 49:

(Egyptology, hieroglyphs) An oval figure containing the characters of an important personal name, such as that of royal or divine people.


lex

The 19th and 20th lines of the lex on the tablet (which decree the repeal of the rectigalia) seem to be conclusive in favour of this and against Rudorff's earlier theory.

1891, William Smith, A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, page 55:

Sanctuary arrangements show strong parallels to other regulations in the leges concerning feud and the prosecution of theft.

2018 October 18, Paul R. Hyams, Rancor and Reconciliation in Medieval England, Cornell University Press, →ISBN, page 96:

(history, uncommon) A Roman or Latin law (particularly in ancient Rome or in medieval Europe).


metropolis

en-noun

metropolis (plural metropolises or metropoleis or metropoles or metropolizes or metropoli or (obsolete) metropolisses or (obsolete) metropolis's)

metropolises (plural)
metropoleis (plural)
metropoles (plural)
metropolizes (plural)
metropoli (plural)
metropolisses (obsolete plural)
metropolis's (obsolete plural)

Borrowed from Late Latin mētropolis, from Ancient Greek μητρόπολις (mētrópolis, “mother city”), from μήτηρ (mḗtēr, “mother”) + πόλις (pólis, “city (state)”). By surface analysis, metro- + -polis. Doublet of metropole.

der

Colonies certainly did not become "clones" of their metropolises, but it is equally false that their colonial heritages were not influenced by the organization of the metropolises.

2010, James Mahoney, Colonialism and Postcolonial Development: Spanish America in Comparative Perspective:

(history, especially Ancient Greece) The mother (founding) polis (city state) of a colony.


culture

en-noun

culture (countable and uncountable, plural cultures)

cultures (plural)
culcha (alternative pronunciation-spelling)

From Middle French culture (“cultivation; culture”), from Latin cultūra (“cultivation; culture”), from cultus, perfect passive participle of colō (“till, cultivate, to grow, worship”) (related to colōnus and colōnia), from Proto-Indo-European *kʷel- (“to move; to turn (around)”).

der

archaeological culture
archaeological culture#English

(archaeology) Short for archaeological culture (“recurring assemblage of artifacts from a specific time and place that may constitute the material culture remains of a particular past human society”).


soul

en-noun

soul (countable and uncountable, plural souls)

souls (plural)
sowl (alternative)
soule (alternative)

→ German: Soul

→ Esperanto: soulo

→ French: soul

→ Hungarian: soul

→ Italian: soul

→ Japanese: ソウル

→ Polish: soul

→ Portuguese: soul

→ Romanian: soul

→ Russian: со́ул (sóul)

→ Scots: sowel

→ Spanish: soul

→ Ukrainian: со́ул (sóul)

From Middle English soule, sowle, saule, sawle, from Old English sāwol (“soul, life, spirit, being”), from Proto-West Germanic *saiwalu, from Proto-Germanic *saiwalō (“soul”), of uncertain ultimate origin (see there for further information). Cognate with Scots saul, sowel (“soul”), North Frisian siel, sial (“soul”), Saterland Frisian Seele (“soul”), West Frisian siel (“soul”), Dutch ziel (“soul”), German Seele (“soul”) Scandinavian homonyms seem to have been borrowed from Old Saxon *siala. Modern Danish sjæl, Swedish själ, Norwegian sjel, Icelandic sál, Finnish sielu may have come from Old English sāwol.

inh

1836, Hans Christian Andersen (translated into English by Mrs. H. B. Paull in 1872), The Little Mermaid
"Among the daughters of the air," answered one of them. "A mermaid has not an immortal soul, nor can she obtain one unless she wins the love of a human being. On the power of another hangs her eternal destiny. But the daughters of the air, although they do not possess an immortal soul, can, by their good deeds, procure one for themselves.

No matter how early I came down, I would find him on the veranda, smoking cigarettes, or[…]. And at last I began to realize in my harassed soul that all elusion was futile, and to take such holidays as I could get, when he was off with a girl, in a spirit of thankfulness.

1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter IV, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC, page 46:

Flowey: See that heart? That is your SOUL, the very culmination of your being!

2015 September 15, Toby Fox, Undertale, Linux, Microsoft Windows, OS X:

(religion, folklore) The spirit or essence of a person usually thought to consist of one's thoughts and personality, often believed to live on after the person's death.

аԥсы

the spirit or essence of a person that is often believed to live on after the person's death


World War I

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-World War I.wav

WWI (alternative)
World War 1 (alternative)
World War One (alternative)

(history) The war from 1914 to 1918 between the Entente Powers of the British Empire, Russian Empire, France, Italy, the United States and other allied nations, against the Central Powers represented by the German Empire, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, and Bulgaria.

第１次世界大戦

だいいちじせかいたいせん


Middle Ages

the Middle Ages (canonical)
Middle Age (alternative)
middle Age (alternative)
middle age (alternative)
Middle ages (alternative)
middle Ages (alternative)
middle ages (alternative)
Mid. Ages (alternative abbreviation)

The Geography of the middle Ages, ſays Mr. Juncker, ought to begin with the Diviſion of the Roman Empire made by Theodoſius the Great, about the End of the fourth Century, and muſt not reach farther than the Time of the Emperor Maximilian I. who divided Germany into Circles in the beginning of the XVIth Century.

1722, Memoirs of Literature, second edition, volume VI, London: Robert Knaplock · Paul Vaillant, article xxxix. Leipsick., page 296:

Middle''' Age denotes the ſpace of time commencing from Conſtantine, and ending at the taking of Conſtantinople by the Turks, in the fifteenth century. Martin. Dial. Geogr. in Pref. Mem. de Trev. an. 1729. p. 1359. See alſo Bibl. Univ. T. 12. p. 393. ſeq.

1753, Ephraim Chambers, edited by George Lewis Scott and John Hill, A Supplement to Mr. Chambers’s Cyclopædia; or, Univerſal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences., volume I, London: several publishers, s.v. AGE, subentry Middle''' Age:

The Third and last Part will be rather Historical than Critical, being an Essay on the Taste and Literature of the middle Age.

a. 1780, James Harris, Philological Inquiries, in three parts, part I, London: Charles Nourse, published 1781, epistle dedicatory, page 4:

The Interval between the fall of these two Empires (the Weſtern or Latin in the fifth Century, the Eaſtern or Grecian in the fifteenth) making a ſpace of near a thouſand years, conſtitutes what we call the Middle Age.
The Middle Age in this usage spans the years 476–1453.

The Middle Ages, according to the division I have adopted, comprize about one thousand years, from the invasion of France by Clovis to that of Naples by Charles VIII.

1818, Henry Hallam, View of the State of Europe during the Middle Ages, third edition, volume III, London: John Murray, published 1822, chapter ix: “On the State of Society in Europe during the Middle Ages.”, part i, page 304:

A term usually employed to denote, somewhat vaguely, a space of several centuries in European annals, intervening between what are called the ancient and modern periods of history. The centuries between the ninth or tenth and the end of the fifteenth after Christ are generally comprehended under this loose denomination. In the work of Mr. Hallam on the Middle Ages, that historian has assumed as his period of commencement the conquest of Gaul by the Franks, about A. D. 500; and, for his conclusion, the invasion of Italy by Charles VIII., about 1500; and with reference to the affairs of the Greeks and their oriental neighbours, he places, as the most convenient limit between ancient and modern history, the era of Mohammed.

1842, William Thomas Brande, Joseph Cauvin, editors, A Dictionary of Science, Literature, & Art, London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, s.v. MIʹDDLE AGES, page 741/1:

His acquaintance with the Middle Age generally may without injustice be pronounced slight; and though well informed as to the history of the Continent, his knowledge of it, as we shall have occasion to see, was not so accurate or deep.

1882, James Cotter Morison, Macaulay (English Men of Letters), New York: Harper & Brothers, chapter iii: “The ‘Essays.’”, page 70:

Within two centuries of its [scil. the Nicene Creed’s] promulgation, the Græco-Roman world had descended into the great hollow which is roughly called the Middle Ages, extending from the fifth to the fifteenth century, a hollow in which many great, beautiful and heroic things were done and created, but in which knowledge, as we understand it, and as Aristotle understood it, had no place.

1887, James Cotter Morison, The Service of Man. An Essay towards the Religion of the Future., London: Kegan Paul, Trench & Co., chapter vii: “What Christianity has done”, pages 177–178:

She could see the town below her, nestled on top of a low hill, surrounded by a crenellated wall from the Middle Ages.

2001, Eoin Colfer, Artemis Fowl (Artemis Fowl; book 1 of 8), Viking, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 52:

(history) The period of primarily European history between the decline of the Western Roman Empire (antiquity) and the early modern period or the Renaissance; the time between c. 500 and 1500 CE.


trench

Borrowed into Middle English from Old French trenche. Doublet of tranche and traunch. Possible doublet of English: truncate

(archaeology) A pit, usually rectangular with smooth walls and floor, excavated during an archaeological investigation.


trench

en-verb

trench (third-person singular simple present trenches, present participle trenching, simple past and past participle trenched)

trenches (present singular third-person)
trenching (participle present)
trenched (participle past)
trenched (past)

(archaeology) To excavate an elongated and often narrow pit.


ancient

en-adj

ancient (comparative ancienter or more ancient, superlative ancientest or most ancient)

ancienter (comparative)
more ancient (comparative)
ancientest (superlative)
most ancient (superlative)
anchient (alternative obsolete)
aunchient (alternative obsolete)
auncient (alternative obsolete)
auntient (alternative obsolete)
awncient (alternative obsolete)
awntient (alternative obsolete)
ancyent (alternative obsolete)
antient (alternative)

From Middle English auncyen, from Old French ancien, from Vulgar Latin *anteānus, composed of Latin ante (“before”) + -ānus (adjective-forming suffix). The non-etymological /t/ is by analogy with the common ending -ent.

(history) Relating to antiquity as a primarily European historical period; the time before the Middle Ages.


antiquity

en-noun

antiquity (countable and uncountable, plural antiquities)

antiquities (plural)
antiquitie (alternative obsolete)

From Middle English antiquyte, antiquite, antiquytee, a borrowing from Old French antiquité, antiquitet, from Latin antiquitas, from antiquus. Equivalent to antique + -ity. See antique, antic. Compare with French antiquité.

(history) The historical period preceding the Middle Ages (c. 500-1500), primarily relating to European history.

starożytność

the historical period preceding the Middle Ages


lunate

From Latin lūnātus (“crescent-shaped”), from lūna (“moon”).

(archaeology) A small stone artifact, probably an arrowhead, with a blunt straight edge and a sharpened, crescent-shaped back, especially characteristic of the Mesolithic Period


YBP

Baked clay ornaments and other objects dating from 28,000 YBP have been discovered in Eastern Europe, […]

2022, Cherl-Ho Lee, Korean Food and Foodways: The Root of Health Functional Food, Springer Nature, →ISBN, page 23:

(archaeology, geology, paleontology) Initialism of years before present.


anastylosis

From Ancient Greek αναστήλωσις (anastḗlōsis).

(archaeology) The reassembly of ruined monuments or other artifacts from remaining fragments in an archeologically responsible way (with use of modern materials when needed).


proprietor

/pɹəˈpɹaɪətɚ/

From 10 September 1621 till 12 June 1632, Sir William Alexander, styled Earl of Stirling and Viscount of Canada, was proprietor of the Scottish colony Nova Scotia.

(history) One or more persons to whom a colonial territory is assigned, like a fief, including its administration.


counterpart

From Middle English conterpart, countre parte (“duplicate of a legal document”), equivalent to counter- + part. Compare Old French contrepartie, itself from contre (“facing, opposite”) (from Latin contra (“against”)) + partie (“copy of a person or thing”) (originally past participle of partīre (“to divide”)).

(paleontology) Either half of a flattened fossil when the rock has split along the plane of the fossil.


complement

complement (countable and uncountable, plural complements)

From Middle English complement, from Latin complēmentum (“that which fills up or completes”), from compleō (“I fill up, I complete”) (English complete). Doublet of compliment. The verb is from the noun.

der

(palaeography, phonetics) A phonetic complement is a graphic element that modifies another, such as (in Linear B script) a small syllabogram that is attached to a logogram as an abbreviation of its reading (as opposed to an adjunct that abbreviates an adjective that modifies that logogram).


novel

Borrowed from Latin novella, feminine of novellus.

The normal and natural relationship of emperor and churchman was summed up by Justinian in one of his novels […]

1979, Jeffrey Richards, The Popes and the Papacy in the Early Middle Ages, 476–752, page 15:

(classical studies, historical) A new legal constitution in ancient Rome.


devil

devils (plural)
davil (alternative pronunciation-spelling)
debbil (alternative pronunciation-spelling)
diuel (alternative archaic dialectal)
divel (alternative archaic dialectal)
deuill (alternative obsolete)
devel (alternative obsolete)
devell (alternative obsolete)
devill (alternative obsolete)
diuell (alternative obsolete)

Tok Pisin: tewel

→ Chuukese: tefin

Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *dwóh₁
Proto-Indo-European *dwísder.
Ancient Greek διά (diá)
Ancient Greek δια- (dia-)
Proto-Indo-European *gʷelH-der.
Ancient Greek βᾰ́λλω (bắllō)
Ancient Greek διαβάλλω (diabállō)
Ancient Greek διάβολος (diábolos)bor.
Latin diabolusbor.
Proto-West Germanic *diubul
Old English dēofol
Middle English devel
English devil
From Middle English devil, devel, deovel, from Old English dēofol, dēoful, from earlier dīobul (“devil”), from Latin diabolus, ultimately from Ancient Greek διάβολος (diábolos, “false accuser, slanderer”), also as "Satan" (in Jewish/Christian usage, translating Biblical Hebrew שָׂטָן (śātān)), from διαβάλλω (diabállō, “to slander”), literally “to throw across”, from διά (diá, “through, across”) + βάλλω (bállō, “throw”). The Old English word was probably adopted under influence of Latin diabolus (itself from the Greek). Other Germanic languages adopted the word independently: compare Saterland Frisian Düüwel (“devil”), West Frisian duvel (“devil”), Dutch duivel, duvel (“devil”), German Low German Düvel (“devil”), German Teufel (“devil”), Bavarian Teifl (“devil”), Danish djævel (“devil”), Swedish djävul (“devil”) (older: djefvul, Old Swedish diævul, Old Norse djǫfull). Doublet of diable, diablo, and diabolus.

der

better the devil you know than the devil you don't know

better the devil you know than the one you don't know

devil is beating his wife and marrying his daughter

he who sups with the devil should have a long spoon

the devil we know is better than the devil we don't know

the devil you know is better than the devil you don't know

(folklore) A fictional image of a man, usually red or orange in skin color; with a set of horns on his head, a pointed goatee and a long tail and carrying a pitchfork; that represents evil and portrayed to children in an effort to discourage bad behavior.


pax

From Middle English pax and Latin pax (“peace”). Doublet of peace. See peace. As school slang, originally used at Winchester College, Hampshire, in the United Kingdom.

(history) Any of several notable periods of peace in human history, particularly owing to unquestionable hegemony on the model of the Pax Romana.


potsherd

potsherds (plural)
potshard (alternative)
pot-sherd (alternative)

From Middle English pot-sherd, pot-schord, pot scherd, pot scarth, from Middle English pot, pote, potte (“a container, pot, vessel; especially an earthenware vessel”) (from late Old English pot, pott (“a pot”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *budn- (“a type of vessel”)) + Middle English sherd (“piece of fired clay or broken earthenware; potsherd”) (from Old English sceard (“a shard, sherd”), from Proto-Germanic *skardą (“a nick, notch”)); equivalent to pot + sherd (“shard”).

inh

But this madde Amalecke, / Lyke to a Mamelek, / He regardeth lordes / No more than potshordes; […]

a. 1530 (date written), John Skelton, “Here after Foloweth a Lytell Boke, whiche hath to Name Why Come Ye Nat to Courte? […]”, in Alexander Dyce, editor, The Poetical Works of John Skelton: […], volume II, London: Thomas Rodd, […], published 1843, →OCLC, page 41, lines 475–476:

[W]ho can deny but that the rod of Gods mouth is indeed Virga virtutis, a rod of strength, an iron rod, able to deale with all humane reaſonings, as a hammer with a potſherd, which though to the hand of a man it may feele as hard as a rocke, yet is too brittle to endure the blow of an iron rod?

1632, Edward Reynoldes [i.e., Edward Reynolds], “Verse 2”, in An Explication of the Hvndreth and Tenth Psalme: […], London: Imprinted by Felix Kyngston for Robert Bostocke, […], →OCLC, page 149:

Job took a potſherd to ſcrape himself, becauſe his hands were as full of boils as his body: This is the caſe of thy corrupt ſoul: not to be recovered but by Jeſus Chriſ, whoſe ſtrength was dried up like a potſherd, Pſal[ms] xxii. 15.

1720, [Thomas Boston], “State II, Namely, The State of Nature, or of Entire Deprivation”, in Human Nature in Its Four-fold State: […], Edinburgh: Printed by Mr. James McEuen and Company, […]; Michael Boston, editor, Human Nature in Its Fourfold State, […], new edition, Falkirk, Stirlingshire: Printed and sold by Patrick Mair, 1784, →OCLC, head I (The Sinfulness of Man’s Natural State), page 85:

[I]n the case of pottery, it [epigraphy] is usually taken to include graffiti scratched with a sharp point, and even painted inscriptions which are made before firing as part of the design of a vase, but not written documents (ostraka), in which pot-sherds are merely used as a material to write on instead of papyrus.

1916, E. S. Roberts, E[rnest] A[rthur] Gardner, “Criticism and Interpretation [VIII. 2. Epigraphy.]”, in Leonard Whibley, editor, A Companion to Greek Studies: Edited for the Syndics of the University Press, 3rd revised and enlarged edition, Cambridge: At the University Press, →OCLC, section 737 (Definition and Scope), page 687:

Speiser, who made excavations on Vao Island found prehistoric potsherds at a depth of 10 inches, and on the surface of the ground also.

1950, Alphonse Riesenfeld, “Megalithic Monuments and Megalithic Culture”, in The Megalithic Culture of Melanesia, Leiden: E. J. Brill, →OCLC, page 115:

I have been asked about the single most important artifact that I have seen. It is a single broken piece of pottery no bigger than a couple of inches, but its interpretation makes it one of the most significant artifacts in Jewish history. It is an inscribed potshard (a fragment of pottery) from Masada (in Israel) marked with the name "ben Yair." […] While it remains a single potshard marked in ink, it is a powerful symbol of what motivates archaeologists in the field: a simple object that signifies an entire historical event.

2012, Richard A. Freund, Digging through History: Archaeology and Religion from Atlantis to the Holocaust, Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, →ISBN, page 18:

(often archaeology) A piece of ceramic from pottery, often found on an archaeological site.


clavis

From Latin clāvis (“a key”). Doublet of clave and clef.

Iron clavis, the solid web-shaped at the edges to fit the wards in the lock, and having a pointed broach and a kite-formed looped haft.

1873, “Proceedings of the Association”, in Journal of the British Archaeological Association, volume 29, April 9th, page 202:


Germanic

/d͡ʒɜːˈmæn.ɪk/

Learned borrowing from Latin germānicus.


royal

royals (plural)
r. (alternative abbreviation)
roial (alternative obsolete)
roiall (alternative obsolete)
royall (alternative obsolete)
royaler (alternative obsolete)

From Middle English royal, from Old French roial (Modern French royal), from Latin rēgālis, from rēx (“king”). Doublet of regal (“befitting a king”), real (“unit of currency”), ariary, and riyal. Cognate with Spanish real. Displaced native Old English cynelīċ.

doublet

(campanology) Bell changes rung on ten bells.


Abilene

Named for the town of Abilene, Texas, near where the artifacts were discovered.

(archaeology) Belonging to a prehistoric culture of central Texas, characterized by oval grinding stones.


Abbasid

Abbasids (plural)
ʿAbbāsid (alternative)
Abbassid (alternative archaic)
Abbaside (alternative archaic)
Abbasside (alternative archaic)

From Medieval Latin Abbasidēs, from Abbas + -idēs (patronymic suffix). By surface analysis, Abbas + -id (dynastic suffix).

surf

The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles

Oxford University Press
w:Oxford University Press

A member of the dynasty of caliphs that ruled from Baghdad, from about 750 to 1250, claiming ancestry of Abbas.

عَبَّاسِيّ

member of the dynasty that ruled from Baghdad from about to 750 to 1250


Abbasid

ʿAbbāsid (alternative)
Abbassid (alternative archaic)
Abbaside (alternative archaic)
Abbasside (alternative archaic)


World War II

[ˌwɜːɫd ˌwɔː ˈtuː]

[ˌwɝɫd ˌwɔɚ̯ ˈtu]

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-World War II.wav

From world war + two. The term was used for a hypothetical future war as early as 1919. It was first applied to the 1939–45 war in a Time article dated 11 September 1939.

As students all over the United States knuckle down to learning, the rumble of war drums once more proclaims Mars high man in Europe. Discarding morbid curiosity, every student should consider it vitally necessary to get a general picture of the causes, movements, and possible effects of World War II. The average U. S. citizen's knowledge of World War II will probably decide his role in it.

1939 November 10, “Following The War”, in The Chart, volume I, number 1, Joplin, Missouri: Joplin Junior College, page 4, column 1:

Nothing since the beginning of World War II, a year ago last September, has boosted British morale or given them greater courage to fight on as has this brilliant Libyan campaign.

1941 March, Frederick M. Barrows, “The War in Africa”, in Command and General Staff School Military Review, volume XXI, number 80, →OCLC, page 23, column 1:

If Demandt's essay served as a strident example of the German desire for normalcy, a more subtle example was provided by a brief allohistorical depiction of a Nazi victory in World War II written by German historian Michael Salewski in 1999.

2005 May 23, Gavriel D. Rosenfeld, The World Hitler Never Made: Alternate History and the Memory of Nazism, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 182:

The tiny island of Tinian was the launch point for American planes carrying atomic bombs to Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. Now a new runway is being carved from the jungle, just south of World War II ruins inked with mildew.

2023 March 25, Damien Cave, “An Anxious Asia Arms for a War It Hopes to Prevent”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-03-25:

(history) The war from 1939 to 1945 of the Allied forces, including the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, the United States, France, and China, against the Axis Powers, including Germany, Italy, and Japan.

מִלְחֶמֶת הָעוֹלָם הַשְּׁנִיָּה \ מלחמת העולם השנייה

Great Patriotic War

primarily in a Soviet or Russian context


trireme

From Latin trirēmis, from tri- + rēmus (“oar”).

(history, nautical, archaic) A galley with three banks of oars, one above the other, used mainly as a warship.


BRB

(archaeology) Initialism of bevelled-rim bowl or bevel-rimmed bowl: a small, undecorated, mass-produced clay bowl, most commonly from the 4th millennium B.C.


Old English

Wiktionary’s coverage of Old English terms

(linguistics, history) The ancestor language of Modern English, also called Anglo-Saxon, spoken in most of Britain from about 400 to 1100.

(Ireland, history) A historical ethnic group in Ireland descended from Norman invaders from Britain from the 12th century to the 17th century.


kite

Borrowed from Coptic ⲕⲓⲧⲉ (kite), from Demotic qt, from Egyptian qdt.

[…] in the great Harris papyrus, […] precise quantities are recorded by weight in terms of the deben (about 2½ oz.) and the qite (¼ oz.) of gold, silver, copper and precious stones, without any reference to their value. […] Five pots of honey were bought for five qite of silver and an ox for five qite of gold.

1981, Pierre Montet, “The Arts and the Professions”, in A[ymer] R[obert] Maxwell-Hyslop, Margaret S[tefana] Drower, transl., Everyday Life in Egypt in the Days of Ramesses the Great, Philadelphia, Pa.: University of Pennsylvania Press, →ISBN, page 167:

[I]t was found necessary to employ media of exchange, and emmer wheat and silver were both used for this purpose. The latter was particularly favoured, but it was normally treated by weight, being measured in kite (9.53 g) and deben (10 kite) in purely Egyptian contexts, though foreigners such as the Jewish mercenaries at Elephantine could use their own metrological systems.

1983, Allen B. Lloyd, “The Late Period, 664–323 BC”, in B[ruce] G[raham] Trigger, B[arry] J[ohn] Kemp, D[avid Bourke] O’Connor, A. B. Lloyd, Ancient Egypt: A Social History (Cambridge History of Africa), Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, published 2001, →ISBN, page 328:

The scribe of the temple Sedy set out with the pure priest and goldsmith Tuty for the frames; they removed one deben and three and a half qite of gold, which they took for the chief of the gang Pameniu.

2003, Pascal Vernus, “The Plunder of Western Thebes”, in David Lorton, transl., Affairs and Scandals in Ancient Egypt: Translated from the French, Ithaca, N.Y., London: Cornell University Press, →ISBN, page 25:

In the Saite and Persian Periods, Abnormal Hieratic and Demotic texts usually measure value as weights of silver. […] The weights of silver are almost always either the deben of 91 grams, or the kite of 9.1 grams. In the Persian Period, Demotic texts sometimes also refer to staters equated to two kite, or five to the deben.

2016, Brian Muhs, “The Saite and Persian Periods (664–332 BCE)”, in The Ancient Egyptian Economy: 3000–30 BC, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, pages 189–190:

The shekel was an Israelite unit of weight that appears to have weighed about 10g, and so it is the rough equivalent of the Egyptian kite, which also weighed about 10g.

2017 May, Ralph Ellis, “King David”, in Solomon, Pharaoh of Egypt, 4th edition, Cheshire: Edfu Books, →ISBN, page 57:

(Egyptology) A measure of weight equivalent to ¹⁄₁₀ deben (about 0.32 ounces or 9.1 grams).


section

From Middle English seccioun, from Old French section, from Latin sectiō (“cutting, cutting off, excision, amputation of diseased parts of the body, etc.”), from sectus, past participle of secāre (“to cut”). More at saw.

разрэ́з

surgery: incision or the act of making an incision

archeological sequence
archeological sequence

(archaeology) Archeological section; vertical plane and cross-section of the ground to view its profile and stratigraphy; part of an archeological sequence.


modern

en-adj

modern (comparative moderner or more modern, superlative modernest or most modern)

moderner (comparative)
more modern (comparative)
modernest (superlative)
most modern (superlative)

premodern

antonym(s) of “pertaining to the modern period”

From Middle French moderne, from Late Latin modernus; from Latin modo (“just now”), originally ablative of modus (“measure”); hence, by measure, "just now". See also mode.

(history) Pertaining to the modern period (c.1800 to contemporary times), particularly in academic historiography.

moderne

pertaining to history from c. 1800 onwards


brownie

en-noun

brownie (countable and uncountable, plural brownies)

→ Belarusian: бра́ўні (bráŭni)

→ Chinese: 布朗尼 (bùlǎngní)

→ Dutch: brownie

→ French: brownie

→ German: Brownie

→ Hungarian: brownie

→ Irish: donnóg (calque)

→ Italian: brownie

→ Japanese: ブラウニー (buraunī)

→ Lithuanian: braunis

→ Norwegian Nynorsk: brownie

→ Polish: brownie

→ Portuguese: brownie

→ Russian: бра́уни (bráuni)

→ Kazakh: брауни (brauni)

→ Spanish: brownie

→ Thai: บราวนี (bpraao-níi)

→ Turkish: brownie, browni, brovni

→ Welsh: browni

From brown + -ie (diminutive suffix). In folkloric sense, originally Scots.

Thus, offer Brownie a piece of bread, a cup of drink, or a new coat and hood, and he flouted at it, and perhaps, in his huff, quitted the place for ever ; but leave a nice bowl of cream, and some fresh honeycomb, in a snug private corner, and they soon disappeared, though Brownie, it was to be supposed, never knew any thing of them.

1828, Thomas Keightley, Fairy Mythology, volume II, page 169:

"Oh, auntie, do you know what Stine says?" cried a little brown-eyed beauty; "she says I shall go with her into the hayloft to-night and give the brownie his Christmas porridge."

1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 5:

1908, Dinah Craik, The Adventures of A Brownie:

Stories were told of a brownie riding horseback to fetch the midwife at childbirth or helping his master to win at checkers.

1985, The Encyclopedia Americana, volume 1, page 636:

There are no brownies in my house, though. I know because there's always a pile of dishes in the sink.

2004, Justin Hocking, Jeffrey Knutson, Jared Jacang Maher, editors, Life and Limb: Skateboarders Write from the Deep End, page 37:

(folklore) A mythical creature, a helpful elf who would secretly do people's housework for them.


dolphin

From Middle English delphyn, from Latin delphīnus, from Ancient Greek δελφίς (delphís), from δελφύς (delphús, “womb”); the modern form in -ol- is probably influenced by the pronunciation of Middle French dauphin. Compare Swedish delfin. Doublet of dauphin. Displaced native Old English mereswīn (literally “sea pig”).

ncog

(history) A mass of iron or lead hung from the yardarm, in readiness to be dropped through the deck and the hull of an enemy's vessel to sink it.


fabric

en-noun

fabric (countable and uncountable, plural fabrics)

→ Irish: fabraic

Borrowed from French fabrique, from Latin fabrica (“a workshop, art, trade, product of art, structure, fabric”), from faber (“artisan, workman”). Doublet of forge, borrowed from Old French.

der

(archaeology) The fired clay material of pottery artifacts.


-id

Borrowed from Middle French -ide m, from Latin -idēs m (patronymic suffix; plural: -idae), from Ancient Greek -ίδης m (-ídēs, patronymic suffix; plural: -ίδαι (-ídai)).

patronymic suffix; plural: <i class="Latn mention" lang="la">-idae</i>

patronymic suffix; plural: <i class="Polyt mention" lang="grc">-ίδαι</i> (-ídai)

Perseus + -id → Perseid (dynast)

Solomon + -id → Solomonid

Umayya + -(i)d → Umayyad

Genghis + -id → Genghisid

Osman + -id → Osmanid

[Ismail] Safavi + -(i)d → Safavid

(history) Forming the names of dynasts, being suffixed to the name of their progenitors and meaning “descendant of”.

protocone (“cusp of upper molars”) + -id → protoconid (“equivalent for lower molars”)

(dentistry, paleontology) Forming the names of cusps of lower (mandibular) teeth.


industry

en-noun

industry (countable and uncountable, plural industries)

From Middle English industry, industrie, from Old French industrie, from Latin industria (“diligence, activity, industry”), from industrius (“diligent, active, zealous”), from Old Latin indostruus (“diligent, active”); origin unknown. Perhaps from indu (“in”) + ūst-, ūstr-, stem of ūrō (“burn, burn up, consume”, verb), related to Old High German ūstrī (“industry”), Old English andūstrian (“to hate, detest”, literally “to be consumed with zeal”).

cog

(archaeology) A typological classification of stone tools, associated with a technocomplex.


ancora

From Latin ancora. Doublet of anchor and anker.

(palaeography) Either of the symbols ⟨⸔⟩, ⟨⸕⟩ found in marginal notes to mark missing text.


ziggurat

ziggurats (plural)
ziggarat (alternative)
zigurat (alternative)
ziqqurat (alternative)
ziqqurrat (alternative)
zikkurat (alternative)
zikurat (alternative)

Learned borrowing from Akkadian 𒅆𒂍𒉪 (ziqqurratum).

lbor

It would be uplifting to think that the ziggurat was the first expression of Near Eastern civilization, for then one could speak about humanity's fascination with the heavens, of the human quest for communion with the infinite.

1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 159:

(archaeology) A temple tower of the ancient Mesopotamian valley, having the form of a terraced pyramid of successively receding stories


fill

en-noun

fill (countable and uncountable, plural fills)

From Middle English fille, vülle, fülle, from Old English fyllu, from Proto-West Germanic *fullī, from Proto-Germanic *fullį̄ (“fullness”). Cognate with German Fülle.

(archaeology) Soil and/or human-created debris discovered within a cavity or cut in the layers and exposed by excavation; fill soil.


chopper

(archaeology) A crude tool with an irregular cutting edge formed by removing flakes from one side of a stone.

kirves

archaeology: crude tool with an irregular cutting edge


balk

From Middle English balke, from Old English balca, either from or influenced by Old Norse bálkr (“partition, ridge of land”), from Proto-Germanic *balkô. Cognate with Dutch balk (“balk”), German Balken (“balk”), Italian balcone (“balcony”).

der

(archaeology) The wall of earth at the edge of an excavation.


dun

duns (plural)
doon (alternative)
dún (alternative)

From Irish dún or Scottish Gaelic dùn, from Proto-Celtic *dūnom (“fortress”). Cognate with Welsh dinas (“city”). Doublet of town.

Smaller than the broch was the dun, another type of stone-built 'roundhouse'.

2013, T.J. Clarkson, The Makers of Scotland: Picts, Romans, Gaels and Vikings, Edinburgh: Birlinn, →ISBN:

(archaeology) A structure in the Orkney or Shetland islands or in Scotland consisting of a roundhouse surrounded by a circular wall; a broch.


hetman

From Polish hetman, probably from Middle High German houbetman, heuptman (“commander”), from Old High German houbitman, from Proto-West Germanic *haubidamann. Compare modern German Hauptmann (“captain”), Haupt, Mann. The Polish e in hetman attests to a borrowing from an East Central German dialect, in which Middle High German -öu- gives -ē-. Doublet of head man.


lithic

(archaeology, often capitalised) pertaining to Native American culture before circa 8,500 BCE


ovate

Slightly derived handaxes from the Mildenhall glaciofluvial sands, generally in fresh condition and dominated by ovates and cordates.

2012, Paul Pettitt, Mark White, The British Palaeolithic, page 122:


vail

en-verb

vail (third-person singular simple present vails, present participle vailing, simple past and past participle vailed)

vails (present singular third-person)
vailing (participle present)
vailed (participle past)
vailed (past)

From Middle English valen; either from Anglo-Norman valer or a clipping of avalen. Compare avale.

(transitive, vexillology) To lower or “dip” a carried flag or banner in a salute by a forward reducing of the angle of the pike/flagstaff with respect to the ground; in extreme instances, as when saluting a monarch, both the banner and the finial of the pike are allowed to rest upon the ground.


flake

From Middle English flake (“a flake of snow”), from Old English flacca and/or Old Norse flak (“loose or torn piece”) (compare Old Norse flakna (“to flake or chip”)), from Proto-Germanic *flaką (“something flat”), from Proto-Indo-European *pleh₂- (“flat, broad, plain”). Cognate with Norwegian flak (“slice, sliver”, literally “piece torn off”), Swedish flak (“a thin slice”), Danish flage (“flake”), German Flocke (“flake”), Dutch vlak (“smooth surface, plain”) and vlok (“flake”), as well as with Latin plaga (“flat surface, district, region”) and Welsh llech (“slate, tablet”). Doublet of plage.

cog

(archaeology) A prehistoric tool chipped out of stone.


foliation

en-noun

foliation (countable and uncountable, plural foliations)

/fəʊlɪˈeɪʃn/

From French foliation, from Latin folium (“leaf”).

(codicology, publishing) The numbering of the folios of a manuscript or a book.


robust

en-adj

robust (comparative more robust or (uncommon) robuster, superlative most robust or (uncommon) robustest)

more robust (comparative)
robuster (comparative uncommon)
most robust (superlative)
robustest (superlative uncommon)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-I learned some phrases-robust.wav

robust association of massive baryonic objects

(chiefly zoology, anthropology, paleontology) Of an individual or skeletal element: strongly built; muscular; not gracile.


scraper

ҡырғыс

an instrument by which anything is scraped

Instead, they made finely crafted bone points to haft onto their spears, reserving the use of flint mostly for blades and scrapers.

2018, Tim Flannery, Europe: A Natural History, page 218:

An instrument with which anything is scraped.

(archaeology) A prehistoric unifacial tool thought to have been used for hideworking and woodworking.


marble

en-noun

marble (countable and uncountable, plural marbles)

Inherited from Middle English marble, marbre; from Anglo-Norman and Old French marbre, from Latin marmor, from Ancient Greek μάρμαρος (mármaros), perhaps related to μαρμάρεος (marmáreos, “gleaming”). The forms from French displaced Old English marma, which had previously been borrowed from Latin.

The Elgin Marbles were originally part of the temple of the Parthenon.

[I]t was a portrait of the Library, though not strictly correct as to its contents, since all the best of the marbles displayed in various parts of the house were brought into the painting by the artist, who made it up into a picturesque composition according to his own taste.

1828, JT Smith, Nollekens and His Times, Century Hutchinson, published 1986, page 164:

(in the plural, archaeology) Statues made from marble.


troll

Partly:
* from Middle English trol (“demon (?); sorcerer (?)”) [and other forms], from Old Norse trǫll (“conjurer, mage; witch”), from Proto-Germanic *truzlą (“supernatural being; demon, fiend; giant; monster”), probably from *trudaną (“to step on; to tread”) + *-ilą (suffix forming agent nouns); and
* borrowed from Norwegian Bokmål troll, Swedish troll, or Danish trold, from Old Norse trǫll (see above).
Doublet of droll and trow.
Cognates
* Danish fortrylle (“to bewitch”), trylle (“to conjure”)
* Icelandic tröll
* Middle High German trol, trolle (“spook, wraith; ogre, monster”)
* Norwegian fortrylle (“to bewitch”), trylle (“to conjure”)
* Swedish trolla (“to conjure”)

der

He followed their advice, and rode through a rye-field, where the Trolls were unable to follow him, but in their exasperation cried after him, "The red cock shall crow over thy dwelling." And behold! his house stood in a blaze.

1851, Benjamin Thorpe, “Norwegian Traditions. [The Girl at the Sæter.]”, in Northern Mythology, […], volumes II (Scandinavian Popular Traditions and Superstitions), London: Edward Lumley, […], →OCLC, page 7:

The Scandinavian fancied himself surrounded by Trolls,—a kind of goblin men, with vast power of work and skilful production,—divine stevedores, carpenters, reapers, smiths, and masons, swift to reward every kindness done them, with gifts of gold and silver.

1856, R[alph] W[aldo] Emerson, “Ability”, in English Traits, Boston, Mass.: Phillips, Sampson, and Company, →OCLC, page 81:

The bear got so angry that he rushed at the trolls and scratched them all over, while Peter took the other handspike and hammered away at them as if he wanted to beat their brains out. The trolls had to clear out at last, but Peter stayed and enjoyed himself with all the Christmas fare the whole week. After that the trolls were not heard of there for many years.

1881, P. Chr. Asbjörnsen [i.e., Peter Christen Asbjørnsen], “Peter Gynt”, in H. L. Brækstad, transl., Round the Yule Log. Norwegian Folk and Fairy Tales, London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle, & Rivington, →OCLC, page 150:

In these manuscripts we are again in an atmosphere of eotens and trolls, there are traces of even older terrors, when the first Teuton settlers in Europe struggled with the aborigines who lived in caves, hints as elusive as the phantom heroes in the Saxon poems, and as unforgettable.

1922, Eleanour Sinclair Rohde, “The Anglo-Saxon Herbals”, in The Old English Herbals, London: Longmans, Green and Co. […], →OCLC, page 3:

(originally Scandinavian mythology, now also European folklore and fantasy) a giant supernatural being, especially a grotesque humanoid creature living in caves or hills or under bridges.

طْرُول

giant supernatural being; grotesque humanoid creature living in caves or hills or under bridges


Santa Claus

Santa Clauses (plural)
Santa Clause (alternative)
Santaclaus (alternative)
Santa Klaus (alternative)
Santiclaus (alternative)
Santy Claus (alternative)
Santeclaus (alternative)

Borrowed from Dutch Sinterklaas (“Saint Nicholas”). Doublet of Sinterklaas.

bor+

Last Monday the Anniversary of St. Nicholas, otherwise called St. A Claus, was celebrated at Protestant-Hall.

1773 December 26, New York Gazette, p. 3

The noted St. Nicholas, vulgarly called Santaclaus—of all the saints in the kalendar the most venerated by true hollanders, and their unsophisticated descendants.

Here, too, the winter festivals are just commencing; and the toy-shops are full of dolls and gew-gaws for the Bifana, who acts here the same comedy for children that Santiclaus does in America.

1828 November, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, letter to his mother from Italy

This is one of the developments Karl Marx failed to predict. Had he foreseen it he might have expired in guffaws, rolling in the aisle of the British Museum Library amid the notes for Das Kapital, that bearded Santa Claus of the revolution who slipped the unwanted gift of communism down the world's chimneys.

1937 August, Lawrence Martin, "The Odyssey of a Bogeyman", Esquire, Vol. 8, No. 2, p. 39

Emmeline: Oh Richard, you can't know everything. Only God knows everything.
Richard: God—He can't find us any better than Santa Claus.

1980, Douglas Day Stewart, The Blue Lagoon:

By 1900, department-store Santa Clauses were common – lodged in grottoes, cottages, and workshops or on thrones, they presided over a never-ending stream of children.

2005, Gerry Bowler, “Santa the Adman”, in Santa Claus: A Biography, McClelland & Stewart, →ISBN, page 142:

(folklore) A figure said to bring presents to people (especially children) at Christmas time.

Christkind

Christmas; different figure with same role


fairy ring

The idea of a ring where fairies danced was a traditional explanation for the fungal phenomenon before it was understood.

They are fond of music and dancing. It is their dancing that forms the fairy rings.

1828, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, volume I, London: William Harrison Ainsworth, page 262:

1914, "Rhys at the Fairy Dance" in Maud Keary, Enchanted Tulips and Other Verses for Children, Macmillan and Company, page 102,
Though many a year has passed away, / None have seen Rhys since that day! / Does he dance and does he sing / For ever in a Fairy Ring?

Welsh folklore also reveals few references to fairy rings but there is a fine example found in the legend "Rhys at the Fairy Dance" (collected in 1827) in which Rhys is lost but found again when several people venture to a nearby fairy ring.

1972, North Carolina Folklore Society, North Carolina Folklore Journal, Volumes 20-21: 1972-1973, page 51:

(folklore) A place where fairies congregate in a ring, particularly in order to dance.


outlaw

From Middle English outlawe, outlagh, utlaȝe, from Old English ūtlaga (“outlaw”), borrowed from Old Norse útlagi (“outlaw, fugitive”), equivalent to out- + law. Cognate with Icelandic útlagi (“outlaw”).

(history) A criminal who is excluded from normal legal rights; one who can be killed at will without legal penalty.


Father Christmas

en-proper noun

Father Christmas (plural Father Christmases or Father Christmasses or Fathers Christmas)

Father Christmases (plural)
Father Christmasses (plural)
Fathers Christmas (plural)

The old men who had moustaches came with their breath frozen on them, and looked like so many old Father Christmasses: although all seemed poor and were indifferently clad, they almost all looked in good health and spirits.

1879 May, “Famine Relief. Welcome Words from Shan-si in a letter from Mr. James.”, in J[ames] Hudson Taylor, editor, China’s Millions, number 47, London: Morgan and Scott, […], page 63, column 2:

Again Donna Maria’s anger was interrupted by the rising of the curtain; or, rather, diverted from Carlo’s décadent æsthetics to the extreme badness of the mise en scène, to rows of Father Christmasses and ladies in grey waterproofs, who bellowed and gesticulated as unhappy shades at the gates of hell, and the chains of thick thighed and tight waisted furies who capered about in the rose-coloured Bengal light.

1889 June, Vernon Lee [pseudonym; Violet Paget], “Orpheus in Rome: Irrelevant Talks on the Use of the Beautiful”, in The Contemporary Review, volume LV, London: Isbister and Company […], section I, page 833:

The five Father Christmases walked slowly on, oblivious alike of the children who gaped at them and the man-hunt that was taking place under their noses.

1939, Nicholas Blake [pseudonym; Cecil Day-Lewis], The Smiler with the Knife, Harper & Row, page 199:

‘Yeah, I’ve seen those things they think are gnomes,’ said Ron, bent double with his head in a peony bush. ‘Like fat little Father Christmases with fishing rods …’

1998 July 2, J. K. Rowling [pseudonym; Joanne Rowling], “The Burrow”, in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Harry Potter; 2), London: Bloomsbury Publishing, →ISBN:

At the beginning of the 1990s, therefore, Bardo moved to the current establishment, and was finally able to house his Father Christmases in the style they deserve.

2003, Piers Letcher, Eccentric France: The Bradt Guide to Mad, Magical and Marvellous France, Bradt Travel Guides; The Globe Pequot Press, →ISBN, page 207:

At Christmas, also in 2004, members processed as Fathers Christmas, employing the slogan ‘Put the fathers back into Christmas’.

2007, Duncan Watts, Pressure Groups (Politics Study Guides), Edinburgh University Press, →ISBN, page 122:

After the confrontation with the fictitious peer’s solution process, namely actually drawing rectangles around the Fathers Christmas’ irregular shapes, in Phase 4, another nine of the remaining 22 students (five 12–13- and four 15–16-year olds^([sic])) exchanged their initial linear answer for the correct nonlinear one.

2007, Dirk De Bock, Wim Van Dooren, Dirk Janssens, Lieven Verschaffel, The Illusion of Linearity: From Analysis to Improvement, Springer, →ISBN, page 103:

I was paid £1.92 an hour to wear a pink tutu and entertain the children waiting to see the two Father Christmases (one on either side of the grotto) as the increasingly irate families inched their way past the hour wait markers.

2011, Clare Hemmings, “Crossings”, in Kathy Davis, Mary Evans, editors, Transatlantic Conversations: Feminism as Travelling Theory, Routledge, published 2016, →ISBN, part I (Becoming a Feminist in a Transatlantic Context), page 29:

The smiling carol singers and the laughing Father Christmasses on the television seemed to make my misery more acute.

2016, Bryony Gordon, “I think I might be dying”, in Mad Girl, London: Headline Publishing Group, →ISBN, page 20:

In 1836, English artist Robert Seymour illustrated Thomas K. Hervey’s Book of Christmas with a couple of boozy, wild-haired Fathers Christmas that set the tone for the next fifty years in which the London newspapers were more likely to emphasize the good father’s drinking than anything else.

2020, Tom A. Jerman, Santa Claus Worldwide: A History of St. Nicholas and Other Holiday Gift-Bringers, McFarland & Company, →ISBN, pages 166–167:

In 1958, it was reported that for "the fourth year in succession, staff of four South London stations have combined to decorate the booking hall at Peckham Rye station". They installed a nativity scene, models of Father Christmas, and a sleigh driven by huskies, and Christmas trees were placed around the station.

2023 December 27, David Turner, “Silent lines...”, in RAIL, number 999, page 29:

(folklore) A mythical figure said to bring presents to people (especially children) at Christmas time.


will o' the wisp

en-noun

will o' the wisp (plural will o' the wisps)

will o' the wisps (plural)
will-o'-the-wisp (alternative)
will-o'-wisp (alternative)
will of the wisp (alternative)
will-in-the-wisp (alternative)
Will-with-the-wisp (alternative)

/ˌwɪləðəˈwɪsp/

Will (“male given name”) + of + the + wisp (“bundle of straw or hay used as a torch”)

1988, Michael Weikath, "Keeper of the Seven Keys", Helloween, Keeper of the Seven Keys: Part II.
Will o' the wisps / Misguiding your path / You can't throw a curse / Without takin' their wrath

Any of several kinds of pale, flickering light, appearing over marshland in many parts of the world with diverse folkloric explanations and multiple possible scientific explanations including bioluminescence and chemiluminescence.

(British folklore) A flickering light or lantern, especially over bogs, swamps or marshes, held by a supernatural creature who uses it to lure travelers at night to their demise.


swastika

swastika (countable and uncountable, plural swastikas)

Learned borrowing from Sanskrit स्वस्तिक (svastika), from सु- (su-, “good, well”) + अस्ति (asti), a verbal abstract of the root of the verb "to be", स्वस्ति (svasti) thus meaning "well-being" — and the diminutive suffix क (ka); hence "little thing associated with well-being", corresponding roughly to "lucky charm". First attestation in English in 1871, a Sanskritism that replaced the Grecian term gammadion. From 1932 onwards it often referred specifically to the version used by the National Socialist German Workers’ Party (also called the "hooked cross", or German Hakenkreuz).

sauwastika

left-facing; symbolizing the night or the tantric aspects of Kali

"Is that what you think of me? I believe in the Grail, not the Swastika!"

1989, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, spoken by Dr. Elsa Schneider (Alison Doody):

“I can’t imagine anyone believes in Communist culprits instead of a contract job commissioned on behalf of the swastika.”

2011, Rudolph Herzog, translated by Jefferson Chase, Dead Funny: Humor in Hitler's Germany, Brooklyn: Melville House, →ISBN, page 36:

(fascism, history, metonymic, uncountable) Nazi rule.

hakenkreuz

chiefly in India referring to the Nazi swastika


cadet

Borrowed from French cadet, from Gascon capdet, from Late Latin capitellum (“small head”). Attested in English from 1634.
Doublet of caddie, cadel, capital, capitellum, caudillo, and Kadet.

doublet

Bertram is certainly well off for a cadet of even a Baronet's family. By the time he is four or five and twenty he will have seven hundred a year, and nothing to do for it.

1814 May 9, [Jane Austen], chapter V, in Mansfield Park: […], volume II, London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC, page 114:

(chiefly history) A younger or youngest son, who would not inherit as a firstborn son would.


Iron Age

/ˈʌɪən eɪdʒ/

From iron + age, in the mythological sense a calque of Latin saecula ferrea, aetas ferrea; in the archaeological sense a calque of Danish jernalder.

(archaeology) A level of culture in which humans used iron and the technology of ironworking. (Estimated to have begun in Europe about 1100 BC)


Jurassic

/d͡ʒʊˈɹæs.ɪk/

Borrowed from French Jurassique, named for the discovery and type location in the Jura Mountains of Switzerland.

[p 108] Like the Forest Marble Beds in the Middle Jurassic, the Purbeck Beds of the Upper Jurassic are deltaic or estuarine in origin, so as well as mammals they contain small, presumably freshwater, crocodiles and the first indisputable lizards.
[p 109] This is less surprising if it is recalled that in the Upper Jurassic, Europe and North America were joined to form Laurasia and the Atlantic Ocean still had to be formed …

D. M. Kermack, K. A. Kermack, The Evolution of Mammalian Characters

(geology, paleontology) The period from 201.3±0.2 to 145 million years ago, after the Triassic and before the Cretaceous; the geologic systems of this period.


halo

From Latin halōs, from Ancient Greek ἅλως (hálōs, “threshing floor; disk; disk of the sun or moon; ring of light around the sun or moon”), of unknown origin. The threshing floor's circular threshold or oxen walking on it in a circle gave rise to the other meanings. Used in English since 1563; the sense of light around someone’s head since 1646.

aureole

luminous disc around head of saints in paintings

massive astronomical compact halo object

massive astrophysical compact halo object

(art, religion, iconography) a circular annulus ring, frequently luminous, often golden, floating above the head


horizon

Inherited from Middle English orisonte, orisoun, from Middle French horizon, horizonte, from Old French orisonte, orison, via Latin horizōn, from Ancient Greek ὁρίζων (horízōn), from ὅρος (hóros, “boundary”).

(archaeology, chiefly US) A cultural sub-period or level within a more encompassing time period.


sloth

en-noun

sloth (countable and uncountable, plural sloths)

sloths (plural)
sleuth (alternative)
sloath (alternative)
slowth (alternative)

From Middle English slouthe, slewthe (“laziness”), from Old English slǣwþ (“sloth, indolence, laziness, inertness, torpor”), from Proto-West Germanic *slaiwiþu, from Proto-Germanic *slaiwiþō (“slowness, lateness”), equivalent to slow + -th (abstract nominal suffix). Cognate with Scots sleuth (“sloth, slowness”).

inh

(countable) Any animal in the suborder Folivora.

(paleontology) Any of the extinct group of ground sloths.


optimum

From New Latin, neuter of Latin optimus (“best, very good”), from the root or in ops (“work”), omnis (“all”).

(geology, paleontology, climatology) Any long period of time marked by a persistently warm climate; a climatic optimum.