the Christian-Latin origin of ‘Noël’
French—from the noun use of the Latin adjective ‘natalis’ (from Christian-Latin ‘natalis dies’, ‘day of birth’), denoting the festival of the nativity of Christ
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origin of ‘R.S.V.P.’
early 19th century—initialism from French ‘répondez s’il vous plaît’ (‘respond if you please’), used at the end of invitations to request a response
Read MoreThe phrase ‘to pull one’s weight’ originated in rowing.
origin: a rower who does not pull the oar with a force appropriate to his or her weight fails to make the contribution expected by the rest of the crew
Read Morethe Roman origin of ‘Punic faith’
from Latin ‘Pūnica fidēs’, literally ‘Phoenician faith’, meaning ‘perfidy’, with reference to Carthage, the enemy of Rome over several centuries
Read Morethe mistaken origin of ‘white elephant’ in the Oxford English Dictionary
refers to the rarity of white elephants and to the story that the king of Pegu waged war on the king of Siam, who had refused to sell him one
Read Morethe theatrical origin of ‘claptrap’
first half of the 18th century—‘clap trap’: a use of language designed to capture (i.e. trap) a theatrical audience’s applause (i.e. clapping)
Read Morethe melodramatic origin of ‘cloak-and-dagger’
possibly from ‘cloak and sword’, from Spanish ‘(comedia) de capa y espada’, a type of dramas in which the main characters wore cloaks and swords or daggers
Read Moreorigin of ‘vamoose’
from Spanish ‘vamos’, ‘let us go’—first recorded as ‘vamos’ in ‘Every Night Book; or, Life after Dark’ (London, 1827), by the English author William Clarke
Read Morethe Shakespearean origin of ‘sea change’
from ‘Full Fathom Five’, Ariel’s song to Ferdinand in ‘The Tempest’, by Shakespeare, where ‘sea change’ denotes a change brought about by the action of the sea
Read More‘something is rotten in the state of Denmark’: origin
from the observation made by the soldier Marcellus in ‘Hamlet’, by Shakespeare, when the eponymous character is following the ghost of his father
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