origin of the phrase ‘the bitch goddess’ (material success)
11 September 1906 in a letter addressed to the English novelist H. G. Wells by the American philosopher and psychologist William James
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origin of ‘rival’: one using the same stream as another
From ‘rīvus’, ‘a stream’, the Latin adjective ‘rīvālis’ (of, or belonging to, a stream) was used as a plural noun, ‘rīvāles’, to denote persons who have to use the same stream, and persons who have the same mistress, competitors in love.
Read Morethe authentic origin of ‘between the devil and the deep blue sea’
early 17th century, with ‘the Dead Sea’ and ‘the deep sea’—originated in the image of a choice between damnation (‘the Devil’) and drowning (‘the sea’)
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word histories 