Obscure origins

MYSTERY, mysterious and mystify do sound as if they are connected with misty, since mist obscures vision. But, mist is an old English word and the mystery words are derived from the Greek mystos, meaning to remain silent. Nickname is another such word which seems to be derived from the verb nick meaning to catch or the French faire la nique meaning to make fun of. The true origin is quite different. The word was not nickname actually, but ekename, where eke means something added, extra. The word was wrongly divided and created when ‘an ekename’ became ‘a nekename,’ and later nickname — just as ‘an ewt’ became ‘a newt’ and ‘a napron’ became ‘an apron.’

Miniature (very small) and minion (petty official) have nothing to do with mini or minute. Miniature goes back to the Latin miniatura derived from the Latin minium or red lead. This produced the verb miniace, to paint in a red colour, and was the word used for highlighting manuscripts. These were done on a very small scale — hence the word miniature. Minion comes from the French mignon which originally meant darling or a delicately small person. The evolution to today’s babu went like this: delicate person, lady-love, loved one, favourite, farming servant, servile attendant and petty worker. The mis — in misogynist also has nothing to do with the ‘mis’ in mistrust or misunderstand. Mis comes from the Greek misein (to hate) and the other half is based on gyne (woman). The opposite should be philogynist, since phile means lover. Philogynist does sound better than playboy or casanova.

A leotard may look as slinky as a leopard, but it has nothing to do with any animal. Leotard takes its origin from the French acrobat Jules Leotard who found that conventional clothing hampered his movement as a trapeze artiste. He designed the leotard in order to feel free and light in his moves.

Tap-root

Ardhtatsam words form another sub-class of Sanskrit-related words. Whenever articulation became difficult or meaning became too complex or the common reader demanded simplicity or diction became artificial and stilted, Sanskrit words underwent minor changes through usage in daily life or literary texts. For example, janm became Janam, dharm became dharam, kripa became kirpa, prasad became parsad and agni became agan.

— Deepti