Word origins - online sources

Question

Are there any good online sources for word origins?Trevor

Usenet · Accepted Answer

[nq:1]Are there any good online sources for word origins?[/nq]
I frequently seem to drift to http://www.etymonline.com/. My latest lookup is "sculduddery" (not to be confused with Hamlet's skulldiggery).

"Wandering Willie's Tale" by Walter Scott
So saying, he led the way out through halls and trances that were weel kend to my gudesire, and into the auld oak parlor; and there was as much singing of profane sangs, and birling of red wine, and blasphemy sculduddery as had ever been in Redgauntlet Castle when it was at the blythest.

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]Are there any good online sources for word origins?[/nq]
Are you trying to raise my blood-pressure or something? The biggest source, for English words, is OED, and the contemptibly stingy ******** make it available on line for a price few people, not even my local public library, can afford. If you have a few hundred quid to spare every year, go to "Oxford Dictionaries" or some such search term and tell them your debit card details.
The British public and politicians being what they are, they spent the Millennium celebration money on a temporary plastic dome in Greenwich and some fireworks instead of on making the nitty-gritty of our thousand-year common heritage available to everybody.

Several university libraries make the OED available on line for members only: this is the only case where I would encourage you to use any hacking skills you may have to gain access to a private network. I would if I knew how: it's probably incredibly easy.

Mike.

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]Are there any good online sources for word origins?[/nq]
[nq:1]I frequently seem to drift to http://www.etymonline.com/. My latest lookup is "sculduddery" (not to be confused with Hamlet's skulldiggery).[/nq]
I actually wanted to find the origins of the following: toy, fun.

From your quoted source:
toy - c.1303, "amorous playing, sport," later "piece of fun or entertainment" (15c.), "thing of little value, trifle" (1530), and "thing for a child to play with" (1580s). Of uncertain origin, and there may be more than one word here (cf. Du. tuig "tools, apparatus, stuff, trash," in speeltuig "play-toy, plaything;" Dan. toi "stuff, gear"). The verb is 1529, from the noun.
- not that useful.

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]Are there any good online sources for word origins?[/nq]
[nq:1]Are you trying to raise my blood-pressure or something?There are a lot of online etymology sources, but I was looking for one recommended by people working in language fields.[/nq]
I am looking up word origins when I creating domain names for the Internet. This is because brokers have bought most common names, and others are too long. I am therefore looking at origins of words.
I lived in Germany and my German (although very limited) helps a lot with word origins, since a lot of English came from Platt Deutsch.

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]I frequently seem to drift to http://www.etymonline.com/. My latest lookup is "sculduddery" (not to be confused with Hamlet's skulldiggery).[/nq]
[nq:1]I actually wanted to find the origins of the following: toy, fun. From your quoted source: toy - c.1303, "amorous ... trash," in speeltuig "play-toy, plaything;" Dan. toi "stuff, gear"). The verb is 1529, from the noun. - not that useful.[/nq]
For whatever use it is, the OED has:
(Toy n. and vb. (formerly toye) have been in common use since c 1530, when both are given by Palsgr., and used by Skelton and Tindale. But a single instance of toye n., apparently the same word, occurs in Robert of Brunne. It is difficult to conceive how such a word in use c 1300 should thus disappear for two centuries, and then should all at once burst into view with a wide sense-development. The etymology is equally problematic, and, in spite of current conjectures, must still be considered unascertained: see Note below.)
(Note. Eduard Müller suggested the identity of toy with Du. tooi, late MDu. tôi, 16th c., ?attire, ornament, finery, dress?, which suits the form, but hardly the sense (exc. ? in 10 or 7). Others have thought of Du. tuig ?harness, horse-trappings?, in pl. ?sails, rigging, implements, tools; stuff, lumber, refuse, trash?; in Kilian
1599 tuygh, dial. tuych, tugh, ?arms, implements, armaments,impedimenta, ornaments?, = Ger. zeug ?apparatus, tools, gear, furniture, stuff, trash, etc.?, LG. tüg, tüüg, MLG. tûch, tûg. But, if the sense-development shown above is historically correct, it is difficult to see in either of these suggestions, the origin of the English word. It is indeed true that Du. speeltuig, Ger. spielzeug, and Da. legetoi, mean ?play-tool or implement, plaything, toy?, and that Sidney in 1586 used ?playing toy?, which might conceivably be a rendering of one of these compounds; but this would still leave the earlier English history unexplained.)

Charles Riggs
For email, take the air out of aircom
and replace with eir

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Couldn't find an origin for Monkey Wrench. I suspect late 1800s hardware trade jargon with some maritime influence.

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[nq:1]Couldn't find an origin for Monkey Wrench. I suspect late 1800s hardwaretrade jargon with some maritime influence.[/nq]
I remember a thread about this before. I have come across this: 42j4%241%40mozo.cc.purdue.edu&rnum=16&prev=/groups%3Fq%3Dmonkey%2Bwrench%26h l%3Den%26lr%3D%26ie%3DUTF-8%26oe%3DUTF-8%26start%3D10%26sa%3DN

Steve Howarth

Usenet · Answer

Couldn't find an origin for Monkey Wrench. I suspect late 1800s hardware trade
[nq:1]jargon with some maritime influence.[/nq]
I remember a thread about this before. I have come across this: http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&threadm=aqu41q%2 42j4%241%40mozo.cc.purdue.edu&rnum=16&prev=/groups%3Fq%3Dmonkey%2Bwrench%26h l%3Den%26lr%3D%26ie%3DUTF-8%26oe%3DUTF-8%26start%3D10%26sa%3DN >>
Is it still a thread if it only contains one message?

You know, the dadblamed thread is shorter than your URL for it.

Here is the thread in its entirety.

I remember some discussion in this group about how the monkey wrench got its name.
Just today I was told that the monkey wrench is named after its inventor, a London blacksmith named Charles Moncke.
Just wondering if this is worth posting it.

I saw message in my search, also, but I don't consider a lone voice in the wilderness as influential as a statement supported or appended by others. Not enough history, to drop a name. The same amount and sort of info has been used to name the Crapper, and that is apocryphal, or so a friend of a friend tells me.

Word origins - online sources

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