filter (n.) - c.1400, from M.L. filtrum

July 18, 2003 8:03 AM

The Online Etymology Dictionary. I'll be spending most of my day here.
posted by Ufez Jones (18 comments total)

ETYMOLOGY Fr-Fu fracas - 1727, from Fr. fracas, from It. fracasso "uproar, crash," from fracassare "to ...
posted by four panels at 8:04 AM on July 18, 2003

Needless to say, I've been spending part of my days there for a long time now. A great resource. (Don't know why I never thought of posting it here; guess I didn't think MeFites were interested in etymology. Well, we'll find out now.)
posted by languagehat at 8:06 AM on July 18, 2003

languagehat, methinks you should post more often, if you've got more gems like this up your linguistic sleeve.

Thanks for the great post, Ufez Jones!
posted by vraxoin at 8:17 AM on July 18, 2003

Jones: for the surname, see John. In phrase keep up with the Joneses, 1913, Amer.Eng., from the title of a comic strip by Arthur R. Momand. The slang sense "intense desire, addiction" probably from earlier use of Jones as a synonym for "heroin," presumably from the proper name, but the connection, if any, is obscure.

Great reference & a fun toy - thanks!

madam: 13c., from O.Fr. ma dame, lit. "my lady." Meaning "female owner or manager of a brothel" is first attested 1871.
Juju: closest entry was jujube: jujube - 14c., from M.L. jujuba (pl.), from L. zizyphum, an Asiatic tree with datelike fruit, from Gk. zizyphon, from Pers. zayzafun. The meaning "soft candy with date-like flavor" first recorded 1835.
Jive: 1928, "to deceive playfully," Amer.Eng., from Black English, probably of African origin (cf. Wolof jev, jeu "talk about someone absent, especially in a disparaging manner"). Used late 1930s for a style of fast, lively jazz and dance music and for New York City African-American slang.
posted by madamjujujive at 8:19 AM on July 18, 2003

Sweet.
posted by gleuschk at 8:20 AM on July 18, 2003

Here's a vote for Mefites being interested in etymology. Thanks, Ufez.
posted by soyjoy at 8:53 AM on July 18, 2003

excellent - c.1340 (implied in excellently), from O.Fr. excellent, from L. excellentem (nom. excellens), prp. of excellere (see excel). First record of excellency "high rank" is c.1200; as a title of honor it dates from c.1325
post (3) - "mail system," 1506, from post (2) on notion of riders and horses posted at intervals along a route to speed mail in relays. Postage "cost of sending something by mail" is from 1654; postmark is 1678; postage stamp is 1840; postman first recorded 1529; postcard is from 1870

I love the Internet.
posted by 111 at 9:03 AM on July 18, 2003

heh. juju is a fruity, lying whore!
kidding, dear, just kidding. no wait! really! OUCH!
posted by quonsar at 9:28 AM on July 18, 2003

Dude! Like they know the origin of every word.
posted by seanyboy at 9:31 AM on July 18, 2003

Funky also was used early 20c. Thanks, Ufez Jones. That settles a bet and my pockets will be lined with silver later today. I'm rich, rich, I tell you!

Only yesterday I almost broke up with MetaFilter, and today is one of the kick-assiest (look it up) link days ever.
posted by iconomy at 9:36 AM on July 18, 2003

Does anyone know where "grassroots" came from? It's not in there.
posted by CunningLinguist at 9:54 AM on July 18, 2003

reefer - "marijuana cigarette," 1920s, perhaps an alteration of Mex.Sp. grifo "marijuana, drug addict;" or perhaps from reef (2), on resemblance to a rolled sail
posted by BirdD0g at 10:06 AM on July 18, 2003

Holy shit! This website rocks!

Shat is a humorous past tense form, not etymological, from 18c. Shit-faced "drunk" is 1960s student slang; shit list is from 1942.

Rock 'n' roll (n.) as a specific style is from 1954, though it had been a Black Eng. euphemism for "sexual intercourse," used in popular dance music lyrics since at least the 1930s. Shortened form rock first attested 1957.

And I never knew this...

Flying fuck originally meant "have sex on horseback" and is first attested c.1800 in broadside ballad "New Feats of Horsemanship."
posted by BirdD0g at 10:41 AM on July 18, 2003

on resemblance to a rolled sail

Yeah, that might be part of it... considering that those rolled sails were made of...

canvas - 1260, from Anglo-Fr. canevaz, from O.Fr. canevas, from V.L. *cannapaceus "made of hemp," from L. cannabis, from Gk. kannabis "hemp," a Scythian or Thracian word.

I know, I know, none of you give a sex-on-horseback about this.
posted by soyjoy at 11:04 AM on July 18, 2003

Flying fuck originally meant "have sex on horseback"

I wonder if there was a 100th of a Mile High Club.
posted by iconomy at 11:11 AM on July 18, 2003

now we know why so few people actually give a sex on horseback.
posted by quonsar at 2:11 PM on July 18, 2003

Just wanted to add my vote. Great post.
posted by jlbartosa at 2:39 PM on July 18, 2003

gives thanks to [another heroin addict] Ufez. I did spend my day on that site. No, really, I did. This is a vote, with two thumbs up. (sorry - joke to self).
posted by vers at 5:45 PM on July 18, 2003