Root
|
Etymology
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Meaning
|
Word
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Palantine Hill
|
Emperor’s residence on this hill of Rome
|
An opulent residence for a ruler
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Palace
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Kē-chiap
|
Chinese Amoy sauce of pickled fish and spices. The recipe changed as it moved around the worldi
|
Spicy sauce made chiefly from tomatoes and vinegar
|
Ketchup
|
French: ‘Genoa’
|
French word for the town where a twill fabric was invented. A coarser version was made in Nimes
|
Heavy cotton twirled material
|
Jean
|
Björn serkr
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Old Norse ‘bear coat’.
|
One who fights with uncontrolled ferocity
|
Berserker
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Greek: ‘ball of yarn’
|
Ariadne gave Theseus a ball of yarn to help him find his way out of the labyrinth
|
Something that points the way to solving a problem
|
Clue
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John Duns Scotus
|
Philosopher and theologian who died before the Reformation, when his followers were ridiculed for adhering to his teachings
|
Someone who can’t learn.
|
Dunce
|
Latin: ‘knee’
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Roman father would hold a newborn child on his knee to confirm paternity
|
Authentic, truly what it is said to be
|
Genuine
|
Admiral’s grogham cloak
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Admiral Vernon’s nickname came from this cloak. He decreed that all his sailors should have rum every day, so the drink also got this nickname, as did its effect
|
Weak and unsteady, unable to think clearly
|
Groggy
|
Al-zahr
|
13th century Arabic for the dice used for gambling. Crusaders brought the games home
|
Danger; risk; chance
|
Hazard
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Medieval Italian: ‘Bad air’
|
Infectious fever believed to be caused by the bad air around swamps
|
Disease carried by parasite transmitted by mosquitoes
|
Malaria
|
? + Mare
|
German: Evil female spirit who sits on your chest, suffocating you
|
Bad dreams
|
Nightmare
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Ostrakon
|
Ancient Greek: shard of broken pottery used for closed ballot regarding potential exile of someone thought to be becoming too powerful for democracy to thrive
|
Exclude from a society or group
|
Ostracise
|
Italian ‘forty days’
|
During the Black Death ships were put into isolation on islands offshore for this period to attempt to halt the disease
|
Isolation to prevent potential health risks to others
|
Quarantine
|
4th Earl of ?
|
Playing cards, this Earl requested a slice of meat between two slices of bread so that the cards wouldn’t get greasy while he ate
|
Filling between two slices of bread
|
Sandwich
|
Latin: ‘three roads’
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Place where people would hang around for idle chat
|
Unimportant information
|
Trivia
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