![]() ![]() Wondering what the link is between a (little) hood and a cappuccino? One must look no further than the Capuchin Monks, whose hooded habits were a dark, oak brown similar to the color of a good cappuccino. Next time you’re trying to flirt with someone at your local coffee shop, impress them with this whimsical anecdote about the origin of the word cappuccino: it’s the diminutive form of the word cappuccio, which means “hood” in Italian. ![]() Otherwise, guacamole ( Nahuatl: ahuacamolli) probably wouldn’t be as popular as it is. It’s a good thing the origin of this word has been obfuscated on its way into the English language. Indeed, the -mole of guacamole is derived from the Nahuatl molli, which means sauce. Avocado isn’t the only Nahuatl word that has been borrowed by the English language chili, chocolate, tomato and guacamole were also coined by speakers of Nahuatl. Nahuatl is the language of the Aztecs and is still spoken by approximately 1.5 million people native to Mexico and other parts of Central America. Surprised? Perhaps, but the more one thinks about it, the less surprising it gets - they do rather resemble a man’s soft spot, and this resemblance becomes even more pronounced when you see avocado duos dangling clumsily from trees. The word avocado comes from Spanish aguacate, which in turn comes from the Nahuatl ahuacatl, meaning testicle. That’s all fairly straightforward, but there are many, many words in the English language that have unexpected and fascinating origins. “Etymology” derives from the Greek word etumos, meaning “true.” Etumologia was the study of words’ “true meanings.” This evolved into “etymology” by way of the Old French ethimologie. Let’s get meta and take the word “etymology” as an example. Etymology is the study of the origin of words and how the meaning of words has changed over the course of history. ![]()
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