Monday Facts

Last week we looked at smells (some good... some not so good). This week, let's take a look at word origins:

Although he word "ghetto" today connotes impoverished urban centers, it originally pertained to centers, it originally pertained to quarters where Jews were forced to live, irrespective of social class. In Venice in the early 1500s, Jews were housed on an island with an iron foundry. The Italian word for foundry is gheto.

Pretzels originated in Northern Italy around A.D. 610. An Italian monk gave them out to children who had learned their prayers. He called the strips of baked dough, folded to resemble arms crossing the breast, prestiolae - Latin for "little rewards."

And the word for the study of word origins? Etymology (not to be confused with entomology)... which by the way, comes from the Greek words, "entymon,"which means true meaning (which comes from the Greek word "etymos," which means truth), and "logos," which means word.

And that is a true word (to ya mutha).

From "That's a Fact, Jack" by Harry Bright and Jakob Anser.


tags: facts | ghettto | pretzels | etymology