Henry Hitchings, an entymologist, explores the surprising origins of English words, for The Telegraph.
From the story...
O is for…
Onslaught, from the Dutch aanslag - related to a word in Old High German for a shower.
P is for…
Penguin, a compound of two Welsh words, pen and gwyn, which mean ''head" and ''white" - even though penguins have black heads. It is likely that 'penguin' was at one time the name of similar, now extinct bird which had a white patch near its bill.
Q is for…
Quack can be traced to the Dutch kwaksalver, literally someone who hawked ointments.
R is for…
Regatta, from Venetian dialect, it originally signified any kind of contest.
S is for…
Sabotage. Supposed to derive from the tendency of striking workers to damage machinery by throwing shoes into it - sabot being an old French word for a wooden shoe.
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