History Main / FromTheLatinIntroDucere

* ''Literature/{{Dinotopia}}'': Lee Crabb points out that "Dinotopia" may be a portmanteau of "dinosaur utopia", but its direct translation from the original Greek is "terrible place", reflecting his low opinion of the place. (As a GeniusBonus, he's right, but the old meaning of "terrible" means something like "fearfully great" or "awe-inspiring" as opposed to the modern meaning of "really bad"; this older meaning is an accurate description of Dinotopia while undermining Crabb's point.)

As such, when you introduce you guide something into the issue being discussed, usually some new information, such as the etymology of a relevant word in that context. This happens in some works, when the etymology of words is used as a way to introduce bits of exposition, an explanation to a situation, a point or even a ReasonYouSuckSpeech. This trope shows that [[AltumVidetur the speaker is cultured, smart and - usually - in control]], as most people in a pickle don't really worry about etymology. Usually starts with "Do you know where the word 'X' comes from?" - Note that the little etymology lesson must turn out to have something to do with the matter at hand.

* In ''Series/{{Firefly}}'', River comments on Mal's name, saying "Mal. Bad. [[AltumVidetur In the Latin.]]"

* In the ''Literature/MerryGentry'' series, the [[AsYouKnow narrator's monologue]] often explains the Gaelic origins of certain words, and connects their modern, metaphorical meaning to the ancient, literal meaning used by [[TheFairFolk the fey]] in the story. For instance, "slogan" is a corruption of "slaugh-gairn," so called because Celtic war cries were a kind of incantation, calling on the faerie slaugh to help them. She also describes an actress as "glamorous" as a way of pointing out that her faerie power and her fame are synergistic.

-->French: "Va" (go) + "de" (to) + "vil" (something low).
-->German: "Wo" (where) + "der" (is the) + "Will" (sense)?

* ''ComicStrip/{{Dilbert}}'' creator Scott Adams jokes in one of his business book parodies that [[AssPull the word "analysis" comes from the root word "anal", and the suffix "-ysis", meaning "to pull numbers from"]].

'''Brennan:''' No. From the Greek, "Mythos", meaning "word."

--> '''Fletcher:''' If you want to do something for us, give us more freedom, better grub, conjugal visits.
--> '''Mr. Barrowclough:''' What?
--> '''Fletcher:''' Conjugals. From the Latin "conjugari", meaning [[UnusualEuphemism "to have it away"]].

'''Gus''': ''[thinks for a moment]'' "Kimono"... that come from the Greek word "κρύωμα", which means "cold". What do you wear when you are cold? A robe! [[InsaneTrollLogic So, kimono, robe, there you go!]]

The examples may also be [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etymological_fallacy etymological fallacies]] ("logos" is Greek for "word", which is where "logic" comes from, so logic is just toying with words) or just plain nonsensical pseudo-etymology (Did you know "shit" originated as an acronym for Ship High In Transit? [[note]][[UrbanLegend No it didn't.]][[/note]]).

->The hypothesis—which comes from the Greek words "hypot," meaning "word," and "hesis," meaning "that I am looking up in the dictionary right now"...
-->--'''Creator/DaveBarry'''

* In ''Manga/BusouRenkin'' Doctor Butterfly says that the word "Carnival" comes from "cannibalism" (ItMakesSenseInContext). Creator/NobuhiroWatsuki said in the liner notes of the tankoubon that this was a goof on his part (it actually comes from abstention from meat for Lent) and said to call it Butterfly's mistake InUniverse.

* In ''Film/JurassicPark'', Dr. Grant starts describing velociraptors, mentioning their birdlike qualities. He declares that "Even the word "raptor" means bird of prey!" That is true.... but only in english. The "raptor" in "velociraptor" is a latin word meaning "seizer or "thief" (it just happened to evolve into the meaning "bird of prey" in english somewhere down the line) and velociraptor was so named probably because the scientists describing it thought that they raided nests, stealing eggs and hatchlings. Velociraptors 'are' very birdlike, but their naming is just a coincidence

--->"Perspective" is derived from two ancient Greek words: "persp," meaning "something bad that happens to somebody else," and "ective," meaning "ideally somebody like Creator/DonaldTrump."\\

* In the first ''{{Mameshiba}}'' video, Green Pea, the trivia is that the French word for dandelion, "pissenlit", means "urinate in bed".

* ''Literature/{{Dinotopia}}'': Lee Crabb points out that Dinotopia directly translates not to "dinosaur utopia", but "terrible place".

** "Adam" is actually derived from the Hebrew ''Adama'' (sorry, ''[[Series/BattlestarGalactica2003 Galactica]]'' fans, emphasis on the last syllable) meaning "earth" or "soil" (because, you know, [[Literature/BookOfGenesis Adam was made from earth/soil]]...).

* In ''BatmanVSupermanDawnOfJustice'', when Comicbook/LexLuthor is introduced as a "philanthropist" as he's about to give a speech at a charity gala he's hosting, he begins his speech by pointing out that philanthropist is a greek word meaning a "a lover of humanity".

Compare TranslationWithAnAgenda.

** And, in fact, gets it wrong. In Mal Reynolds' case, "Mal" is short for "Malcolm", a Scottish name meaning "Follower of St. Columba."

* The father in ''Film/MyBigFatGreekWedding'' frequently claims that he can show the Greek root of any word. [[spoiler: He makes it up as he goes.]]
** There have been far too many nationalist linguists who really did try to show their language as the root of all others, or at least of some more prestigious language, and ''been taken seriously'' (at least by their own governments, which all should've known how silly they would look).

* ''Literature/TheDevilsDictionary'' jokes that "tedium" derives "from a very obvious source--the first words of the ancient Latin hymn ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Te_Deum Te Deum Laudamus]]''. In this apparently natural derivation there is something that saddens."

The examples may also be [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etymological_fallacy etymological fallacies]] ("logos" is greek for "word", which is where "logic" comes from, so logic is just toying with words) or just plain nonsensical pseudo-etymology (Did you know "shit" originated as an acronym for Ship High In Transit? [[note]][[UrbanLegend No it didn't.]][[/note]]).

Beware: it's very easy for careless people to lapse into ArtisticLicenseLinguistics with etymologies. Just because a word was historically derived from an older word doesn't necessarily make that part of the word's meaning as it's used today. (When modern English speakers say we live in a "county," we probably don't mean "an area ruled by [[KnightFever a Count]]".)

* Watanuki does this to a woman in ''XXXHolic'', explaining that she doesn't love Doumeki, only admires him. Admiration, from Latin, Ad - On and Mirare - being amazed. At least, that's how it goes in Portuguese. He then proceeds to explain the Japanese etymology, and proceeds to use said little etymology lesson to make his point.

* Literature/FromTheNewWorld in its anime adaptation, episode 25, Saki and Satoru are discussing about the bakenezumi's origin, erroneously interpreting a similarity between naked mole-rat's scientific name (Heterocephalus glaber) and human being's scientific name (homo sapiens). While Greek element "hetero" (meaning ''different'' or ''other'') in ''Heterocephalus'' is the opposite of Greek element "homos" (meaning ''same'') this element is not the one used in "''homo'' sapiens", which came from Latin element "homo" (meaning ''human'').

The examples may also be etymological fallacies ("logos" is greek for "word", which is where "logic" comes from, so logic is just toying with words) or just plain nonsensical pseudo-etymology (Did you know Jesus actually was a zoophile? He was a carpenter, and "carpenter" is "carp" "enter").

* In ''Manga/BusouRenkin'' Doctor Butterfly says that the word "Carnival" comes from "cannibalism" (ItMakesSenseInContext). NobuhiroWatsuki said in the liner notes of the tankoubon that this was a goof on his part (it actually comes from abstention from meat for Lent) and said to call it Butterfly's mistake InUniverse.

* DaveBarry has a tendency to do this in some of his works. In ''Dave Barry's Guide to Guys'', he explains the following:
---> Guys contain stuff called "testosterone" - from the Latin "testo," (meaning "stuff") and "sterone" ("that guys contain").

* ''Literature/DaveBarrySleptHere'' notes that "ultimatum" comes "from the Latin, meaning 'a kind of thing that a person issues.'"

* {{XKCD}} strip 1319, "[[http://xkcd.com/1319/ Automation]]", which demonstrates the futility of automating software tasks, claims that "automating" comes from the roots "auto-" (self) and "mating" (screwing).

* Several of DaveBarry's columns include completely made up joke etymologies:
-->"Perspective" is derived from two ancient Greek words: "persp," meaning "something bad that happens to somebody else," and "ective," meaning "ideally somebody like Donald Trump."\\
The very word "insect" is a combination of two ancient Greek words: "in," meaning "a," and "sect," meaning "repulsive little creature."\\
The hypothesis—which comes from the Greek words "hypot," meaning "word," and "hesis," meaning "that I am looking up in the dictionary right now"...

** "Adam" is actually derived from the Hebrew ''Adama'' (sorry, ''[[Series/BattlestarGalacticaReimagined Galactica]]'' fans, emphasis on the last syllable) meaning "earth" or "soil" (because, you know, [[Literature/BookOfGenesis Adam was made from earth/soil]]...).