- superstition
- c.1400, from O.Fr. superstition or directly from L. superstitionem (nom. superstitio), noun of action from superstare (see superstitious). Originally especially of religion; sense of "unreasonable notion" is from 1794.
- barnacle
- early 13c., "species of wild goose;" as a type of "shellfish," first recorded 1580s. Often derived from a Celtic source (cf. Bret. bernik, a kind of shellfish), but the application to the goose predates that of the shellfish in Eng. The goose nests in the Arctic in summer and returns to Europe in the winter, hence the mystery surrounding its reproduction. It was believed in ancient superstition to hatch from barnacle's shell, possibly because the crustacean's feathery stalks resemble goose down. The scientific name of the crustacean, Cirripedes, is from Gk. cirri "curls of hair" + pedes "feet."
- flying
- O.E. fleogende, prp. of fly (v.1). Flying buttress is from 1660s; flying fish is from 1510s. Flying saucer first attested 1947, though the image of saucers for unidentified flying objects is from at least 1880s. Flying Dutchman, ghost ship off the Cape of Good Hope, attested since 1803 [John Leyden, "Scenes of Infancy," who describes it as "a common superstition of mariners"]. Flying colors (1706) probably is from the image of a naval vessel with the national flag bravely displayed.
- crack
- O.E. cracian "make a sharp noise," from P.Gmc. *krakojan (cf. M.Du. craken, Du. kraken, Ger. krachen), probably onomatopoeic. The noun meaning "split, opening," is 14c. Meaning "try, attempt" first attested 1836, probably a hunting metaphor, from slang sense of "fire a gun." Meaning in "top-notch, superior" is slang from 1793 (e.g. a crack shot). Meaning "rock cocaine" is first attested 1985. The superstition that it is bad luck to step on sidewalk cracks has been traced to c.1890. To crack a smile is from 1840s; to crack the whip in the figurative sense is from 1940s.
- pig
- probably from O.E. *picg, found in compounds, ultimate origin unknown. Originally "young pig" (the word for adults was swine). Another O.E. word for "pig" was fearh, related to furh "furrow," from PIE *perk- "dig, furrow" (cf. L. porc-us "pig," see pork). "This reflects a widespread IE tendency to name animals from typical attributes or activities" [Lass]. Synonyms grunter, porker are from sailors' and fishermen's euphemistic avoidance of uttering the word pig at sea, a superstition perhaps based on the fate of the Gadarene swine, who drowned. The meaning "oblong piece of metal" is first attested 1580s, on the notion of "large mass." The derogatory slang meaning "police officer" has been in underworld slang since at least 1811; pig out "eat like a pig" is 1979; pigskin as slang for "football" is from 1894, though as word for saddle leather it is from 1855. Pig Latin first recorded 1937.
- oe
- found in Gk. borrowings into Latin, represtenting Gk. -oi-. Words with -oe- that came early into Eng. from O.Fr. or M.L. usually already had been leveled to -e- (e.g. economic, penal, cemetery), but later borrowings directly from L. or Gk. tended to retain it at first (oestrus, diarrhoea, amoeba) as did proper names (Oedipus, Phoebe, Phoenix) and purely technical terms. British English tends to be more conservative with it than American, which has done away with it in all but a few instances. It also occurred in some native L. words (foedus "treaty, league," foetere "to stink," hence occasionally in Eng. foetid, foederal, which was the form in the original publications of the "Federalist" papers). In these it represents an ancient -oi- in Old Latin (e.g. O.L. oino, Classical L. unus), which apparently passed through an -oe- form before being leveled out but was preserved into Classical L. in certain words, especially those belonging to the realms of law (e.g. foedus) and religion, which, along with the vocabulary of sailors, are the most conservative branches of any language in any time, through a need for precision, immediate comprehension, demonstration of learning, or superstition. But in foetus it was an unetymological spelling in L. that was picked up in Eng. and formed the predominant spelling of fetus into the early 20c.