The Crazy Origins Behind Words You Use Every Day

Oh, my word! The English language is certainly chock full of words that we’ve adopted from other cultures. Over the years, many of those borrowed words have evolved in surprising ways. And some have even taken on entirely new meanings.

In fact, you won’t believe the baffling secret origins of common words you use every single day. So here are some crazy word origins that are sure to leave your head spinning.

Alcohol

“Alcohol” comes from the Arabic “al-kuhul,” which literally means “the kohl,” and refers to a refined powder used to darken the eyelids, basically a kind of early makeup.

Later on, the word was used in Latin, French, and English to signify any kind of refined or purified substance, including wine and beer.

Nowadays we pretty much only apply it to liquids, especially the ol’ “liquid courage.”

Brave

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Although now “brave” most commonly means “courageous or fearless in a positive sense, historically it meant “wild” or “uncivilized.” The English word comes from the French, who got it from Italian bravo, which came from Latin barbarus, which is the same source as the English word “barbarous,” as in “barbarians.” Pretty wild!

Cannibal

The word “cannibal” was first used by Christopher Columbus to refer to the people then living in the West Indies, who he claimed ate human flesh — a detail he may have made up to spice up his stories to his fellow Spaniards.

It also likely comes from his mishearing the word the “Carib” people used for themselves, which was Galibi, a word that meant “strong men” rather than “people eaters.”

Devil

“Devil” comes from Greek diabolos, a compound word composed of dia, meaning “across,” and bolos, “throw,” together meaning “throw across.” It was used to indicate a slanderer, someone who would attempt to “throw” a block “across” your path by saying lies and gossip.

It’s comparable with a “symbol,” which indicated something moving next to your path instead of across it, parallel instead of perpendicular, a much nicer way to travel.