Etymologies of the Month (November 2010)

November Continued the Technomadic Dwellings and Notions of the City as Place

Event (n): 1570s, from M.Fr. event, from L. eventus "occurrence, accident, event, fortune, fate, lot, issue," from pp. stem of evenire "to come out, happen, result," from ex- "out" (see ex-) + venire "to come" (see venue: early 14c., "a coming for the purpose of attack," from O.Fr. venue "coming," from fem. pp. of venir "to come," from L. venire "to come," from PIE base *gwa- "to go, come" (cf. O.E. cuman "to come;" see come). The sense of "place where a case in law is tried" is first recorded 1530s. Extended to locality in general, especially "site of a concert or sporting event" (1857)).
Game (n): O.E. gamen "joy, fun, amusement," common Gmc. (cf. O.Fris. game, O.N. gaman, O.H.G. gaman "joy, glee"), regarded as identical with Goth. gaman "participation, communion," from P.Gmc. *ga- collective prefix + *mann "person," giving a sense of "people together." Meaning "contest played according to rules" is first attested c.1300.
Space (n): c.1300, "an area, extent, expanse, lapse of time," aphetic of O.Fr. espace, from L. spatium "room, area, distance, stretch of time," of unknown origin. (v): 1703, "to arrange at set intervals."
Place (n): O.E. "open space in a city, market place, square," from O.Fr. place, from M.L. placea "place, spot," from L. platea "courtyard, open space, broad street," from Gk. plateia (hodos) "broad (way)," fem. of platys "broad," from PIE *plat- "to spread" (cf. Skt. prathati "spreads out;" Hitt. palhi "broad;" Lith. platus "broad;" Ger. Fladen "flat cake;" O.Ir. lethan "broad"); extended variant form of base *pele- (see plane). Wide application in English, covering meanings that in French require three words: place, lieu, and endroit. Cognates: It. piazza and Sp. plaza retain more of the etymological sense. Broad sense of "material space, dimension of defined or indefinite extent" is from mid-13c. Sense of "position on some social scale" is from early 14c.
Square (n): c.1300, "tool for measuring right angles," from O.Fr. esquire "a square, squareness," from V.L. *exquadra, from *exquadrare "to square," from L. ex- "out" (see ex-) + quadrare "make square," from quadrus "a square," from quattuor "four" (see quart). Meaning "rectangular shape or area" is recorded by late 14c.; replaced O.E. feower-scyte. Sense of "open space in a town or park" is from 1680s. The mathematical sense of "a number multiplied by itself" is first recorded 1550s. The verb is first attested late 14c.
Triangle (n): late 14c., from O.Fr. triangle (13c.), from L. triangulum "triangle," from neut. of adj. triangulus "three-cornered," from tri- "three" (see tri-) + angulus "corner, angle" (see angle: "intersecting lines," late 14c., from L. angulum "corner," a dim. form from PIE base *ang-/*ank- "to bend" (cf. Gk. ankylos "bent, crooked," L. ang(u)ere "to compress in a bend, fold, strangle," O.C.S. aglu "corner," Lith. anka "loop," Skt. ankah "hook, bent," O.E. ancleo "ankle," O.H.G. ango "hook").).
Plane (n): "flat surface," c.1600, from L. plantum "flat surface," properly neut. of adj. planus "flat, level, plain, clear," from PIE *pla-no- (cf. Lith. plonas "thin;" Celtic *lanon "plain;" perhaps also Gk. pelanos "sacrificial cake, a mixture offered to the gods, offering (of meal, honey, and oil) poured or spread"), suffixed form of base *pele- "to spread out, broad, flat" (cf. O.C.S. polje "flat land, field," Rus. polyi "open;" O.E., O.H.G. feld, M.Du. veld "field").
Camp (n): W.Gmc. *kampo-z, an early loan from L. campus "open field, level space" (cf. Fr. champ; see campus), especially "open space for military exercise." Originally borrowed as O.E. camp "contest," this was obsolete by mid-15c. Meaning "place where an army lodges temporarily" is a later reborrowing (1520s), from Fr. camp, from It. campo, from the same L. source. Transferred to non-military senses 1550s. The verb meaning "to encamp" is from 1540s.
Local (adj): late 14c., "pertaining to position," from O.Fr. local, from L.L. localis "pertaining to a place," from L. locus "place" (see locus: 1715, "locality," from L. locus "place," from O.Latin stlocus, lit. "where something is placed," from PIE base *st(h)el- "to cause to stand, to place." Used by Latin writers for Gk. topos). The meaning "limited to a particular place" is from 1610s.
Global (adj): 1670s, “spherical,” from globe + -al. Meaning “worldwide, universal” is from 1892. Globe (n): 1550s, "sphere," from L. globus "round mass, sphere," related to gleba "clod, soil, land" (see glebe: c.1300, from O.Fr. glebe, from L. gleba "clod, lump," from PIE *glebh- "to roll into a ball" (cf. L. globus "sphere;" O.E. clyppan "to embrace;" Lith. glebys "armful," globti "to embrace, support"). Earliest English sense is "land forming a clergyman's benefice," on notion of soil of the earth as source of vegetable products).

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