Thursday, 12 July 2012

Origin of English words ( 0 - P -Q)


Opportunity
From the Latin Ob-, meaning "towards," and portu(m), meaning "port."
Parlement (French) Parliament
From the French, "Parler," meaning, "to speak." Thus, we can not complain when our politicians do little other than "speak."

Quarantine
n. Any forced stoppage of travel or communication on account of malignant, contagious disease, on land or by sea.
From the French quarante (=forty). Adding the suffix –aine to French numbers gives a degree of roughness to the figure (like –ish in English), so quarantaine means about forty. Originally when a ship arriving in port was suspected of being infected with a malignant, contagious disease, its cargo and crew were obliged to forego all contact with the shore for a period of around forty days. This term came to be known as period of quarantine.

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