Online Etymology Dictionary

coot (n.): c.1300, cote, used for various water fowl (now limited to Fulica atra and, in North America, F. americana), of uncertain origin. Cf. Dutch meercoet "lake coot." Meaning "silly person, fool" is attested from 1766.
cooter (n.): name for some types of freshwater terrapin in southern U.S., 1835 (first attested 1827 in phrase drunk as a cooter, but this probably is a colloquial form of unrelated coot), from obsolete verb coot "to copulate" (1660s), of unknown origin. The turtle is said to copulate for two weeks at a stretch.
cootie (n.): "body lice," 1917, British World War I slang, earlier in nautical use, said to be from Malay kutu "dog tick."
cooties (n.): 1917, see cootie.
cop (v.): 1704, northern British dialect, "to seize, to catch," perhaps ultimately from Middle French caper "seize, to take," from Latin capere "to take" (see capable); or from Dutch kapen "to take," from Old Frisian capia "to buy," which is related to Old English ceapian (see cheap). Related: Copped; copping.
cop (n.): "policeman," 1859, abbreviation of earlier copper (n.2), 1846, from cop (v.).
cop out: by 1942, noun and verb, "sneak off, escape," American English slang, probably from cop a plea (c.1925) "plead guilty to lesser charges," probably from northern British slang cop "to catch" (a scolding, etc.); cf. cop a feel "grope someone" (1930s); see cop (v.). Sense of "evade an issue or problem" is from 1960s.
copacetic (adj.): 1919, but it may have origins in 19c. U.S. Southern black speech. Origin unknown, suspects include Latin, Yiddish (e.g. Hebrew kol b'seder), Italian, Louisiana French (coupe-sétique), and Native American. None is considered convincing by linguists.
copasetic: see copacetic.
cope (v.): late 14c., "come to blows with," from Old French couper, earlier colper "hit, punch," from colp "a blow" (see coup). Meaning evolved 17c. into "handle successfully," perhaps influenced by obsolete cope "to traffic" (15c.-17c.), a word in North Sea trade, from the Flemish version of the Germanic source of English cheap. Related: Coped; coping.
Copenhagen: capital of Denmark, literally "merchant's port," from Danish køber "merchant," literally "buyer" (see cheap (adj.)), + havn "port" (see haven).
Copernican (adj.): 1660s, "pertaining to Copernicus."
Copernicus: Latinized form of name of Mikolaj Koppernigk (1473-1543), physician and canon of the cathedral of Frauenburg. His great work was "De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium."
copesetic (adj.): see copacetic.
copier (n.): 1590s, agent noun from copy (v.).
copilot (n.): 1927, from co- + pilot (n.).
coping (n.): c.1600 as an architectural term, from cope (n.), the cape-like vestment worn by priests (14c.), a variant of cape. Coping saw attested by 1931.
copious (adj.): mid-14c., from Latin copiosus "plentiful," from copia "an abundance, ample supply, profusion, plenty," from com- "with" (see com-) + ops (genitive opis) "power, wealth, resources," from PIE root *op- "to work, produce in abundance" (see opus). Related: Copiously.
coplanar (adj.): 1862, from co- + planar.
copout: see cop out.
copper (n.1): malleable metallic element, Old English coper, from West Germanic *kupar (cf. Middle Dutch koper, Old Norse koparr, Old High German kupfar), from Late Latin cuprum, contraction of Latin Cyprium (aes) "Cyprian (metal)," after Greek Kyprios "Cyprus" (see Cyprus).

Latin aes originally was "copper," but this was extended to its alloy with tin, bronze, and as this was far more extensively used than pure copper, the word's primary sense shifted to the alloy and a new word evolved for "copper," from the Latin form of the name of the island of Cyprus, where copper was mined. Aes passed into Germanic (which originally did not distinguish copper from its alloys) and became English ore. In Latin, aes was the common word for "cash, coin, debt, wages" in many figurative expressions. Chemical symbol Cu is from cuprum.
copper (n.2): "policeman," 1846; agent noun from cop (v.).
copperhead (n.): Trigonocephalus contortrix, 1775, American English, so called for color markings between its eyes; see copper + head (n.). Poisonous "sneak snakes" (because they bite without warning), the name is said to have been first used in reference to Northerners suspected of Southern sympathies in Greeley's New York "Tribune," July 20, 1861. Charles H. Coleman, "The Use of the Term 'Copperhead' During the Civil War" ["Mississippi Valley Historical Review" 25 (1938), p.263] traces it to an anonymous letter against Ohio anti-war Democrats in the Cincinnati "Commercial" newspaper in the summer of 1861. It seems not to have been in widespread use until summer 1862.
coppice (n.): late 14c., "small thicket of trees grown for cutting," from Old French copeiz, coupeiz "a cut-over forest," from Vulgar Latin *colpaticium "having been cut," ultimately from Latin colaphus "a blow with the fist," from Greek kolaphos "blow, cuff" (see coup).
copra (n.): dried kernel of coconut, 1580s, from Portuguese copra (16c.), from Malayalam koppara (cognate with Hindi khopra) "coconut;" related to Hindi khopri "skull," from Sanskrit kharparah "skull."
copro-: word-forming element indicating "dung, filth, excrement," before vowels copr-, from Modern Latin copro-, from Greek kopros "dung," from PIE root *kekw-. Hence, coprology "study of obscene literature."
coprolalia (n.): "obsessive use of obscene language, either through mental illness or perversion," 1886, from French coprolalie, coined 1885 by de la Tourette, from copro- "dung, filth" + Greek lalia "talk, prattle, a speaking," from lalein "to speak, prattle," of echoic origin.
coprolite (n.): fossil dung, 1829, from copro- + -lite, from French, for -lithe, from Greek lithos "stone" (see litho-).
coprophagia (n.): 1906, in Havelock Ellis, Latinized from coprophagy (q.v.).
coprophagy (n.): 1891, from Modern Latin coprophagus, from Greek koprophagos "dung-eating," from kopros "dung" (see copro-) + -phagos (see -phagous). Related: Coprophagous.
coprophilia (n.): "attraction to defecation and feces," 1934, from copro- + -philia.
copse (n.): 1570s, "small wood grown for purposes of periodic cutting," contraction of coppice.
Copt (n.): "native monophosyte Christian of Egypt," 1610s, from Modern Latin Coptus, from Arabic quft, probably from Coptic gyptios, from Greek Agyptios "Egyptian." Arabic has no -p- and often substitutes -f- or -b- for it. Related: Coptic.
copula (n.): linking verb, 1640s, from Latin copula "that which binds, rope, band, bond" (see copulate).
copulate (v.): early 15c., "to join," from Latin copulatus, past participle of copulare "join together, couple, bind, link, unite," from copula "band, tie, link," from PIE *ko-ap-, from *ko(m)- "together" + *ap- "to take, reach." Sexual sense attested from 1630s. Related: Copulated; copulating.
copulation (n.): late 14c., "coupling," from Middle French copulation "mating, copulation" (14c.), from Latin copulationem (nominative copulatio), noun of action from past participle stem of copulare (see copulate). Of the sex act from late 15c., and this became the main sense from 16c.
copy (n.): early 14c., "written account or record," from Old French copie (13c.), from Medieval Latin copia "reproduction, transcript," from Latin copia "plenty, means" (see copious). Sense extended 15c. to any specimen of writing (especially MS for a printer) and any reproduction or imitation. Related: Copyist.
copy (v.): late 14c., from Old French copier (14c.), from Medieval Latin copiare "to transcribe," originally "to write in plenty," from Latin copia (see copy (n.)). Hence, "to write an original text many times." Related: Copied; copying. Figurative sense of "to imitate" is attested from 1640s.
copycat (n.): by 1884, American English, probably at least a generation older, from copy (v.) + cat (n.). As a verb, from 1932.
copyright (n.): "the right to make or sell copies," 1735, from copy + right (n.). As a verb, from 1806 (implied in past participle adjective copyrighted).
copywriter: "writer of copy for advertisements," 1911, from copy + writer. Related: Copywriting.
coquet (n.): "amorous, flirtatious person," 1690s, originally of both sexes (as it was in French), from French coquet (17c.), diminutive of coq "cock" (see cock (n.1)). A figurative reference to its strut or its lust. The distinction of fem. coquette began c.1700, and use in reference to males has faded out since.
coquetry (n.): 1650s, from French coquetterie, from coqueter (v.), from coquet (see coquet).
Coquetry whets the appetite; flirtation depraves it .... [Donald Grant Mitchell (1822-1908)]
coquette (n.): 1660s, from French fem. of coquet (male) "flirt" (see coquet).
Cora: fem. proper name, from Latin, from Greek Kore (see Kore).
coracle (n.): "round boat of wicker, coated with skins," 1540s (the thing is described, but not named, in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle from 9c.), from Welsh corwgl, from corwg, cognate with Gaelic curachan, Middle Irish curach "boat," which probably is the source of Middle English currock "coracle" (mid-15c.). The name is perhaps from the hides that cover it (see corium).
coral (n.): c.1300, from Old French coral (12c., Modern French corail), from Latin corallium, from Greek korallion; perhaps of Semitic origin (cf. Hebrew goral "small pebble," Arabic garal "small stone"), originally just the red variety found in the Mediterranean, hence use of the word as a symbol of "red." Related: Coralline. Coral snake (1760) is so called for the red zones in its markings. Coral reef is attested from 1745.
corbel (n.): mid-14c., from Old French corbel, diminutive of corb "raven," from Latin corvus (see raven); so called from its beaked shape.
cord (n.): c.1300, from Old French corde "rope, string, twist, cord," from Latin chorda "string of a musical instrument, cat-gut," from Greek khorde "string, catgut, chord, cord," from PIE root *ghere- "intestine" (see yarn). As a measure of wood (eight feet long, four feet high and wide) first recorded 1610s, so called because it was measured with a cord of rope.
cordage (n.): "ropes, especially on a ship," late 15c., from Old French cordage, from corde "cord" (see cord).