Online Etymology Dictionary

Asian (n.): 1560s, from L. Asianus (adj. and n. "belonging to the province of Asia," "an inhabitant of Asia"), from Gk. Asianos, from Asia (see Asia). Ousted Asiatic as the preferred term in Britain c.1950.
"The term 'Asiatic' has come to be regarded with disfavour by those to whom it is applied, and they feel entitled to be brought into line with usage in regard to Europeans, Americans and Australians." ["Times Literary Supplement," Feb. 6, 1953]
Asia: from L., from Gk. Asia, speculated to be from Akkad. asu "to go out, to rise," in reference to the sun, thus "the land of the sunrise."
Asiatic: 1630s, from L. Asiaticus (surname of L. Corn. Scipio), from Gk. Asiatikos, from Asia (see Asia; also cf. Asian). In ancient Rome, Asiatici oratores was florid and overly ornate prose.
Gordian knot: 1561, tied by Gordius, king of Phrygia in Asia Minor, who predicted the one to loosen it would rule Asia. Instead, Alexander the Great cut the Gordian knot with his sword; hence the extended sense (1579 in Eng.) "solve a difficult problem in a quick, dramatic way."
Indies: 1550s, plural of Indie, Indy, from M.E. Ynde (earlly 13c.) "India," from the O.Fr. form of L. India (see India). Commonly applied to Asia and the East, later applied to the Caribbean basin, in a time of geographical confusion, which was distinguished from Asia proper by being called the West Indies.
yak (1): "wild ox of central Asia," 1795, from Tibetan g-yag "male yak."
steppe: vast treeless plain of southeastern Europe and of Asia, 1671, from Rus. *step', of unknown origin.
Croesus: from L., from Gk. Kroisis, 6c. B.C.E. king of Lydia in Asia Minor, famously wealthy; hence "rich man" or in other allusions to riches, from late 14c.
Siberia: region in northwestern Asia, the name said to come from Sibir, ancient Tatar fortress at the confluence of the rivers Tobol and Irtysh. As a typical place of miserable banishment, it is attested from 1841.
Amerasian: 1966, from American + Asian, coined in ref. to children fathered by U.S. servicemen stationed in Asia.
Aegean: sea between Greece and Asia Minor, 1570s, traditionally named for Aegeus, father of Theseus, who threw himself to his death in it when he thought his son had perished; but perhaps from Gk. aiges "waves," a word of unknown origin.
Lebanon: nation in w. Asia, from Sem. root l-b-n "white," probably in ref. to snow-capped peaks. The Gk. name of the island Lemnos is of Phoenician origin and from the same root.
Mahayana: type of Buddhism practiced in northern Asia, 1868, from Skt., from maha "great" (see maharajah) + yana "vehicle."
chalcedony: c.1300, from L. calcedonius, in Vulgate translating Gk. khalkedon in Rev. xxi.19, found nowhere else. Connection with Chalcedon in Asia Minor "is very doubtful" [OED]. The city name is from Phoenician and means "new town."
ultramarine: 1598, "blue pigment made from lapis lazuli," from M.L. ultramarinus, lit. "beyond the sea," from ultra- "beyond" + marinus "of the sea." So called because the mineral was imported from Asia by sea.
skink: 1590, from M.Fr. scinc, from L. scincus, from Gk. skinkos, a kind of lizard common in Asia and N.Africa, of unknown origin.
anabasis: 1706, from Gk. "military expedition," lit. "a going up (from the coast)," especially in reference to the advance of Cyrus the Younger from near the Aegean coast into Asia, and the subsequent story of the retreat of the 10,000 narrated by Xenophon (401 B.C.E.); from ana "up" + bainein "to go" (see come).
horse-chestnut: 1597, from horse + chestnut. A tree probably native to Asia, introduced in England c.1550; the name also was extended to similar N.Amer. species such as the buckeye. Said to have been so called because it was food for horses. The nut resembles that of the edible chestnut, but is bitter to the taste.
buckram: 1222, from O.Fr. bouquerant, probably from Bukhara, city in central Asia from which it was imported to Europe. Originally a delicate, costly fabric, it later came to mean coarse linen used for lining. The -m in the Eng. word may indicate It. origin (cf. It. bucherame, 14c.).
cilice: O.E. cilic, from L. cilicium, from Gk. kilikion "coarse cloth," originally one of Cilician goat hair, from Kilikia "Cilicia" in Asia Minor.
cinnamon: c.1390, from Gk. kinnamomon, from Phoenician word akin to Heb. qinnamon. Stripped from the bark of a tree in the avocado family. Ceylon cinnamon, the true cinnamon, is used in Britain, but American cinnamon is almost always from the related cassia tree of Southeast Asia and is stronger and sweeter.
Phrygian: c.1490, "native of Phrygia," region in ancient Asia Minor; Phrygian mode in Gk. music theory is from 1579. Phrygian cap (1796) was the type adopted by freed slaves in Roman times, and subsequently identified as the cap of Liberty.
pangolin: 1774, "scaly toothless mammal of Java," from Malay peng-goling "roller," from its habit of curling into a ball; from peng- (denominative prefix) + goling "to roll." Later extended to related species in Asia and Africa.
Sephardim: pl. of Sephardi "a Spanish or Portuguese Jew" (1851), from Mod.Heb. Sepharaddim "Spaniards, Jews of Spain," from Sepharad, name of a country mentioned only in Obad. v:20, probably meaning "Asia Minor" or a country in it (Lydia, Phrygia), but identified by the rabbis after Jonathan Targum as "Spain."
Basil: masc. proper name, from L. Basilius, from Gk. Basileios "kingly, royal," from basileus "king," of unknown origin, possibly from a language of Asia Minor (cf. Lydian battos "king").
lemur: "nocturnal Madagascar mammal," 1795, coined by Linnaeus, from L. lemures (pl.) "spirits of the dead" in Roman mythology. So called for its nocturnal habits and ghostly stares. Lemuria (1864) was the name given by P.L. Sclater to a hypothetical ancient continent connecting Africa and Southeastern Asia (and including Madagascar), which was hypothesized to explain phenomena now accounted for by continental drift.
Santa Claus: 1773 (as St. A Claus, in "New York Gazette"), Amer.Eng., from dialectal Du. Sante Klaas, from M.Du. Sinter Niklaas "Saint Nicholas," bishop of Asia Minor who became a patron saint for children. Now a worldwide phenomenon (e.g. Japanese santakurosu).
Cimmerian: "pertaining to the Cimmerii, an ancient nomadic people who, according to Herodotus, inhabited the region around the Crimea, and who, according to Assyrian sources, overran Asia Minor 7c. B.C.E., from L. Cimmerius, from Gk. Kimmerios. Homer described their land as a place of perpetual mist and darkness beyond the ocean, but whether he had in mind the same people Herodotus did, or any real place, is unclear.
sambo (1): "person of mixed blood in America and Asia," 1748, perhaps from Sp. zambo "bandy-legged," probably from L. scambus "bow-legged," from Gk. skambos. Used variously in different regions to indicate some mixture of African, European, and Indian blood; common senses were "child of black and Indian parentage" and "offspring of a black and a mulatto."
Eurasian: 1844, from Eur(opean) + Asian. Originally of children of British-East Indian marriages; sense of "of Europe and Asia considered as one continent" is from 1868. Eurafrican, similarly formed, was coined 1890 by anthropologist D.G. Brinton to designate a "race" of dark-skinned people inhabiting both sides of the Mediterranean; it was used 1920s to describe the "colored" population of S.Africa, and 1960s with ref. to political situations involving both continents.
prune (n.): 1345, from O.Fr. pronne "plum" (13c.), from V.L. *pruna, fem. sing. formed from L. pruna, neut. pl. of prunum "plum," by dissimilation from Gk. proumnon, from a language of Asia Minor. Slang meaning "disagreeable or disliked person" is from 1895.
mausoleum: 1546, from L. mausoleum "magnificent tomb," from Gk. Mausoleion, massive marble tomb built 353 B.C.E. at Halicarnassus (Gk. city in Asia Minor) for Mausolos, Persian satrap who made himself king of Caria. It was built by his wife (and sister), Artemisia. It was counted among the Seven Wonders of the ancient world. Destroyed by an earthquake in the Middle Ages. General sense of "any stately burial-place" is from 1600.
Anatolia: ancient name of Asia Minor, from M.L. Anatolia, from Gk. anatole "the east," originally "sunrise" (which of course happens in the east), lit. "a rising above (the horizon)," from anatellein "to rise," from ana "up" + tellein "to accomplish, perform."
Laurentian: "granite strata in eastern Canada," 1863, named for the Laurentian Mountains, where it is found, which are named for the nearby St. Lawrence River. Hence, Laurasia, Paleozoic supercontinent comprising N.America and Eurasia, 1931, from Ger. (1928), from Laurentia, geologists' name for the ancient core of N.America + (Eur)asia.
Parthian: 1526, native or inhabitant of Parthia (ancient kingdom northeast of Persia in western Asia), from O.Pers. Parthava- "Parthian," dial. variant of the stem Parsa-, source of Persia. Phrase Parthian shot (1590) is in ref. to their horsemen, who were expert at racing forward, turning, and shooting arrows backward at the moment of retreat.
ounce (2): "wildcat," c.1300, from O.Fr. once, from lonce, with l- mistaken as definite article, from V.L. *luncea, from L. lyncea "lynx-like," from lynx (see lynx). Originally the common lynx, later extended to other wildcats, now mainly used of the mountain-panther or snow leopard of Asia.
Pelasgian: c.1490, "of the Pelasgi," from L. Pelasgius, from Gk. Pelasgios "of the Pelasgi," from Pelasgoi "the Pelasgi," name of a prehistoric people of Greece and Asia Minor who occupied Greece before the Hellenes, probably originally *Pelag-skoi, lit. "Sea-people" (see pelagic).
parchment: c.1300, from O.Fr. perchemin (O.N.Fr. parcamin), from L.L. pergamenum "parchment," from Late Gk. pergamenon "of Pergamon," in allusion to Pergamon "Pergamum" (modern Bergama), city in Mysia in Asia Minor where it was supposedly first adopted as a substitute for papyrus, 2c. B.C.E. Possibly infl. in V.L. by L. parthica (pellis) "Parthian (leather)." Alt. in M.E. by confusion with nouns in -ent.
Hun: O.E., tribe from central Asia that overran Europe in the 4c. and 5c. (esp. under their king Attila, called Flagellum Dei "The Scourge of God"), from M.L. Hunni, apparently ult. from Turkic Hun-yü, the name of a tribe (they were known in China as Han or Hiong-nu). Fig. sense of "reckless destroyer of beauty" is from 1806. Applied to the German in World War I by their enemies because of stories of atrocities, but the nickname originally was urged on Ger. soldiers bound for China by Kaiser Wilhelm II in 1900, which caused a scandal.
ermine: c.1175, from O.Fr. hermine, both the animal and the fur, apparently from a convergence of L. (mus) Armenius "Armenian (mouse)," ermines being abundant in Asia Minor; and an unrelated Gmc. word for "weasel" (cf. O.H.G. harmo "ermine, stoat, weasel," adj. harmin; O.Saxon harmo, O.E. hearma, etc.) that happened to sound like it.
Gobi: desert in central Asia, from Mongolian gobi "desert." Gobi Desert is thus a pleonasm (see Sahara).
frieze: "sculptured horizontal band in architecture," 1563, from M.Fr. frise, originally "a ruff," from M.L. frisium "embroidered border," variant of frigium, probably from L. Phrygium "Phrygian, Phrygian work," from Phrygia, the ancient country in Asia Minor known for its embroidery. Folk etymology is Fr. drap de Frise "cloth of Friesland." Meaning "decorative band along the top of a wall" was in O.Fr.
shawl: 1662, originally of a type of scarf worn in Asia, from Urdu and other Indian languages, from Pers. shal, sometimes said to be named for Shaliat, town in India where it was first manufactured. Cf. Fr. châle, Sp. chal, It. scialle, Ger. Shawl (from Eng.), Rus. shal, all ult. from the same source. As the name of an article of clothing worn by Western women, it is recorded from 1767.
polo: 1872, Anglo-Indian polo, from Balti (Tibetan language of the Indus valley) polo "ball," related to Tibetan pulu "ball." An ancient game in south Asia, first played in England at Aldershot, 1871. Water polo is from 1884. Polo shirt (1920) originally was a kind worn by polo players.
Æolian: 1605, "of the wind," from L. Æolus "god of the winds," from Gk. Aiolos, from aiolos "quickly moving." Æolian harp first recorded 1791. The ancient district of Aiolis in Asia Minor was said to have been named for the wind god, hence Æolian also refers to one branch of the ancient Gk. people.
cannibal: 1553, from Sp. canibal "a savage, cannibal," from Caniba, Christopher Columbus' rendition of the Caribs' name for themselves (see Caribbean). The natives were believed to be anthropophagites. Columbus, seeking evidence that he was in Asia, thought the name meant the natives were subjects of the Great Khan. Shakespeare's Caliban (in "The Tempest") is a version of this word, with -n- and -l- interchanged, found in Hakluyt's "Voyages" (1599). Cannibalism is recorded from 1796; cannibalistic from 1851.
Pope: O.E. papa, from M.L. papa "bishop, pope" (in classical L., "tutor"), from Gk. papas "patriarch, bishop," originally "father." Applied to bishops of Asia Minor and taken as a title by the Bishop of Alexandria c.250. In Western Church, applied especially to the Bishop of Rome since the time of Leo the Great (440-461) and claimed exclusively by them from 1073. Popemobile, his car, is from 1979. Papal, papacy, later acquisitions in Eng., preserve the original vowel. Popery (1534) was a hostile coinage of the Reformation.
buffalo: 1588, from Port. bufalo "water buffalo," from L. bufalus, var. of bubalus "wild ox," from Gk. boubalos "buffalo," originally a kind of African antelope, later used of a type of domesticated ox in southern Asia and the Mediterranean lands, from bous "ox, cow." Wrongly applied since c.1635 to the American bison. The verb meaning "to overawe" is from 1903. Buffalo wings finger food so called because the recipe was invented in Buffalo, N.Y., (1964, at Frank & Teressa's Anchor Bar on Main Street). Buffalo gnat is recorded from 1822.
weep (v.): O.E. wepan "shed tears, cry" (class VII strong verb; past tense weop, pp. wopen), from P.Gmc. *wopijanan (cf. O.N. op, O.H.G. wuof "shout, shouting, crying," O.S. wopian, Goth. wopjan "to shout, cry out, weep"). No certain cognates outside Gmc. Weepy first attested 1825. Weeping willow (cf. Fr. saule pleureur, Ger. trauerweide) is recorded from 1731. The tree is native to Asia; the first brought to England were imported 1748, from the Euphrates. Replaced cypress as a funerary emblem.
cherry: 1236, from Anglo-Fr. cherise (taken as a pl.), from O.N.Fr. cherise, from V.L. *ceresia, from late Gk. kerasian "cherry," from Gk. kerasos "cherry tree," possibly from a language of Asia Minor. O.E. had ciris "cherry" from W.Gmc. form of the V.L. word, but it died out after the Norman invasion and was replaced by the French word. Meaning "maidenhead, virginity" is from 1889, U.S. slang, from supposed resemblance to the hymen, but perhaps also from the long-time use of cherries as a symbol of the fleeting quality of life's pleasures. Cherry-pick, in a pejorative sense, first recorded 1972.