- daisy
- O.E. dægesege, from dæges eage "day's eye," because the petals open at dawn and close at dusk. In M.L. it was solis oculus "sun's eye." Daisy-cutter first attested 1791, originally of horses that trotted with low steps; later of cricket (1889) and baseball hits that skim along the ground. Daisy-chain in the "group sex" sense is attested from 1941. Pushing up daisies "dead" is attested from 1918, but variant with the same meaning go back to 1842.
- upsy-daisy
- 1711, up-a-daisy, baby talk extension of up.
- hoopla
- 1877, hoop la, Amer.Eng., earlier houp-la, exclamation accompanying quick movement (1870), of unknown origin, perhaps borrowed from Fr. houp-là "upsy-daisy," also a cry to dogs, horses, etc.
- doozy
- also doozie, 1903 (adj.), 1916 (n.), perhaps an alteration of daisy, or from popular It. actress Eleonora Duse (1859-1924). In either case, reinforced by Duesenberg, expensive, classy make of automobile 1920s-30s.
- swine
- O.E. swin "pig, hog," from P.Gmc. *swinan (cf. O.S., O.Fris. M.L.G., O.H.G. swin, M.Du. swijn, Du. zwijn, Ger. Schwein), neut. adj. (with suffix *-ino-) from PIE *su- (see sow (n.)). The native word, largely ousted by pig. Applied to persons from c.1380. Swineherd is recorded from c.1100 as swynhyrde; swinish is from c.1200. Phrase pearls before swine is from Matt. vii.6; an early Eng. formation of it was:
"Ne ge ne wurpen eowre meregrotu toforan eo wrum swynon." [c.1000]
Which is a misreading of L. marguerite "daisy" as margarite "pearl."