Online Etymology Dictionary

hero: 1387, "man of superhuman strength or courage," from L. heros "hero," from Gk. heros "demi-god" (a variant singular of which was heroe), originally "defender, protector," from PIE base *ser- "to watch over, protect" (cf. L. servare "to save, deliver, preserve, protect"). Sense of "chief male character in a play, story, etc." first recorded 1697. Fem. form heroine first attested 1659, from L. heroina, from Gk. heroine. First record of hero-worship is from 1774. Heroic verse (1617), decasyllabic iambic, is from It. Hero, the New York term for a sandwich elsewhere called submarine, grinder, poor boy (New Orleans), or hoagie (Philadelphia), is 1955, origin unknown, perhaps folk etymology of Gk. gyro, a type of sandwich.
heroin: from Ger. Heroin, coined 1898 as trademark registered by Friedrich Bayer & Co. for their morphine substitute, traditionally from Gk. heros (see hero) because of the euphoric feeling the drug provides.
antihero: also anti-hero; 1714, from anti- + hero.
Robinson Crusoe: "man without companionship," 1768, from name of the eponymous hero of Daniel Defoe's fictional shipwreck narrative (1719).
Achilles: Gk. hero of the Trojan War stories, son of Thetis and Peleus, his name is perhaps a compound of akhos "pain, grief" (see awe) + laos "the people, a people;" or else it is from a pre-Greek language. Achilles tendon is from Mod.L. tendo Achillis, first used by Ger. surgeon Heister and so-called in reference to the one vulnerable spot of the great Gk. hero, whose mother held him by the heel when she dipped him in the River Styx to render him invulnerable (though this story is not in Homer and not found before 1c. C.E.). Earlier Achilles' sinew, from Mod.L. chorda Achillis, coined 1693 by Du. anatomist Philip Verheyden when dissecting his own amputated leg. Hence fig use of heel of Achillies for "vulnerable spot" (1810).
Fauntleroy: in various usages, from the hero of Frances Hodgson Burnett's popular novel "Little Lord Fauntleroy" (1885).
Aladdin: name of a hero in stories from the Arabian Nights, from Arabic Ala' al Din, lit. "nobility of faith."
Siegfried Line: World War I Ger. fortifications in France, from Ger. Siegfriedlinie, named for the hero in Wagner's "Ring" cycle.
sparagmos: ritual death of a hero in tragedy or myth, 1949, from Gk. sparagmos, lit. "tearing, rending."
Romeo: "a lover, passionate admirer, seducer of women," 1766, from the name of the hero in Shakespeare's tragedy "Romeo and Juliet."
Peter Pan: name of boy-hero in J.M. Barrie's play "Peter Pan, the boy who wouldn't grow up" (1904). Used allusively for an immature adult man from 1914 (first by G.B. Shaw, in ref. to the Kaiser).
Faustian: 1876, a reference to Johann Faust (1488-1541), Ger. wandering astrologer and wizard, who was reputed to have sold his soul to the Devil. He was the hero of dramas by Marlowe and Goethe.
tam-o'-shanter: c.1840, type of bonnet formerly worn by Scottish plowmen, from Tam O'Shanter "Tom of Shanter," name of hero in a poem of the same name by Robert Burns, written 1790. The woolen cap became fashionable for ladies c.1887.
palooka: "mediocre prizefighter," 1925, of unknown origin, credited to U.S. sportswriter and humorist Jack Conway. Non-boxing sense of "average person" is from Joe Palooka, hero of Ham Fisher's comic strip.
Tristram: masc. proper name, name of a medieval hero, from Welsh Drystan, infl. by Fr. triste "sad."
zorro: 1838, "S.Amer. fox-wolf," from Sp., masc. of zorra "fox," from Basque azaria "fox." The comic book hero, a variation on the Robin Hood theme set in old Sp. California, was created 1919 by writer Johnston McCulley.
cliffhanger: "suspenseful situation," 1937, in ref. to U.S. cinema serials, from cliff + hang. In some cases, esp. Westerns, the hero or heroine literally was dangling from a cliff at the end of an episode.
Timon: "a misanthrope," from Timon, name of a misanthrope who lived in Athens during the Peloponnesian War (431-404 B.C.E.), hero of Shakespeare's "Timon of Athens."
Hera: from Gk. Hera, lit. "protectress," related to heros "hero," originally "defender, protector."
Prince Charming: 1850, from Fr. Roi Charmant, name of the hero of Comtesse d'Aulnoy's "L'Oiseau Bleu" (1697), adopted into native fairy tales including "Sleeping Beauty" and "Cinderella."
Nestor: name for "old king renowned for wise counsel," 1588, from Gk., name of the aged and wise hero in the "Iliad." In Church history, a Nestorian (1449) is a follower of Nestorius, 5c. patriarch of Constantinople, whose doctrine attributed distinct divine and human persons to Christ and was condemned as heresy.
valerian: late 14c., from O.Fr. valeriane, apparently from fem. sing. of L. adj. Valerianus, from the personal name Valerius (see Valerie); but Weekley writes, "some of the Ger. and Scand. forms of the name point rather to connection with the saga-hero Wieland."
Parzival: hero of medieval legends, from O.Fr. Perceval, lit. "he who breaks through the valley," from percer "to pierce, break through" + val "valley."
Rambo: used allusively from 1985, in ref. to John Rambo, hero of David Morrell's novel "First Blood" (1972), popularized as portrayed by Sylvester Stallone in Hollywood movie version (1982), a U.S. Vietnam veteran, macho and self-sufficient, intent on vengeance. The family name is an old one in N.J. and Pennsylvania colonies of the U.S., originally Swedish, sometimes said to represent Swed. place name Ramberget, or to be from Fr. Huguenots who took refuge in Sweden.
Leander: youth of Abydos, lover of Hero, who swam nightly across the Hellespont to visit her, from Gk. Leiandros, lit. "lion-man," from leon "lion" + aner (gen. andros) "man" (see anthropo-).
hoagie: Amer.Eng. (originally Philadelphia) "hero, large sandwich made from a long, split roll," originally hoggie (c.1936), traditionally said to be named for Big Band songwriter Hoagland Howard "Hoagy" Carmichael (1899-1981), but the use of the word pre-dates his celebrity and the original spelling seems to suggest another source. Modern spelling is c.1945, and may have been altered by influence of Carmichael's nickname.
Bellerophon: Gk. hero, from L. form of Gk. Bellerophontes, probably lit. "killer of the demon Bellerus," from -phontes "killer of."
quixotic: "extravagantly chivalrous," 1791, from Don Quixote, romantic, impractical hero of Cervantes' satirical novel "Don Quixote de la Mancha" (1605). His name lit. means "thigh," also "a cuisse" (a piece of armor for the thigh), in Mod.Sp. quijote, from L. coxa "hip."
marathon: 1896, marathon race, from story of Gk. hero Pheidippides, who ran the 26 miles and 385 yards to Athens from the Plains of Marathon to tell of the allied Greek victory there over Persian army, 490 B.C.E. The original story (Herodotus) is that he ran from Athens to Sparta to seek aid, which arrived too late to participate in the battle. Introduced as an athletic event in the 1896 revival of the Olympic Games, based on a later, less likely story, and quickly extended to mean "any very long event or activity."
hector: 1387, "a valiant warrior," 1660 as slang for "a blustering, turbulent, pervicacious, noisy fellow" [Johnson], both in allusion to the provocative character of Hektor, Trojan hero, oldest son of Priam and Hecuba, in the "Iliad." It represents Gk. hektor, lit. "holder, stayer;" an agent noun from ekhein "to have, hold, possess." As a proper name, rare in England but used in Scotland to render Gael. Eachdonn.
Aeneas: hero of the "Æneid," son of Anchises and Aphrodite, L., from Gk. Aineias, perhaps lit. "praise-worthy," from ainos "tale, story, saying, praise" (related to enigma). The Aeneid is lit. "of or pertaining to Aeneas" (late 15c. in English), from Fr. Enéide, L. Æneida.
Nashville: type of country & western music, 1963, from Nashville, capital of Tennessee, where it originated. The city is named for Gen. Francis Nash (1742-1777) of North Carolina, U.S. Revolutionary War hero, killed at the Battle of Germantown. The surname is attested from 1296 in Sussex Subsidy Rolls, atten Eysse, atte Nasche (with assimilation of -n- from a preposition; see N), meaning "near an ash tree," or "near a place called Ash."
pimpernel: c.1400, from O.Fr. pimprenelle, earlier piprenelle (12c.), from M.L. pipinella "a medicinal plant," perhaps from *piperinus "pepper-like" (so called because its fruits resemble peppercorns), a derivative of L. piper "pepper" (see pepper). "The Scarlet Pimpernel" was the code name of the hero in an adventure novel of that name published 1905.
herculean: 1593, from Hercules (c.1369, as Ercules), from L. Hercles, from Gk. Herakles name of a famous hero, son of Zeus and Alcmene; lit. "Glory (kleos) of Hera," from Hera + -kles (see Damocles).
main (adj.): early 13c., "large, bulky, strong," from O.E. mægen- "power, strength, force," used in compounds (see main (n.)), probably infl. by O.N. megenn (adj.) "strong, powerful." Sense of "chief" is c.1400. In Spanish Main the word is short for mainland (late 14c.) and refers to the coast between Panama and Orinoco. Main man "favorite male friend, hero" is from 1967, U.S. black slang.
Xerxes: king of Persia who reigned 486-465 B.C.E., Gk. Xerxes, from O.Pers. Xšayaršan, lit. "male (i.e. 'hero') among kings," from Xšaya- "king" (cf. shah) + aršan "male, man." The Heb. rendition was Ahashwerosh, Ahashresh.
Cincinnati: city on the Ohio River in Ohio, U.S., founded 1789 and first called Losantiville, name changed 1790 by territorial Gov. Arthur St. Clair, in honor of the Society of the Cincinnati, a fraternal veterans' organization founded 1783 by former Revolutionary War officers (St. Clair was a member) and named for Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus, 5c. B.C.E. Roman hero who saved the city from crisis and then retired to his farm. His name is lit. "with curly hair," from L. cincinnus "curl, curly hair."
virile: 1490, from O.Fr. viril, from L. virilis "of a man, manly," from vir "a man, a hero," from PIE *uiHro "freeman" (cf. Skt. virah, Avestan vira-, Lith. vyras, O.Ir. fer, Welsh gwr, Goth. wair, O.E. wer "man"). Virile member for "penis" is recorded from 1541. Virility "period of manhood" is attested from 1586; meaning "manly strength" is recorded from 1603.
wretch: O.E. wrecca "wretch, stranger, exile," from P.Gmc. *wrakjan (cf. O.S. wrekkio, O.H.G. reckeo "a banished person, exile," Ger. recke "renowned warrior, hero"), related to O.E. wreccan "to drive out, punish" (see wreak). Sense of "vile, despicable person" developed in O.E., reflecting the sorry state of the outcast, as presented in much of Anglo-Saxon verse (e.g. "The Wanderer"). A Ger. word for "misery" is Elend, from O.H.G. elilenti "sojourn in a foreign land, exile."
academe: "The Academy," 1580s, from phrase the groves of Academe, translating Horace's silvas Academi (see academy); general sense of "the world of universities and scholarship" is attested from 1849. Academia in the sense of "academic community" is from 1956.
"Academe properly means Academus (a Greek hero); & its use as a poetic variant for academy, though sanctioned by Shakespeare, Tennyson & Lowell, is a mistake; the grove of A., however, (Milton) means rightly The Academy." [Fowler]
Humpty-dumpty: from Fr. nursery rhyme hero (the rhyme first attested in Eng. 1810), probably a reduplication of Humpty, a pet form of Humphrey. Originally, humpty-dumpty was a drink (1698), "ale boiled with brandy," probably from hump and dump, but the connection is obscure and there may not be one. Meaning "a short, dumpy, hump-shouldered person" (1785) is attested earlier in Eng. than the nursery rhyme, though it may be from the notion of an anthropomorphic egg.
" 'It's very provoking,' Humpty Dumpty said, ... 'to be called an egg -- very!' " ["Through the Looking-Glass," 1872]
Oedipal: 1939, "of or pertaining to desire felt for opposite-sex parent," from Oedipus complex (1910), coined by Freud from Sophocles' play "Oedipus Tyrannus," in which the title character, the Theban hero, answers the Sphinx's riddle and unknowingly kills his father and marries his own mother; from Gk. Oedipus, lit. "swollen-foot," from oidan "to swell" + pous (gen. podos) "foot." The name was used figuratively in Eng. from 1557 for "one who is clever at guessing riddles," which had adj. form Oedipean (1621). Oedipus effect (1957) is Karl Popper's term for "the self-fulfilling nature of prophecies or predictions."
superman: 1903, coined by George Bernard Shaw to translate Ger. Übermensch, "highly evolved human being that transcends good and evil," from "Thus Spake Zarathustra" (1883-91), by Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900). First used in Ger. by Hermann Rab (1527), and also used by Herder and Goethe. Translated as overman (1895) and beyond-man (1896) before Shaw got it right in his play title "Man and Superman" (1903). Application to comic strip hero is from 1938.
"So was created ... Superman! champion of the oppressed, the physical marvel who had sworn to devote his existence to helping those in need!" ["Action Comics," June 1, 1938]
Superwoman first recorded 1976 in the sense of "one who combines career and motherhood."
folklore: 1846, coined by antiquarian William J. Thoms (1803-85) as an Anglo-Saxonism (replacing popular antiquaries) and first published in the "Athenaeum" of Aug. 22, 1846, from folk + lore. This word revived folk in a modern sense of "of the common people, whose culture is handed down orally," and opened up a flood of compound formations, eg. folk art (1921), folk-hero (1899), folk-medicine (1898), folk-tale (1891), folk-song (1847), folk-dance (1912). Folk-music is from 1889; in reference to the branch of modern popular music (originally associated with Greenwich Village in New York City) it dates from 1958.
thane: O.E. ðegn "military follower," also "servant, attendant," from P.Gmc. *thegnas (cf. O.S. thegan "follower, warrior, boy," O.N. þegn "thane, freeman," O.H.G. thegan, Ger. Degen "thane, warrior, hero"), from PIE *tek-no- (cf. Skt. takman "descendant, child," Gk. teknon "child"), from base *tek- "to beget, give birth to" (cf. Gk. tekos "child, the young of animals," tokos "childbirth, offspring, produce of money, interest"). Also used in O.E. for "disciple of Christ." Specific sense of "man who ranks between an earl and a freeman" is c.1470. The modern spelling is from Scottish, where c.1220 it came to mean "chief of a clan, king's baron," and probably predominated in Eng. due to influence of "Macbeth;" normal orthographic changes from O.E. ðegn would have produced Mod.Eng. *thain. Some historians now use thegn to distinguish Anglo-Saxon thanes from Scottish thanes.
dick: "fellow, lad, man," 1553, rhyming nickname for Rick, short for Richard, one of the commonest Eng. names, it has long been a synonym for "fellow," and so most of the slang senses are probably very old, but naturally hard to find in the surviving records. The meaning "penis" is attested from 1891 in British army slang; dickhead "stupid person" is from 1969. Meaning "detective" is recorded from 1908, perhaps as a shortened variant of detective. The Dick Whittington story is an old one, told under other names throughout Europe, of a poor boy who sends a cat he had bought for a penny as his stake in a trading voyage; the captain sells it on his behalf for a fortune to a foreign king whose palace is overrun by rats. The hero devotes part of his windfall to charity, which may be why the legend attached in England since 16c. to Sir Richard Whittington (d.1423), three times Lord Mayor of London, who died childless and devoted large sums in his will to churches, almshouses, and St. Bartholomew's Hospital.