Online Etymology Dictionary

noon: 1140, non "midday, 12 o'clock p.m., midday meal," from O.E. non "3 o'clock p.m.," also "the canonical hour of nones," from L. nona hora "ninth hour" of daylight, by Roman reckoning about 3 p.m., from nona, fem. sing. of nonus "ninth" (see nones). Meaning shift from "3 p.m." to "12 p.m." began during 12c., when time of Church prayers shifted from ninth hour to sixth hour, or perhaps because the customary time of the midday meal shifted, or both. The shift was complete by 14c. (cf. same evolution in Du. noen). Noonday was first used by Coverdale (1535).
meridian: c.1380, "noon," from O.Fr. meridien, from L. meridianus "of noon, southern," from meridies "noon, south," from meridie "at noon," altered by dissimilation from pre-L. *mediei die, loc. of medius "mid-" (see medial) + dies "day" (see diurnal). Cartographic sense first recorded 1391. The city in Mississippi, U.S., was settled 1854 (as Sowashee Station) at a railway junction and given its current name in 1860, supposedly by people who thought meridian meant "junction" (they perhaps confused the word with median).
nuncheon: 1353, "slight refreshment," originally taken in the afternoon, from none "noon" (see noon) + shench (from O.E. scenc) "draught, cup."
post meridiem: "after noon," 1647, from L., from post "after" + acc. of meridies "midday, noon."
ante meridiem: 1560s, from L., lit. "before noon," from ante (see ante) + acc. of meridies "midday, noon" (see meridian).
A.M.: 1762, abbreviation of L. ante meridiem "before noon."
p.m.: abbreviation of L. post meridiem "after noon" (1647).
weekend: 1638, from week + end. Originally a northern word (referring to the period from Saturday noon to Monday morning); it became general after 1878. As an adj., meaning "only on weekends," it is recorded from 1935.
forenoon: c.1500, from fore + noon.
Yugoslav: 1853, from Slav (q.v.) + Serbo-Cr. jugo- "south,"comb. form of jug "south, south wind, noon," from O.C.S. jugu.
bowls: game played with balls, mid-15c. (implied in bowlyn), from gerund of bowl "wooden ball" (early 15c.), from O.Fr. bole (13c., Mod.Fr. boule) "ball," ultimately from L. bulla "bubble, knob, round thing" (see bull (2)).
"Noon apprentice ... [shall] play ... at the Tenys, Closshe, Dise, Cardes, Bowles nor any other unlawfull game." [Act 11, Henry VII, 1495]
afternoon: c.1300, from after + noon (q.v.). In 15c.-16c., the form was at afternoon; from c.1600 till now it has been in the afternoon.
siesta: "mid-day nap," 1655, from Sp. siesta, from L. sexta (hora) "sixth (hour)," the noon of the Roman day (coming six hours after sunrise), from sexta, fem. of sextus "sixth" (see Sextus).
luncheon: 1580, nonechenche "light mid-day meal," from none "noon" + schench "drink," from O.E. scenc, from scencan "pour out." Altered by northern Eng. dial. lunch "hunk of bread or cheese" (1590), which probably is from Sp. lonja "a slice," lit. "loin." When it first appeared, luncheon meant "thick piece, hunk;" sense of "light repast between mealtimes" is from 1650s, especially in reference to an early afternoon meal eaten by those who have a noontime dinner. Slang phrase out to lunch "insane, stupid, clueless" first recorded 1955, on notion of being "not there."
nones: c.1420, in ref. to the Roman calendar, "ninth day (by inclusive reckoning) before the ides of each month" (7th of March, May, July, October, 5th of other months), from L. nonæ (acc. nonas), fem. pl. of nonus "ninth." Ecclesiastical sense of "daily office said originally at the ninth hour of the day" is from 1709; originally fixed at ninth hour from sunrise, hence about 3 p.m. (now usually somewhat earlier), from L. nona (hora) "ninth (hour)," from fem. pl. of nonus "ninth," contracted from *novenos, from novem "nine" (see nine). Also used in a sense of "midday" (see noon).
antipodes: "place on the opposite side of the earth," late 14c., from L. antipodes "those who dwell on the opposite side of the earth," from Gk. antipodes, pl. of antipous "with feet opposite (ours)," from anti- "opposite" + pous "foot" (see foot), thus people who live on the opposite side of the world. Not to be confused with antiscii "those who live on the same meridian on opposite side of the equator," whose shadows fall at noon in the opposite direction, from Gk. anti- + skia "shadow."
"Yonde in Ethiopia ben the Antipodes, men that haue theyr fete ayenst our fete." ["De Proprietatibus Rerum Bartholomeus Anglicus," translated by John of Trevisa, 1398]
Related: Antipodal (adj., 1640s); antipodean (1630s).
son of a bitch: 1707 as a direct phrase, but implied much earlier.
"Abide þou þef malicious!
Biche-sone þou drawest amis
þou schalt abigge it ywis!"
["Of Arthour & of Merlin," c.1330]
"Probably the most common American vulgarity from about the middle of the eighteenth century to the middle of the twentieth" [Rawson].
"Our maid-of-all-work in that department [indecency] is son-of-a-bitch, which seems as pale and ineffectual to a Slav or a Latin as fudge does to us. There is simply no lift in it, no shock, no sis-boom-ah. The dumbest policeman in Palermo thinks of a dozen better ones between breakfast and the noon whistle." [H.L. Mencken, "The American Language," 4th ed., 1936, p.317-8]
Abbreviated form SOB from 1918. Mencken, complaining of the tepidity of the American vocabulary of profanity, writes that the toned-down form son-of-a-gun "is so lacking in punch that the Italians among us have borrowed it as a satirical name for an American: la sanemagogna is what they call him, and by it they indicate their contempt for his backwardness in the art that is one of their great glories."
hour: mid-13c., from O.Fr. hore "one-twelfth of a day" (sunrise to sunset), from L. hora "hour, time, season," from Gk. hora "any limited time," from PIE *yor-a-, from base *yer- "year, season" (see year). Greek hora was "a season; 'the season;'" in classical times, sometimes, "a part of the day," such as morning, evening, noon, night. The Greek astronomers borrowed the notion of dividing the day into sections from the Babylonians. The Gk. division of the daytime into 12 equal hours was generally introduced by Hipparchus c.150 B.C.E. (night continued to be divided into four watches), but as the amount of daylight changed throughout the year, the hours were not fixed or of equal length. Equinoctal hours did not become established in Europe until the 4c., and as late as 16c. distinction sometimes was made between temporary (unequal) hours and sidereal (equal) ones. The h- has persisted in this word despite not being pronounced since Roman times. Replaced O.E. tid, lit. "time," and stund "period of time."