Online Etymology Dictionary

turkey: 1540s, "guinea fowl" (Numida meleagris), imported from Madagascar via Turkey, by Near East traders known as turkey merchants. The larger North American bird (Meleagris gallopavo) was domesticated by the Aztecs, introduced to Spain by conquistadors (1523) and thence to wider Europe, by way of North Africa (then under Ottoman rule) and Turkey (Indian corn was originally turkey corn or turkey wheat in English for the same reason). The word turkey was first applied to it in English 1550s because it was identified with or treated as a species of the guinea fowl. The Turkish name for it is hindi, lit. "Indian," probably via Fr. dinde (contracted from poulet d'inde, lit. "chicken from India"), based on the common misconception that the New World was eastern Asia. The New World bird itself reputedly reached England by 1524 at the earliest estimate, though a date in the 1530s seems more likely. By 1575, turkey was becoming the usual main course at an English Christmas. Meaning "inferior show, failure," is 1927 in show business slang, probably from the bird's reputation for stupidity. Meaning "stupid, ineffectual person" is recorded from 1951. Turkey shoot "something easy" is World War II-era, in ref. to marksmanship contests where turkeys were tied behind a log with their heads showing as targets.
cold turkey: "without preparation," 1910; narrower sense of "withdrawal from an addictive substance" (originally heroin) first recorded 1921. Cold turkey is a food that requires little preparation, so "to quit like cold turkey" is to do so suddenly and without preparation.
gobble (2): "turkey noise," 1680, probably imitative.
Ephesians: residents of the Greek city of Ephesus, in what is now western Turkey.
casaba: late 19c., from Kasaba, old name of Turgutlu, in Aegean Turkey, whence the melons were imported to U.S. The old name is lit. "the town."
Antioch: modern Antakya in Turkey, anciently the capital of Syria, founded c.300 B.C.E. by Seleucus I Nictor and named for his father, Antiochus.
Cappadocia: ancient name for the region roughly corresponding to modern Turkey, from Gk. Kappadokía, perhaps ult. from Pers. Hvaspadakhim "land of fine horses."
caftan: 1590s, "long tunic worn in Turkey, etc.," from Turk. qaftan, (also in Arabic), from Persian khaftan. As a similar shirt or dress style in the West, it is attested from c.1965.
cluck: O.E. cloccian originally echoic. Cf. Turkish culuk, one of the words for "turkey."
aga: title of rank, especially in Turkey, c.1600, from Turk. agha "chief, master, lord," related to E.Turk. agha "elder brother."
Ladino: 1889, Spanish mixed with Hebrew, Arabic, and other elements, written in Heb. characters, spoken by Sephardim in Turkey, Greece, etc. From Sp. Ladino "sagacious, cunning crafty," originally "knowing Latin, Latin," from L. Latinus. The Sp. word also has appeared in 19c. Amer.Eng. in its senses "vicious horse" and, in Central America, "mestizo, white person."
Caesarea: Latin city name derived from Caesar, applied in honor of the emperors to some new and existing cities in the Roman Empire, including Kayseri, Turkey; Shaizar, Syria, and Cherchell, Algeria (representing a French spelling of an Arabic name based on a Berber garbling of the Latin word).
angora: 1819, from Angora, city in central Turkey (ancient Ancyra, modern Ankara), which gave its name to the goat, and to its silk-like wool, and to a cat whose fur resembles it. The city name is from the Gk. word for "anchor, bend" (see angle (n.)).
Punch: the puppet show star, 1709, shortening of Punchinello (1666), from It. (Neapolitan) Pollecinella, dim. of pollecena "turkey pullet," probably in allusion to his big nose. The phrase pleased as punch apparently refers to his unfailing triumph over enemies. The comic weekly of this name was published in London from 1841.
Hittite: 1608, "of or pertaining to an Indo-European people whose empire (c.1900-700 B.C.E.) covered much of modern Turkey and Syria," from Heb. Hitti "Hittite" (pl. Hittim), from Hitt. Hatti. The biblical use (cf. Gen. xv.20, etc.) refers to Canaanite or Syrian tribes that were probably genuine offshoots of the Hittites. They were called khita or kheta in Egyptian.
cafe: 1802, from Fr. café "coffee, coffeehouse," from It. caffe "coffee" (see coffee). The beverage was introduced in Venice by 1615 and in France from 1650s by merchants and travelers who had been in Turkey and Egypt. The first public café might have been the one opened in Marseilles in 1660.
piaster: "Sp. dollar" (1630), also "monetary unit and coin of Turkey" (1611, in Turk., ghurush, originally debased Sp. dollars), from Fr. piastre, from It. piastra "thin metal plate," short for impiastro "plaster," from L. emplastrum, from Gk. emplastron (see plaster).
gobbledygook: 1944, Amer.Eng., first used by U.S. Rep. Maury Maverick, D.-Texas, (1895-1954), a grandson of the original maverick (q.v.) and chairman of U.S. Smaller War Plants Corporation during World War II. First used in a memo dated March 30, 1944, banning "gobbledygook language" and mock-threateaning, "anyone using the words activation or implementation will be shot." Maverick said he made up the word in imitation of turkey noise.
mufti: 1586, muphtie "official head of the state religion in Turkey," from Ar. mufti "judge," active participle of afta "to give," conjugated form of fata "he gave a (legal) decision." Sense of "ordinary clothes (not in uniform)" is from 1816, perhaps from mufti's costume of robes and slippers in stage plays, which was felt to resemble plain clothes.
sultan: 1555, from M.Fr. sultan "ruler of Turkey" (16c.), from Arabic sultan "ruler, king, queen, power, dominion," from Aramaic shultana "power," from shelet "have power." His wife, mother, daughter, concubine, or sister is a sultana (1585), from It. fem. of sultano, from Arabic sultan.
talk (v.): early 13c., talken, probably a dim. or frequentative form related to M.E. tale "story," ultimately from the same source as tale (cf. hark from hear, stalk from steal) and replacing that word as a verb. E.Fris. has talken "to talk, chatter, whisper." To talk shop is from 1854. To talk turkey is from 1824, supposedly from an elaborate joke about a swindled Indian. Talking head is from 1968. Talkative is first recorded early 15c. To talk back "answer impudently or rudely" is from 1869.
tulip: 1578, via Du. or Ger. tulpe, Fr. tulipe "a tulip," all ult. from Turk. tülbent "turban," also "gauze, muslin," from Pers. dulband "turban;" so called from the fancied resemblance of the flower to a turban. Introduced from Turkey to Europe, where the earliest known instance of a tulip flowering in cultivation is 1559 in the garden of Johann Heinrich Herwart in Augsburg; popularized in Holland after 1587 by Clusius. The full form of the Turk. word is represented in It. tulipano, Sp. tulipan, but the -an tended to drop in Gmc. languages, where it was mistaken for a suffix. Tulip tree (1705), a North American magnolia, so called from its tulip-shaped flowers.
Turk: c.1300, from Fr. Turc, from M.L. Turcus, from Byzantine Gk. Tourkos, Pers. turk, a national name, of unknown origin. Said to mean "strength" in Turkish. Cf. Chinese tu-kin, name given c.177 B.C.E. as that of a people living south of the Altai Mountains (identified by some with the Huns). In Persian, turk, in addition to the national name, also could mean "a beautiful youth," "a barbarian," "a robber." Meaning "person of Irish descent" is first recorded 1914 in U.S., apparently originating among Irish-Americans; of unknown origin (Ir. torc "boar, hog" has been suggested). The country name Turkey (c.1369) is from M.L. Turchia. Young Turk (1908) was a member of an early 20c. political group in the Ottoman Empire that sought rejuvenation of the Turkish nation. Turkish bath is attested from 1644; Turkish delight from 1877.
wild (adj.): O.E. wilde "in the natural state, uncultivated, undomesticated," from P.Gmc. *wilthijaz (cf. O.S. wildi, O.N. villr, O.Fris. wilde, Du. wild, O.H.G. wildi, Ger. wild, Goth. wilþeis "wild," Ger. Wild (n.) "game"), probably from PIE *ghwelt- (cf. Welsh gwyllt "untamed"), related to the base of L. ferus (see fierce).
"Ursula ... hath bin at all the Salsbury rasis, dancing like wild with Mr Clarks." [letter, 1674]
Meaning "sexually dissolute, loose" is attested from mid-13c. U.S. slang sense of "exciting, excellent" is recorded from 1955. The noun meaning "uncultivated or desolate region" is first attested 1590s in the wilds. Baseball wild pitch is recorded from 1867. Wildest dreams first attested 1961 (in Carson McCullers). Wildlife "fauna of a region" is attested from 1879. Wild West first recorded 1849. Wild Turkey brand of whiskey (Austin Nichols Co.) in use from 1942.