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"bitartrate of potash" (a deposit left during fermentation), late 14c., from Old French tartre, from Medieval Latin tartarum, from late Greek tartaron "tartar encrusting the sides of wine casks," perhaps of Semitic origin, but if so the exact source has not been identified; Arabic is unlikely because of the early date of the word in Latin. The purified substance is cream of tartar. Used generally in 17c. of encrustations from liquid contact; specific meaning "encrustation on teeth" (calcium phosphate) is first recorded 1806.

pony (v.)

1824, in pony up "to pay," of uncertain origin; similar uses of pony or poney in the sense "money" date to late 18c. OED says from pony (n.), but not exactly how. "Dictionary of American Slang" says it is from slang use of Latin legem pone (q.v.) to mean "money" (first recorded 16c.), because this was the title of the Psalm for March 25, a Quarter Day and the first payday of the year. Latin pone is the imperative of Latin ponere "to put, place" (see position). Related: Ponied; ponying.

superannuated (adj.)

1630s, "obsolete, out of date;" 1740, "retired on account of old age," from Modern Latin superannuatus, alteration (perhaps by influence of annual) of Medieval Latin superannatus (which meant "more than a year old" and was used of cattle), from Latin super "beyond, over" (see super-) + annus "year" (see annual (adj.)). Earlier in same sense was superannate (c. 1600), from Medieval Latin superannatus. Compare French suranner.

tarnish (v.)

mid-15c. ternishen, "become tarnished; discolor," from Old French terniss-, present-participle stem of ternir "dull the luster or brightness of, make dim" (15c.), probably from terne (adj.) "dull, dark," which according to Diez is from a Germanic source cognate with Old High German tarnjan "to conceal, hide," Old English dyrnan "to hide, darken," from Proto-Germanic *darnjaz (see dern), but there are difficulties of form, sense, and date. Figurative sense is from 1690s. Related: Tarnished; tarnishing.

-y (3)

suffix in pet proper names (such as Johnny, Kitty), first recorded in Scottish c. 1400; according to OED it became frequent in English 15c.-16c. Extension to surnames seems to date from c. 1940. Use with common nouns seems to have begun in Scottish with laddie (1546) and become popular in English due to Burns' poems, but the same formation appears to be represented much earlier in baby and puppy.

Isabel

fem. proper name, a form of Elizabeth that seems to have developed in Provence. A popular English name in the Middle Ages; pet forms included Ibb, Libbe, Nibb, Tibb, Bibby, and Ellice. The Spanish form was Isabella, which is attested as a color name ("greyish-yellow") in English from c. 1600; the Isabella who gave her name to it has not been identified, and the usual stories are too late for the date. Related: Isabelline (adj.).

atomic (adj.)

"pertaining to atoms," 1670s as a philosophical term (see atomistic); scientific sense dates from 1811, from atom + -ic. Atomic number is from 1821; atomic mass is from 1848. Atomic energy first recorded 1906 in modern sense (as intra-atomic energy from 1903).

March, 1903, was an historic date for chemistry. It is, also, as we shall show, a date to which, in all probability, the men of the future will often refer as the veritable beginning of the larger powers and energies that they will control. It was in March, 1903, that Curie and Laborde announced the heat-emitting power of radium. [Robert Kennedy Duncan, "The New Knowledge," 1906]

Atomic bomb first recorded 1914 in writings of H.G. Wells ("The World Set Free"), who thought of it as a bomb "that would continue to explode indefinitely."

When you can drop just one atomic bomb and wipe out Paris or Berlin, war will have become monstrous and impossible. [S. Strunsky, Yale Review, January 1917]

Atomic Age is from 1945. Atomical "concerned with atoms," also "very minute," is from 1640s. Atomic clock is from 1938.

ease (v.)

c. 1300, "to help, assist," from Old French aiser, from aise (see ease (n.)). Meaning "to give ease, mitigate, alleviate, relieve from pain or care" is from mid-14c. Meaning "render less difficult" is from 1630s; the sense of "to relax one's efforts" is from 1863 (with up by 1907, earlier with a more specific sense in sailing). Farmer reports ease in a slang sense of "to content a woman" sexually, with an 1861 date. Related: Eased; easing.

mangrove (n.)

type of tropical shrub or tree that grows abundantly in tidal mud with large masses of interlacing roots above ground, 1610s, mangrow, probably from Spanish mangle, mangue (1530s), which is perhaps from a word in Carib or Arawakan, native languages of the West Indies. The modern spelling in English (1690s) is from influence of grove. A Malay (Austronesian) origin also has been proposed for the word, but it is difficult to explain how that would come to be used at that date for the American plant.

bissextile

1580s (n.); 1590s (adj.), in reference to Roman leap year, from Late Latin (annus) bisextilis "leap year," more literally "the twice sixth-day, (a year) containing a second sixth (day)." To keep the Julian calendar consistent with the sun, the sixth day (by inclusive reckoning) before the Calends of March was doubled every four years. The date corresponds to our February 24th. From Latin bissextus/bisextis (dies), from bis "twice" (see bis-) + sextus "sixth (day before the First of March)," from sex "six" (see six).

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