1670s, "a bottom, the bottom; foundation, groundwork," from French fond "a bottom, floor, ground" (12c.), also "a merchant's basic stock or capital," from Latin fundus "bottom, foundation, piece of land" (from PIE root *bhudh- "bottom, base," source also of Sanskrit budhnah, Greek pythmen "foundation, bottom," Old English botm "lowest part;" see bottom (n.)). Meaning "stock of money or wealth available for some purpose" is from 1690s; sense of "store of anything to be drawn upon" is from 1704. Funds "money at one's disposal" is from 1728.
1590s, "act of putting on vestments" (a sense now found in investiture); later "act of being invested with an office, right, endowment, etc." (1640s); and "surrounding and besieging" of a military target (1811); from invest + -ment.
Commercial sense of "an investing of money or capital" is from 1610s, originally in reference to the East India Company; general use is from 1740 in the sense of "conversion of money to property in hopes of profit," and by 1837 in the sense "amount of money invested." For evolution of the commercial senses, see invest.
1892 (n.) "an adherent of populism," also (with capital P-), "a member of the Populist Party;" 1893 (adj.); American English, from Latin populus "people" (see people (n.)) + -ist. Originally in reference to the U.S. Populist Party (or People's Party), organized February 1892 to promote certain issues important to farmers and workers (expansion of the currency, state control of railways, and restriction on the ownership of land). The term outlasted the party, and by 1920s came to mean "representing the views of the masses" in a general way, and from the 1950s as "anti-establishment" on either the left or the right.
also garrotte, 1620s, "Spanish method of capital punishment by strangulation," from Spanish garrote "stick for twisting cord" (the method used in the execution), of unknown origin. Perhaps from Old French guaroc "club, stick, rod, shaft of a crossbow," probably ultimately Celtic, but possibly from Frankish *wrokkan "to twist" (cognate with Middle Dutch wroken "to twist").
I have no hesitation in pronouncing death by the garrot, at once the most manly, and the least offensive to the eye. [Major John Richardson, "British Legion," 1837]
1829, "communion of interests and responsibilities, mutual responsibility between two or more persons, quality in a community of being perfectly united on some question," from French solidarité, "communion of interests and responsibilities, mutual responsibility," a coinage of the "Encyclopédie" (1765), from solidaire "interdependent, complete, entire," from solide (see solid (adj.)).
Often regarded at first as a French word in English for a French idea, and italicized. With a capital S-, the name of an independent trade union movement in communist Poland, formed September 1980, from Polish Solidarność.
mid-15c., decimacioun, "the paying of tithes, a tithing, a tax of 10% on income," from Old French decimacion and directly from Late Latin decimationem (nominative decimatio) "the taking of a tenth," noun of action from past-participle stem of Latin decimare "the removal or destruction of one-tenth," from decem "ten" (from PIE root *dekm- "ten").
As "punishment by capital execution of every tenth man, chosen by lot," from 1580s; loose or transferred sense of "destruction of a great but indefinite number, severe loss" is attested by 1680s.
1791, "action or process of reconstructing," noun of action to go with reconstruct. In U.S. history, usually with a capital R-, it has been used from 1865 in reference to the process (lasting until about 1870) by which the states which had seceded were restored to the rights and privileges of the Union. It had been used in the U.S. during the American Civil War in reference to the anticipated reconstitution of the Union. Hence, for a time, in American English, reconstructed "altered by Reconstruction" (1865).
Old English, from Medieval Latin, representing Greek abbreviation of IHSOUS "Jesus," in which the character -H- is the capital of the Greek vowel eta. The Roman form would be I.E.S. Mistaken for a Latin contraction in the Middle Ages, after its Greek origin was forgotten, and sometimes treated as short for Iesus Hominum Salvator "Jesus Savior of Men." Alternative version I.H.C. (terminal -s- often was indicated in later Greek with a character resembling -c-) is found on vestments from 950 C.E., and may be the source of the H. in slang Jesus H. Christ.
capital of Laconia in ancient Greece, famed for severity of its social order, the frugality of its people, the valor of its arms, and the brevity of its speech. Also for dirty boys, men vain of their long hair, boxing girls, iron money, and insufferable black broth. The name is said to be from Greek sparte "cord made from spartos," a type of broom, from PIE *spr-to-, from root *sper- (2) "to turn, twist" (see spiral (adj.)). Perhaps the reference is to the cords laid as foundation markers for the city. Or the whole thing could be folk etymology.
"one who favors a republican form of government or republican principles" (or, as Johnson puts it, "One who thinks a commonwealth without monarchy the best government"), 1690s; see republican (adj.).
With capital R-, in reference to a member of a specific U.S. political party (the Anti-Federalists) from 1782, though this was not the ancestor of the modern U.S. Republican Party, which dates from 1854. In between, National Republicans was a name of the party that opposed Jackson and rallied behind John Quincy Adams in late 1820s.
