capital city of Sweden; it arose mid-13c. from a fishing village; the second element in the name is holm "island" (see holm); the first is either stäk "bay" or stock "stake, pole." Related: Stockholmer.

Stockholm Syndrome is from 1978, a psychologists' term; the name derives from the Aug. 23, 1973, violent armed robbery of Sveriges Kreditbank in Stockholm, after which four bank employees were held hostage in a vault for more than five days. The hostages developed a dramatic attachment to their abuser, and a fear of would-be rescuers, that they could not explain.

resort town, capital of Monaco, Italian, literally "Charles's Mountain," founded 1866 and named for Charles III of Monaco (1818-1889). The car rally there dates to 1911. The Monte Carlo fallacy (by 1957) was named for the town's famous gambling casinos; it is the fallacy of thinking that the probability of a particular outcome rises with the successive number of opposite outcomes. Contrary to the Monte Carlo fallacy, if the roulette wheel stops on black 99 times in a row, the chances that the 100th spin will be red are still just under 50-50. 

Old English ceorl "peasant, one of the lowest class of freemen, man without rank," from Proto-Germanic *kerlaz, *karlaz (source also of Old Frisian zerl "man, fellow," Middle Low German kerle, Dutch kerel "freeman of low degree," German Kerl "man, husband," Old Norse karl "old man, man").

It had various meaning in early Middle English, including "man of the common people," "a country man," "husbandman," "free peasant;" by 1300, it meant "bondman, villain," also "fellow of low birth or rude manners."

For words for "common man" that acquire an insulting flavor over time, compare boor, villain. In this case, however, the same word also has come to mean "king" in many languages (such as Lithuanian karalius, Czech kral, Polish król) via Charlemagne.

mid-14c., "to put to death by nailing or otherwise affixing to a cross," from Old French crucifer crucefiier (12c., Modern French crucifier), from Vulgar Latin *crucificare, from Late Latin crucifigere "to fasten to a cross," from cruci, dative of Latin crux "cross" (see crux) + figere "to fasten, fix" (from PIE root *dheigw- "to stick, fix").

An ancient mode of capital punishment considered especially ignominious by the Romans and Greeks and reserved in general for slaves and highway robbers. In scripture, "subdue, mortify" (the flesh, etc.), early 14c. Figurative sense of "to torment" is from 1620s. Related: Crucified; crucifying.

"circumscribed within definite limits," c. 1600, past-participle adjective from limit (v.). The word was used earlier in a now-obsolete sense "appointed, fixed" (1550s). Limited edition is from 1869; limited monarchy from 1640s; limited war is from 1947. As a noun in railroading, 1878, short for limited express train (1875). In British company names, Limited (abbrev. Ltd.), 1855, is short for limited company, one formed under a law limiting the liability of the members for debts or obligations incurred by the company to a specific amount, usually the amount of their capital investment.

"night-goblin, incubus, oppressed sleep," Old English mare "incubus, nightmare, monster," from mera, mære, from Proto-Germanic *maron "goblin" (source also of Middle Low German mar, Middle Dutch mare, Old High German mara, German Mahr "incubus," Old Norse mara "nightmare, incubus"). This is from PIE *mora- "incubus" (source also of first element in Old Irish Morrigain "demoness of the corpses," literally "queen of the nightmare," also Bulgarian, Serbian mora, Czech mura, Polish zmora "incubus"). Also compare French cauchemar "nightmare," with first element from Old French caucher "to trample" and second element from Germanic.

All this is probably from PIE root *mer- "to rub away, harm" (also "to die" and forming words referring to death and to beings subject to death). The word in English now survives only in nightmare (q.v.).

late 14c., "to clothe in the official robes of an office," from Latin investire "to clothe in, cover, surround," from in "in, into" (from PIE root *en "in") + vestire "to dress, clothe," from PIE *wes- (2) "to clothe," extended form of root *eu- "to dress."

The meaning "use money to produce profit" is attested from 1610s in connection with the East Indies trade, and it is probably a borrowing of a special use of Italian investire (13c., from the same Latin root) via the notion of giving one's capital a new form. The figurative sense of "to clothe (with attributes)" is from c. 1600. The military meaning "to besiege, surround with hostile intent" also is from c. 1600. Related: Invested; investing.

late 14c., "pertaining to a province," originally ecclesiastical, in reference to the jurisdiction of an archbishop or the districts of orders of friars, from Old French provincial "belonging to a particular province (of friars)" (13c.), from Latin provincialis "of a province," from provincia (see province).

Meaning "of the small towns and countryside" (as opposed to the capital and urban center) is from 1630s, a borrowed idiom from French, transferred from sense of "particular to the province," hence "local." Suggestive of rude, petty, or narrow society ("characteristic of or exhibiting the manners of the inhabitants of small towns and the countryside") by 1755. Classical Latin provincialis seems not to have had this tinge. In British use, with reference to the American colonies, from 1680s.

also handy-man, "man employed to do various types of work," by 1843, from handy + man (n.). Gradually developed from the sense of "man who is capable at all sorts of work."

A handy man is so practised in the regulation of the little utilities of the house he inhabits, that by a slight touch here and there—a screw turned here and a screw loosened there, and a nail driven in time—he keeps all working smoothly, and averts those domestic catastrophes and break-downs of which Punch makes so much capital in his pictures. [Harriet Beecher Stowe, in Arthur's Home Magazine, August 1869]

"large amphibious quadruped rodent of the genus Castor," Old English beofor, befer (earlier bebr), from Proto-Germanic *bebruz (source also of Old Saxon bibar, Old Norse bjorr, Middle Dutch and Dutch bever, Low German bever, Old High German bibar, German Biber), from PIE *bhebhrus, reduplication of root *bher- (2) "bright; brown" (source also of Lithuanian bebrus, Czech bobr, Welsh befer). See bear (n.) for the proposed reason for this.

The animal formerly was valued and hunted for its secretions (see castor) and for its fur, which was used in the manufacture of hats, so much so that beaver could mean "hat" from 1520s and continued so into 19c. even after hats began to be made of silk or other material. They were hunted to extinction in Great Britain in the 16th century but have lately been reintroduced.