mid-15c. (late 13c. in Anglo-French), "royal writ to determine by what warrant a person holds an office or franchise," a Medieval Latin legal phrase, literally "by what warrant," from quo "from, with, or by whom or what?," ablative of the interrogative pronoun quis "who?" (from PIE root *kwo-, stem of relative and interrogative pronouns). Also see warrant (n.).
"long drink made with pineapple juice, rum, and coconut," 1923, from Spanish piña colada, literally "strained pineapple." The first word was originally "pine-cone" (and formerly pinna), from Latin pinea (see pineapple). Second word ultimately is from Latin colare "to strain" (see colander). Ayto ("Diner's Dictionary") writes that the drink probably originated in Puerto Rico and "enjoyed a certain vogue in the mid to late 1970s," as evidenced by a certain song.
traditional English dance of persons in costume, mid-15c., moreys daunce "Moorish dance," from Flemish mooriske dans, from Old French morois "Moorish, Arab, black," from More "Moor" (see Moor). It is unknown why the English dance (which typically is based on the Robin Hood stories) was called this, unless it is in reference to fantastic dancing or costumes (compare Italian Moresco, a related dance, literally "Moorish;" German moriskentanz, French moresque).
lake of the River Jordan, mid-13c., from dead (adj.); its water is 26 percent salt (as opposed to 3 or 4 percent in most oceans) and supports practically no life. In the Bible it was the "Salt Sea" (Hebrew yam hammelah), also "Sea of the Plain" and "East Sea." In Arabic it is al-bahr al-mayyit "Dead Sea." The ancient Greeks knew it as he Thalassa asphaltites "the Asphaltite Sea." Latin Mare Mortum, Greek he nekra thalassa (both "The Dead Sea") referred to the sea at the northern boundaries of Europe, the Arctic Ocean.
Thursday before Easter, mid-15c., from Middle English maunde "the Last Supper" (c. 1300), also "ceremony of washing the feet of poor persons or inferiors, performed as a religious rite on Maundy Thursday" (early 14c.), from Old French mandé, from Latin mandatum "commandment" (see mandate (n.)); said to be so called in reference to the opening words of the Latin church service for this day, Mandatum novum do vobis "A new commandment I give unto you" (John xiii:34), words supposedly spoken by Jesus to the Apostles after washing their feet at the Last Supper.
"the first source of motion," mid-15c., from Medieval Latin (11c.), literally "the first movable thing;" see prime (adj.) + mobile.
In the Ptolemaic system of astronomy, the tenth or outermost of the revolving spheres of the universe, which was supposed to revolve from east to west in twenty-four hours, and to carry the others along with it in its motion; hence, any great or first source of motion. [Century Dictionary]
A translation of Arabic al-muharrik al-awwal "the first moving" (Avicenna). Englished by Chaucer as the firste Moeuyng (c. 1400). Old science also had primum frigidum "pure cold: an elementary substance, according to the doctrine of Parmenides."
