one of three large divisions of western Pacific islands, 1840, from French Mélanésie (by 1835); see melano- "black" + nēsos "island" (see Chersonese) + -ia. Modeled after Polynesia and meant to signify "the islands inhabited by blacks."
La Melanesia comprende la grande isola Australia, e quelle degli arcipelaghi di Salomone, di Lapèrouse, di Quiros, e dei gruppi della Nuova Caledonia, di Norfolk, e della Diemenin. A cagione dei Neri Oceanici, che, quasi esclusivamente, ne popolano le regioni, questa parte della Oceania ebbe dai moderni geografi e viaggiatori (il Graberg, il Rienzi, il d'Urville, ec.) il nome di Melanesia. ["Corso di Geografia Universale," Firenze, 1839]
Related: Melanesian (1835, n., "a native of Melanesia;" 1840, adj., "of or belonging to Melanesia or the peoples inhabiting it").
1961, from Italian Paparazzo (plural paparazzi) surname of the freelance photographer in Federico Fellini's 1959 film "La Dolce Vita." The surname itself is of no special significance in the film; it is said to be a common one in Calabria, and Fellini is said to have borrowed it from a travel book, "By the Ionian Sea," in which occurs the name of hotel owner Coriolano Paparazzo.
"optical instrument which by means of a lens or lenses magnifies and renders visible minute objects or details of visible bodies," 1650s, from Modern Latin microscopium, literally "an instrument for viewing what is small;" see micro- + -scope. The dim southern constellation Microscopium was among those introduced by La Caille in 1752.
1706, "stew pan," from French casserole "sauce pan" (16c.), diminutive of casse "pan" (14c.), from Provençal cassa "melting pan," from Medieval Latin cattia "pan, vessel," possibly from Greek kyathion, diminutive of kyathos "cup for the wine bowl." Originally the pan; by 1889 also of the dishes cooked in it, via cookery phrases such as en casserole, à la casserole.
Earliest attested sense in English is now-obsolete meaning "male member, penis" (c. 1400). Modern sense is from the notion of within the verge (c. 1500, also as Anglo-French dedeinz la verge), i.e. "subject to the Lord High Steward's authority" (as symbolized by the rod of office), originally a 12-mile radius round the king's court. Sense shifted to "the outermost edge of an expanse or area." Meaning "point at which something happens" (as in on the verge of) is first attested c. 1600. "A very curious sense development." [Weekley]
"a standard, pattern, or model," 1821 (Coleridge), from French norme, from Latin norma "carpenter's square, rule, pattern," a word of unknown origin. Klein suggests a borrowing (via Etruscan) of Greek gnōmōn "carpenter's square." The Latin form of the word, norma, was used in English in the sense of "carpenter's square" from 1670s, also as the name of a small, faint southern constellation introduced 18c. by La Caille.
1630s, "Mediterranean seacoast around Genoa," from Italian riviera, literally "bank, shore" (see river). In extended use it refers to the whole coast from Marseilles in France to La Spezia in Italy, which became popular 19c. as a winter resort. Thence adopted (sometimes ironically) in reference to areas of other countries, as in American Riviera (Florida, 1887); English Riviera (Devonshire coast, 1882). Related: Rivieran.
