late 14c., in medicine, "act of bursting or breaking," in reference to a vessel, etc. of the body, from Old French rupture and directly from Latin ruptura "the breaking (of a vein), fracture (of an arm or leg)," from past-participle stem of rumpere "to break" (from PIE root *runp- "to break;" see corrupt (adj.)).
Specifically as "abdominal hernia" from early 15c. The sense of "breach of friendly relations or concord" is by 1580s; the general sense of "act or fact of breaking or bursting" is by 1640s. Rupturewort (1590s) was held to be efficacious in treating hernias, etc.
1905, from Anthony Comstock (1844-1915), founder of New York Society for the Suppression of Vice (1873) and self-appointed crusader against immorality, + -ery. Coined by George Bernard Shaw after Comstock objected to "Mrs. Warren's Profession." "Comstockery is the world's standing joke at the expense of the United States" [Shaw, New York Times, Sept. 26, 1905]. The Comstock lode, silver vein in Nevada, was discovered 1859 and first worked by U.S. prospector Henry T.P. Comstock (1820-1870), apparently unrelated to Anthony.
Meaning "conceited, elated with a high opinion of oneself" first recorded 1690s in English; earlier "silly, idle, foolish" (late 14c.). Phrase in vain "to no effect" (c. 1300, after Latin in vanum) preserves the original sense. Related: Vainly; vainness. Compare also vainglory.
*gherə-, Proto-Indo-European root meaning "gut, entrail."
It forms all or part of: Chordata; chordate; chord (n.2) "structure in animals resembling a string;" chorion; cord; cordon; harpsichord; haruspex; hernia; notochord; yarn.
It is the hypothetical source of/evidence for its existence is provided by: Sanskrit hira "vein; band;" Latin hernia "rupture;" Greek khorde "intestine, gut-string;" Lithuanian žarna "guts, leather bag;" Old English gearn, Old High German garn "yarn" (originally made of dried gut), Old Norse gorn "gut."
mid-14c., "the science of religion, study of God and his relationship to humanity," from Old French theologie "philosophical study of Christian doctrine; Scripture" (14c.), from Latin theologia, from Greek theologia "an account of the gods," from theologos "one discoursing on the gods," from theos "god" (from PIE root *dhes-, forming words for religious concepts) + -logos "treating of" (see -logy). Meaning "a particular system of theology" is from 1660s.
Theology moves back and forth between two poles, the eternal truth of its foundations and the temporal situation in which the eternal truth must be received. [Paul Tillich, "Systematic Theology," 1951]
Latin sense evolution is from "period of time" to "period of weather," to "bad weather" to "storm." Words for "weather" originally were words for "time" in languages from Russia to Brittany. Figurative sense of "violent commotion" in English is recorded from early 14c. Tempest in a teapot attested from 1818; the image in other forms is older, such as storm in a creambowl (1670s).
"pit or tunnel made in the earth for the purpose of obtaining metals and minerals," c. 1300, from Old French mine "vein, lode; tunnel, shaft; mineral ore; mine" (for coal, tin, etc,) and from Medieval Latin mina, minera "ore," a word of uncertain origin, probably from a Celtic source (compare Welsh mwyn, Irish mein "ore, mine"), from Old Celtic *meini-. Italy and Greece were relatively poor in minerals, thus they did not contribute a word for this to English, but there was extensive mining from an early date in Celtic lands (Cornwall, etc.).
From c. 1400 in the military sense of "a tunnel under fortifications to overthrow them" (for further development of this sense see mine (n.2)).
