granular mixture used as an abrasive, late 15c., from French émeri, from Old French esmeril, from Italian smeriglo, from Vulgar Latin *smyrilium, from Greek smyris "abrasive powder" used for rubbing and polishing, probably a non-Greek word, perhaps from a Semitic source. Emery board is attested from 1725.
Originally a drawing board covered with dust or sand on which mathematical equations or calculations could be traced and erased. In reference to the other type of abacus, a counting frame with beads or balls strung on wires or rods, it is attested from 17c. or later in English. Both types were known in antiquity across Eurasia. Related: Abacist (late 14c.)
meal from the large, hard kernels of wheat left after the fine flour has been sifted, 1797, alteration of Italian semolino "grits; paste for soups," diminutive of semola "bran," from Latin simila "the finest flour," probably from the same Semitic source as Greek semidalis "the finest flour" (compare Assyrian samidu, Syrian semida "fine meal").
1550s, "the letter F;" 1690s as the name of a former letter in the Greek alphabet, corresponding to -F- (apparently originally pronounced with the force of English consonantal -w-), from Latin digamma "F," from Greek digamma, literally "double gamma" (because it resembles two gammas, one atop the other). The sixth letter of the original Greek alphabet, it corresponded to Semitic waw.
c. 1400, pessarie, "a suppository; a medicated plug inserted into an orifice of the body," from Late Latin pessarium, from Greek pessarion "medicated tampon of wool or lint," diminutive of pessos "pessary," earlier "oval stone used in games," a word of uncertain, perhaps Semitic, origin. As an instrument worn in the vagina to remedy various uterine displacements, by 1754.
fem. proper name, from Latin (Maria) Magdalena, "Mary of Magdala," the companion and supporter of Jesus, from Greek Magdalene, literally "woman of Magdala," from Aramaic (Semitic) Maghdela, place on the Sea of Galilee, literally "tower" (compare Hebrew migdal "tower," from gadal "be great or high"). The vernacular form of the name, via French, has come to English as maudlin.
