family pteridaceae | Search Online Etymology Dictionary

75 entries found.

Goudy

typeface family, 1917, from name of U.S. typographer Frederic W. Goudy (1865-1947).

Dubonnet (n.)

sweet French aperitif, by 1901, trademark name, from the name of a family of French wine merchants.

Paige

fem. proper name, also a family name, variant of page (n.2) "young servant."

Amharic (n.)

principal language of Ethiopia, 1813, from Amhara, name of a central province in Ethiopia. It is in the Semitic family.

Germanic (adj.)

1630s, "of Germany or Germans," from Latin Germanicus, from Germani (see German (n.)). From 1773 as "of the Teutonic race;" from 1842 especially with reference to the language family that includes German, Dutch, English, etc. As a noun, the name of that language family, by 1892, replacing earlier Teutonic. Germanical is attested from 1550s.

Stuart

name of the British royal family from 1603 to 1668; see steward. Attested from 1873 as an attribution for styles from that period.

Battenberg (n.)

type of cake, 1903, from name of a town in Germany, the seat of a family which became known in Britain as Mountbatten.

Seljuk

Turkish dynastic family of 11c.-13c., c. 1600 (implied in Selzuccian), from Turkish Seljuq, name of the reputed ancestor of the dynasty.

Medici

Italian family that ruled Florence during the 15c., originally the plural of medico "a physician," from Latin medicus (see medical (adj.)). Related: Medicean.

[A]n illustrious family of Florence, appearing first as merchants of the medieval republic, and at the dawn of the Renaissance, in the fifteenth century, raised to supreme power through their liberality and merit. From this time on for three centuries, amid fortunes of varying brilliancy, this family produced popes, sovereigns, and tyrants, and it occupies a large place in the history of Europe. In the fine arts and literature the epithet has particular reference to Cosimo dei Medici, known as Cosimo the Elder, and to Lorenzo the Magnificent. [Century Dictionary]

Guelph (n.)

also Guelf, one of the two great parties in medieval Italian politics, characterized by support of the popes against the emperors (opposed to the Ghibellines), 1570s, from Italian Guelfo, from Old High German Welf, name of a princely family that became the ducal house of Brunswick, literally "whelp," originally the name of the founder (Welf I). The family are the ancestors of the present dynasty of Great Britain. The name is said to have been used as a war-cry at the Battle of Weinsberg (1140) by partisans of Henry the Lion, duke of Bavaria, who was of the family, against Emperor Conrad III; hence it was adopted in Italy as the name of the anti-imperial party in the Middle Ages.

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