"the heresy of the Docetae," who held that the body of Jesus was a phantom or of real but celestial substance, 1829, from Greek Doketai, name of the sect, literally "believers," from dokein "to seem, have the appearance of, think," from PIE *dok-eye-, suffixed (causative) form of root *dek- "to take, accept." Related: Docetic.
fem. proper name, a familiar form of Sarah. Sadie Hawkins Day (1939) is from name of a character in U.S. newspaper cartoon strip "Li'l Abner," by Al Capp (1909-1979); in reference to a day in early November on which women take the lead in romantic matters.
c. 1200, frensh, frenche, "pertaining to France or the French," from Old English frencisc "French," originally "of the Franks," from franca, the people name (see Frank). A similar contraction of -ish is in Dutch, Scotch, Welsh, suggesting the habit applies to the names of only the intimate neighbors.
In some provincial forms of English it could mean simply "foreign." Used in many combination-words, often dealing with food or sex: French dressing (by 1860); French toast (1630s); French letter "condom" (c. 1856, perhaps on resemblance of sheepskin and parchment), french (v.) "perform oral sex on," and French kiss (1923) all probably stem from the Anglo-Saxon equation of Gallic culture and sexual sophistication, a sense first recorded 1749 in the phrase French novel. (In late 19c.-early 20c., a French kiss was a kiss on each cheek.) French-Canadian is from 1774; French doors is by 1847. To take French leave, "depart without telling the host," is 1771, from a social custom then prevalent. However, this is said to be called in France filer à l'anglaise, literally "to take English leave."
ancient king of Phrygia, 1560s; the name is of Phrygian origin. He was given by the gods the gift of turning all he touched to gold, but as this included his food he had to beg them to take it back again. Hence Midas touch (1883). But the oldest references to him in English are to the unrelated story of the ass's ears given him by Apollo for being dull to the charms of his lyre.
in the figurative phrase cross (or pass) the Rubicon "take a decisive step," 1620s, a reference to a small stream to the Adriatic on the coast of northern Italy which in ancient times formed part of the southern boundary of Cisalpine Gaul. It was crossed by Caesar, Jan. 10, 49 B.C.E., when he left his province to attack Pompey. The name is from Latin rubicundus "ruddy," in reference to the color of the soil on its banks.
quasi-proper name for a fox, c. 1300, Renard, from Old French Renart, Reynard, the name of the fox in Roman de Renart, from Old High German personal name Reginhart "strong in counsel," literally "counsel-brave." The first element is related to reckon, the second to hard.
The tales were enormously popular in medieval Western Europe; in them animals take the place of humans and each has a name: the lion is Noble, the cat Tibert, the bear Bruin, etc. The name of the fix thus became the word for "fox" in Old French (displacing golpil, gulpil, from a Vulgar Latin diminutive of Latin vulpes).
Old French also had renardie "craftiness." An old variant form of the name was Renald, and thus English had for a time renaldry "intrigue" (1610s). Old English had the first element of the name as regn-, an intensive prefix (as in regn-heard "very hard," regn-þeof "arch-thief," also in personal names).
