city of ancient Greece between Athens and Corinth, from Greek Megara, apparently the plural of megaron "hall, room, the inner space of a temple," in plural "house, palace," which Beekes says is "[u]ndoubtedly a technical loan from the substrate," perhaps adapted to mega. Its region was Megaris. Related: Megarian.
a late-developing letter in English. Called ipsilon in German, upsilon in Greek, the English name is of obscure origin. The sound at the beginning of yard, yes, yield, etc. is from Old English words with initial g- as in got and y- as in yet, which were considered the same sound and often transcribed as Ȝ, known as yogh. The system was altered by French scribes, who brought over the continental use of -g- and from the early 1200s used -y- and sometimes -gh- to replace Ȝ. The French also tended to substitute -y- for -i-, especially before -u-, -n-, or -m-, or at the end of words, to avoid confusion in reading (see U), might also partly explain this tendency in Middle English. As short for YMCA, etc., by 1915.
masc. proper name, from Latin, from Greek Alexandros "defending men," from alexein "to ward off, keep off, turn (something) away, defend, protect" + anēr (genitive andros) "man" (from PIE root *ner- (2) "man"). The first element perhaps is related to Greek alke "protection, help, strength, power, courage," alkimos "strong;" and cognate with Sanskrit raksati "protects," Old English ealgian "to defend."
As a kind of cocktail recipe featuring crème de cacao and cream, Alexander is attested from 1913; the reason for the name is unclear.
city in Devon, England, named for its location at the mouth of the Plym River; the river is in turn named for Plympton, literally "plum-tree farm." Earlier Plymouth was known as Sutton Prior. The town in Massachusetts, U.S., was named 1620 by immigrants on the "Mayflower," which had sailed from Plymouth, England, and landed at what became known as Plymouth Rock; Plymouth Rock as the name of a large variety of domestic hen, originally bred in the U.S., is by 1873.
