whole cloth | Search Online Etymology Dictionary

27 entries found.

from Arawak haiti "land of mountains," and probably originally the name of the whole island. Related: Haitian.

fem. proper name, from Old High German Ermentrudis, from ermin "whole, universal" + trut "beloved, dear."

former eastern German province, now southwestern Poland, from Latinized form of German Schlesien (Polish Śląsk), from the name of a river and a mountain there, from Silingi or Silingae, name of a Vandalic (Germanic) people who supposedly had a religious center at the mountain. Related: Silesian. In reference to cloth imported from there from 1670s, especially "a thin cotton cloth, commonly twilled, used for linings for women's dresses and men's garments."

Walker

surname, early 13c., probably an agent noun from walk (v.) in the sense "to full cloth." preserves the cloth-fulling sense (walker with this meaning is attested from c. 1300). "Walker" or "Hookey Walker" was a common slang retort of incredulity in early and mid-19c. London, for which "Various problematic explanations have been offered" [Century Dictionary].

"Is it?" said Scrooge. "Go and buy it."

"Walk-ER!" exclaimed the boy.

"No, no," said Scrooge. "I am in earnest" (etc.)

[Dickens, "A Christmas Carol"]

Sophronia

fem. proper name, from Greek sōphrōnia, from sōphrōn (genitive sōphrōnos) "discreet, prudent, sensible, having control over sensual desires, moderate, chaste," literally "of sound mind," from sōs "safe, sound, whole" + phrēn "heart, mind" (see phreno-).

Stafford

city in England, mid-11c., Stæfford, literally "ford by a landing-place," from Old English stæð "river bank, shore" + ford (n.). County town of Staffordshire, which, as a name for a type of earthenware and porcelain made there is attested from 1765. The city was noted in medieval England as a source of blue cloth.

Veronica

fem. proper name, French Veronique, a variant of Greek Berenike (see Berenice). The popular "Saint Veronica" (not in the Roman Martyrology) traditionally was a pious woman who wiped the face of Christ when he fell carrying the cross to Calvary. The image of his face remained on the cloth, and the "veil of Veronica" has been preserved in Rome from the 8c. Her popularity rose with the propagation of the Stations of the Cross, and this connection led to the folk-etymology derivation of the name from Latin vera "true" + Greek eikon "image." Some also identified her with the woman with the issue of blood, cured by Christ, as in the East this woman was identified from an early date by the name Berenike. Hence vernicle (mid-14c.) "picture of the face of Christ," from Old French veronicle, variant of veronique "St. Veronica's cloth."

Madagascar

large island lying to the east of and near Africa, from Mogadishu, the name of the city in Somalia, due to an error by Marco Polo in reading Arabic, whereby he thought the name was that of the island. There is no indigenous name for the whole island. Related: Madagascan; Madagascarian; Madagascarene.

Sofia

Bulgarian capital, Roman Serdica, from the Thracian Serdi people who lived thereabouts. Conquered by the Bulgarians 9c. who altered the name by folk-etymology to Sredeti, which in their tongue meant "center, middle." It got its current name 14c. when the Turks conquered it and converted the 6c. church of St. Sophia into a mosque; the name thence extended to the whole city.

Mark

masc. proper name, variant of Marcus (q.v.). Among the top 10 names given to boy babies born in the U.S. between 1955 and 1970.

Mark Twain is the pseudonym of American writer and humorist Samuel Langhorne Clemens (1835-1910), who had been a riverboat pilot; he took his pen name from the cry mark twain, the call indicating a depth of two fathoms, from mark (n.1) in a specialized sense of "measured notification (a piece of knotted cloth, etc.) on a lead-line indicating fathoms of depth" (1769) + twain.

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