People Who Became Words - 11 Trivia Quiz

Answer: An English executioner

Thomas Derrick was an English hangman, whose job was to carry out executions. Derrick originally referred to the gallows that were used to hang criminals and was named after Thomas Derrick.
Initially, when the weightlifting device was used, it resembled the old gallows, and that's how it got its name. Derricks are used at oil rigs, at docks and on ships to hoist pipes and other such heavy items.

Answer: A type of gun

A derringer is a small gun or pistol, often referred to as a pocket pistol. It was invented by a gun maker named Henry Deringer in the 1800s. Due to its popularity all small pistols were referred to as 'derringers'. Incidentally, this was the weapon chosen by John Wilkes Booth to assassinate US President Abraham Lincoln.

Answer: It is named after a Greek philosopher

Epicurus was a famous Greek philosopher who lived in the third century BC. His main philosophical treatises centered on happiness, pleasure and tranquility. He was one of the first to insist that observation and logic should be the basis for any belief.

The word epicure is named after him. The word is used to refer to a gourmet or a connoisseur - someone who has good tastes and appreciates the good things in life.

Answer: Fauna

Faunus was the Roman God of forests. The word fauna, which is named after him is used to refer to all animals. Flora was the Roman Goddess of flowers and after her is named the word flora, which is used to refer to all plant life. Flora and fauna thus refers to plants and animals.

A faun is a mythical half goat/half human beast.

Answer: Chicago

George Washington Gale Ferris Jr. was a bridge builder, who designed the first wheel for the World's Colombian Exposition held in Chicago in 1893. The wheel, which had seats where people could take a ride, was 250 feet high and could carry more than 2,000 persons. This wheel was named after Ferris and soon became a popular attraction at all fairs and amusement parks.

Answer: A surgical procedure to burn wounds

Luigi Galvani was an 18th century Italian scientist, who discovered through his experiments that muscles of a frog's legs contracted in an electric field. Later on this word was used to describe the process of coating metals like zinc by charging with electricity. The word is also used to describe the process of stimulating or provoking people to do something.
The surgical procedure to burn wounds is cauterization.

Answer: A type of cloth material

Georgette is a type of material which is gauzy and similar to silk. This material, which is used to make different types of clothes, was popularized by a French fashion designer of the 19th century named Madame Georgette de la Plante. The word Georgette was a trademarked word.

Answer: False

Gerrymandering refers to the process of creating a political district or constituency to favour one's own group or party. The word is derived from the name of Elbridge Gerry, a 19th century Governor of Massachusetts. The Governor signed a bill to redraw the electoral districts to favour his party.

The word is thus used to refer to the process of creating or modifying constituencies to favour one's own party, group, religion, caste or sect.

Answer: A civil engineer who discovered the fish

Robert John Lechmere Guppy was a 19th century naturalist who lived in Trinidad. He was a civil engineer by education and was the first to discover this fish. The fish was later named as 'Girardinus guppii' after him. The guppy is a popular fish found in most aquariums.

Answer: It was a horse-drawn carriage

The hansom cab was a horse drawn carriage which was designed by an architect named Joseph Hansom. It was light, needed just a single horse to draw it, was very fast and a cheap means of transport. It was an extremely popular mode of transport in Britain till the arrival of motorized cars.