Words Tell Stories Trivia Quiz

Answer: Syria

One of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, Damascus, the capital of Syria, was for a long time a hub for the manufacture and trade of many different goods. This resulted in its name being used to denote various highly prized items, such as a richly-figured, woven fabric with a reversible pattern, which is believed to have originated in China in the early Middle Ages. Though damask was not produced primarily in Damascus, in the 12th century the Syrian capital - located on the Silk Road - was the main centre of trade where people from Western Europe were able to purchase the fabric.

The name damask also denotes a muted, dusty rose colour, and an ancient, strongly scented rose hybrid. The name of the damson, a dark blue, oval variety of plum, is derived from the adjective "damascene". Steel blades ornamented with wavy patterns were called Damascus steel, though it is not clear whether the name stems from the resemblance of the patterns to damask fabric, or because the blades were actually made or sold in Damascus.

Answer: True

The name of the sturdy cotton fabric known as denim comes from the historic city of Nīmes in southern France, famous for its Roman-era monuments. The word comes from a contraction of the French phrase "serge de Nīmes", which referred to the twilled cotton cloth whose production started in the city around the 17th century. As the final "s" is not pronounced in French, when the name of the fabric entered English (around 1695) it became "serge denim", later shortened to "denim".

The popular denim trousers introduced to the world by German immigrant Levi Strauss owe their name to another Western European city - the Mediterranean port of Genoa, which lies some 400 km (248 mi) east of Nīmes. Jeans comes from Gźnes, the French name for Genoa; the sturdy cotton corduroy named "Gene fustian" (first attested in English in the late 16th century) already existed when in Nīmes they tried to imitate it. Widely used in the Republic of Genoa to make durable, water-resistant clothing for sailors, Gene fustian later became synonymous with the indigo-dyed denim trousers patented by Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis on 20 May 1873.

Answer: dormouse

A dormouse (Glis glis) is a small, squirrel-like Old World rodent that was highly prized as food by the Romans. The common name of this animal comes from Middle English "dormowse", believed to be derived from the French verb "dormir" (to sleep) - a reference to its habit of sleeping for long periods of time, especially in the winter months. However, some sources disagree with this etymology.

The dormouse is associated with sleep in other languages as well - as in the Italian phrase "dormire come un ghiro" (to sleep like a dormouse). In Lewis Carroll's "Alice in Wonderland", the Dormouse is one of the characters in Chapter VII, "A Mad Tea Party", during which it spends most of the time drifting in and out of sleep, and is eventually stuffed head first into a teapot.

Chinchilla comes from Spanish, hamster from German, and marmot from French.

Answer: lavender

The herbaceous plants of the genus Lavandula are renowned for the aromatic oil extracted from their spiky, purple-blue flowers. The English name of this plant, often associated with the south of France - where it grows abundantly - comes from Medieval Latin "lavandria". The latter word is derived from Latin "lavare" (to wash) because lavender flowers were used to scent bathwater and linens - as they still are today. However, according to some sources the generic name Lavandula comes from Medieval Latin "lividula", meaning livid (grayish-blue) in colour. Lavender was first attested in English in the 13th century.

Parsley comes from a Greek word meaning "rock-celery", and "basil" from the Greek word for "king". Rosemary means "dew of the sea" in Latin.

Answer: the inner tower

Though first attested in English in the 14th century, the word dungeon became popular in the 1970s thanks to "Dungeons and Dragons", the fantasy role-playing game designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. Associated with sinister underground cells or torture chambers, the word has a much loftier (in a literal sense) origin, as it comes from the French "donjon" - which designates the keep (inner tower or stronghold) of a castle. The French word (which is also occasionally used in English) is ultimately derived from Latin "dominus" (lord, master) through Vulgar Latin "domnion" - meaning the lord's tower, since the living quarters of the lord of the castle and his family were located there. Such a building was the most secure part of a castle, and may also have included underground spaces to hold prisoners - hence the modern meaning of dungeon.

A castle's gate was called a portcullis and the courtyard a bailey, while the outer wall was often referred to as curtain wall.

Answer: one day

The adjective ephemeral comes from the Greek word "ephemeros", meaning "lasting a day" - which is in turn derived from "hemera" (day). When ephemeral first entered English, in the late 16th century, it was primarily used in a scientific context - applied first to short-term fevers, then to living organisms with a short life span. One such organism is the mayfly, an aquatic insect that lives only a few hours when it reaches its subimago (pre-adult) stage. These insects are also collectively referred to as ephemerids. The mayfly has often been used in art and literature as a symbol of the transitory nature of life.

The noun ephemera (which is a plural form) is often used to refer to miscellaneous paper items - such as tickets, flyers or product labels - that were originally meant to be thrown away, but have instead become collectibles. Ephemera are also frequently employed in papercrafts, and are available for purchase in craft shops.

Answer: decanter

Though it begins with the same four letters, decanter has a very different origin than the other three words - which all contain the prefix "deca-", the Greek word for ten. Referring to a stoppered glass container into which wine is poured prior to serving to eliminate the sediment, decanter is the noun from the verb to decant. The latter comes from Medieval Latin "decantare" - meaning to pour from ("de-") the edge of a vessel ("cantus", a word of Celtic origin referring to the iron rim of a wheel). The words canton and cantonment are both etymologically related to decanter.

A decathlon is an athletics competition consisting of ten track and field events. A decalogue is a list of ten authoritative rules: if capitalized, it refers to the Ten Commandments. A decade is a period of ten years.

Answer: a hundred

Hecatomb comes from the Greek "hekatombe", a combination of the words "hekaton" (hundred) and "bous" (ox) that denoted the offering of 100 oxen as a sacrifice to the gods. The first month of the Attic calendar, which corresponded to July/August, was named Hekatombaion after the sacrifice that was offered on the final night of the Panathenaia festival. Hecatomb later became synonymous with any large-scale sacrifice of animals - though not necessarily all oxen, or 100 in number. In modern English (where the word was first used in the late 16th century), as in other European languages, hecatomb refers to wholesale slaughter of people or animals, or (less frequently) destruction of inanimate objects. This figurative use of hecatomb is most often found in literature or high-quality journalism.

The Latinized form of "hekaton", the prefix "hecto-", is found in words such as hectare (100 ares) hectoliter (100 litres), hectogram (100 grams), and hectometer (100 metres). The Greek prefix for thousand is "kilo-".

Answer: fascism

The name of the notorious authoritarian movement founded by Benito Mussolini in 1919 has a rather intriguing etymology. Mussolini's organization was originally called "Fasci di Combattimento", which means "fighting bundles/groups". The Italian word "fascio", derived from Latin "fasces" (bundle of sticks), had been used since the late 19th century to refer to labour and agrarian unions that fought for workers' rights, and the noun/adjective "fascista" was already in use to refer to the members of such organizations before it came to be applied to Mussolini's followers. As a symbol, the fascio was rooted in Roman antiquity, as a bundle of rods tied around an axe ("fascio littorio") represented the authority of a civic magistrate.

Fascism and related words were adopted into English in the 1920s. In contemporary usage, it is widely employed to describe any reactionary, anti-democratic ideology or attitude - not necessarily bearing any relation to the history of Italy or WWII.

Answer: kneading bread

The origin of the word lady - used in modern English as a title or to refer to any woman in polite or complimentary terms - lies in the Old English word "hlaefdige", whose literal meaning was "bread-kneader". The corresponding masculine word, lord, also has a connection with bread, as it comes from Old English "hlafweard", meaning "guardian of the loaves". Both words later came to denote the master and mistress of a house - who had the duty to ensure that bread and other food staples were prepared and dispensed to the whole household.

One of the most important modern English words that came directly from the Anglo-Saxon era, lady was first used in the forms "lafdi" or "lavedi" around the 12th or early 13th century.