Etymology of the Funtrivia Categories Quiz

Answer: Latin to French to English

The word "animal" first appeared in English between 1300 and 1350. It came to us from Latin (anima) through Old French (animale) to Middle English.

Answer: Yes

Brain (braegen) and tease (taesan) both come to us from Old English.

If you follow the original meanings of the word roots, you get a phrase meaning "to pull apart the front of the skull." The more pleasant term "brain teaser" first appeared in print in 1923.

Answer: A group ceremony or ritual

Celebrity comes to us from the Latin "celebritas," meaning a multitude, and then through France where it meant the same thing. When it first appeared in English people were more likely to gather for church services than for autographs. It first was used to describe a famous person in 1829.

Answer: French

Originally "inter" and "tenere" ("to hold among") in Latin, the French turned it into "entretenir," meaning "to hold together." When it originally came over to English, it meant the same thing.

Answer: False

Nope. "Child" came from Old English "cild" and has always meant pretty much the same thing. "Cauldron" comes from Latin, and uses the same root as "caldera," meaning the hot center of a volcano.

Answer: gender

All of the words come to us from Latin. "Genuflect" has a base in the word for knee. "Genius" and "engine" both come from the word "gignere," meaning "to produce."

Answer: earthwriting

The closest equivalent Old English roots would be "erth" and "writan." "Terrascription" uses Latin roots. "Terragraphy" is a combination of Latin and Greek roots. Globomancy is completely made up and would likely involve magic and spheres.

Answer: True

Unlike "geography," which comes from two words joined together, "history" has been in one piece going all the way back to the Greeks. The Greek word "Historia" referred to education by asking questions and investigating written records.

Answer: Just like rocking horses, hobbies don't get you anywhere.

The first connection between hobby-horses and hobbies appeared in 1676. Hobby-horses derived their name from the light cavalry armed with lances that were known as "Hobilars" in the middle ages.

Answer: bridegroom

The original study of humanities included history, literature, fine arts and philosophy. I absolutely love the multiple connotations of the word "human." It can mean both a creature at the height of evolutionary intelligence ("the glory of humanity") or a creature that is inherently flawed ("you're only human").

Answer: boccraeft ("book learning")

"Literature" was introduced as a word meaning book learning, as opposed to learning by rhetoric or by indenture. The first recorded use of the word with its current definition is in Samuel Johnson's "Lives of the English Poets" from 1779.

Answer: 12-16 years

The term "moving picture" hit the scene in 1896. "Movies" first appeared in common usage between 1908 and 1912.

Answer: False

"Music" certainly has Greek origins - in the nine goddesses of the arts, called the Muses. The original term was "mousikos," referring to all 9 muses as a group. It filtered through the French to become "musique," and from there over to English. The actual Greek muse of music was named Euterpe.

Answer: Folk

"Plebeian" is a Latin word, referring to the common people. "Peasant," meaning fellow countryman, derives from the French "pays," meaning country. "Guy" didn't arrive in the English language until the early 19th century.

Answer: To fasten

Cicero wrote that it derives from "relegare," meaning "to read again." Another view supposes that it comes from "religiens," meaning "careful." It's quite fitting that we just don't know where the word "Religion" really comes from.

Answer: False

"Science" comes from the Latin word "scire," meaning "to know." The Greek word "tekhno," which gave us "technology," referred to grammar. A "technology" was originally an essay about any specific area of study.

Answer: Verb, to entertain oneself

"Desporter" is a French verb meaning to divert or play. It traveled across the Channel with the same meaning around 1400. Its usage as noun meaning a game or pastime came later, around 1440.

Answer: Televista

The word "television," from 1907, actually predates the word "movies," even though the technologies were invented in the opposite order.

Answer: False

While "game" does indeed date back in Old English to before the year 1000 CE, the word "video" is the baby of the words used in the FunTrivia category list. It did not appear as a standalone word until 1935. "Video games" first appeared as a phrase in 1973.

Answer: Werewolf

Variants of "World" can be found in Old Saxon, Old Friesian, Old German and Old Norse. It is the oldest word in the list, dating back to before 900 CE.