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What 's In A Word ? Trivia Quiz

There often is more in a word or name than meets the eye. Understanding the background and origin of a word helps us to know what we are talking about. Have a try.

A multiple-choice quiz by flem-ish. Estimated time: 7 mins.

Author
flem-ish

Time
7 mins

Type
Multiple Choice

Quiz #
74,226

Updated
Feb 20 23

# Qns
10

Difficulty
Difficult

Avg Score
5 / 10

Plays
1079

One at a Time - Single Page - Timed Game

Question 1 of 10

1. Dry sherry is sometimes called 'sack'. What is the widely accepted origin of this term? Hint

It refers to a type of wine always sold in bottles that were wrapped up in a kind of linen bags.

It comes from the Spanish 'saca', meaning extraction.

It's simply the name of the British importer of that wine.

Sack is short for saccharin, the product used to sweeten such sherry a little bit.

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Question 2 of 10

2. What is the link between the words salami, salad, salsa, sauce and the modern word salary? Hint

They all are related to the word cellar.

They all are related to the Latin word for salt.

They all are related to the word celeriac.

They all are related to Latin 'saltire', to jump up with joy.

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Question 3 of 10

3. Which of the following words is the only one not to have a common origin with the words skill, scalp and scalpel? Hint

skull

sculpture

shelf

scallion

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Question 4 of 10

4. Wagner's opera 'Die Nibelungen' deals with Germanic heroes who called themselves The Children of what? Hint

the Woods

Night

Mist

the Moon

5. The famous Indian 'Mahabharata' is one of the great stories in world-literature. Bharata was the name of the dominant tribes in North India and Punjab. Because of the development of the caste system it came to stand for "true humans" in general. What does the whole name mean? Hint

great story of human people

short history of the humans

holy book of the humans

secret history of the humans

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Question 6 of 10

6. Given names are often meant as secret wishes as to what a child should be like. Alas for parents, children themselves usually care a lot more about the petnames they get, rather than about the original meanings of their first names. Few girls who get the name Melissa ever realise they have been called which of these? Hint

spider

sweet as sugarcane

sweet as molasses

honeybee

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Question 7 of 10

7. The woman who wiped off Jesus' face on his way to Calvary got a name in Roman-Catholic tradition which is Greek for 'truthful icon or image'. What is that name? Hint

Veronica

Myriam

Vera

Magdalena

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Question 8 of 10

8. When at a given moment in 1498 during one of his trips to the Americas, Columbus sighted land and thought he saw three islands, he soon realised that what he he saw it was only ONE island with THREE mountains, so three-in-one. In the pious tradition of the times he baptised the land after the Holy Trinity and called it what?

Answer: (Eight letters. Lopez is not part of the name.)

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Question 9 of 10

9. When G.B. Shaw founded the famous Fabian Society, not everybody will have immediately understood what he meant by that name. Where was it from ? Hint

after a friend of his, Dr. Fabian

after Quintus Fabius Maximus Cunctator, the go-slow Roman general

it was an acronym for Free Association of British and International Admirers of Napoleon

after the Fabians, an Etruscan people living in a kind of ideal democracy at least in Shaw's opinion

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Question 10 of 10

10. Names can also be re-interpreted. Because of the abbreviation o.f.m. some people jokingly call the Friars Minor 'the friars without manners' (from German 'Ohne feine Maniere'). O.s.b. led to the Benedictines being nicknamed 'Ohne sonstige Beschaeftigung': 'Without any other business (than praying)'.

Which of the following religious orders got a cruel Latin nickname meaning 'God's bloodhounds' because of their involvement in the Un-holy Inquisition? Hint

Jesuits

Carmelites

Franciscans

Dominicans

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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. Dry sherry is sometimes called 'sack'. What is the widely accepted origin of this term?

Answer: It comes from the Spanish 'saca', meaning extraction.

Sherry is a fortified wine originally produced near the Spanish city of Jerez de la Frontera, from which the word sherry is derived. The process involves a number of steps, culminating on the extraction of a batch of sherry from the final barrel in the process.

There is a brand of whisky that calls itself 'Cutty Sark'. Sark is an altogether different word and refers to Robert Burns's Tam o'Shanter poem and the 'cutty sark' (short shirt) a particular young witch was wearing as she danced with the Devil.

2. What is the link between the words salami, salad, salsa, sauce and the modern word salary?

Answer: They all are related to the Latin word for salt.

Saltimbanco is a mountebank who indeed jumps on the table. A salto mortale is a jump too, but neither word is related to salami etc. Cellar (e.g. wine-cellar) is related to such German words as 'Keller' and Kellerei' and also to Dutch 'kelner' (waiter), but again no link to salami, salsa, etc.

The true link is 'sal', the Latin word for salt. To prepare sauce (salsa), certain sausages (salami), salads you needed salt as a primary spice. Salary was the allowance of salt or money for salt Roman soldiers were given to preserve their food while the army was on the march.

3. Which of the following words is the only one not to have a common origin with the words skill, scalp and scalpel?

Answer: scallion

The basic meaning behind scalp and scalpel is the skill to cut off or cut away something. Sculpture also requires the hewing or cutting away of things. Even skull is related to those words as skulls were what ferocious tribes tended to 'cut away'. These sk-words are related to sh- words such as shell (removeable part of a nut), shelf (cut out of wood).

There is no such link with scallion which derives from Latin 'Escalonia' meaning something imported via the Palestinian town of Ashkalon.

4. Wagner's opera 'Die Nibelungen' deals with Germanic heroes who called themselves The Children of what?

Answer: Mist

The Germanic tribes lived in dark woods full of mystery and possibly even in a foggy or rainy climate. Some of their ceremonies may have typically taken place on a day with full moon. But for those who have read Marion Bradley's 'Mists of Avalon' that's just the same mix of romantic ingredients that offers the ideal context for tales full of magic and heroism in the Celtic world. Only the Latin civilisations seem to have had a preference for sunshine, clarity and reason.

Answer: great story of human people

'Maha' is the Sanskrit version of Greek mega: large, big, great. A Maha-rajah is a mega-rex or great King. A Maha-rani is his wife, or Great Queen. Compare rani and Latin 'regina', Spanish 'reina'. Not related to rana which is a frog. Mahatma Gandhi was the mega-soul of India, and 'atma' itself betrays how Indians see soul and breath ('atem' in German; 'adem' in Dutch) are closely related.

Answer: honeybee

Sweetness of character may be intended, but if it is actually found will be a matter of genes rather than of 'given names'.

7. The woman who wiped off Jesus' face on his way to Calvary got a name in Roman-Catholic tradition which is Greek for 'truthful icon or image'. What is that name?

Answer: Veronica

Veronica from 'vera iconica'.

Answer: Trinidad

The Spaniards were very pious name-givers. Think of San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego, and Sacramento.

9. When G.B. Shaw founded the famous Fabian Society, not everybody will have immediately understood what he meant by that name. Where was it from ?

Answer: after Quintus Fabius Maximus Cunctator, the go-slow Roman general

No Etruscans, and no Napoleon involved and not even any Dr. Fabian. Just the famous opponent of Hannibal who realised that by avoiding battle he might do better than by tackling the Carthaginian army. The Fabian society wanted to introduce socialism by slow and gradual persuasion rather than by the brusque methods of the Soviet leaders.

Moreover, Shaw's socialism was a mitigated socialism which retained quite a few of the traditional western values.

10. Names can also be re-interpreted. Because of the abbreviation o.f.m. some people jokingly call the Friars Minor 'the friars without manners' (from German 'Ohne feine Maniere'). O.s.b. led to the Benedictines being nicknamed 'Ohne sonstige Beschaeftigung': 'Without any other business (than praying)'. Which of the following religious orders got a cruel Latin nickname meaning 'God's bloodhounds' because of their involvement in the Un-holy Inquisition?

Answer: Dominicans

From Domini Canes. Correct origin was: followers of St. Dominic. Dominicans were the Black Friars; the Franciscans the Grey Friars and the Carmelites the White Friars.

Source: Author flem-ish

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor CellarDoor before going online.
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