Learn One Thing A Day

Today I learnt that the English word Palace ( but the same applies for Palazzo , (Italian), Palais (French), Palast (German)  etc) comes from the Latin Palātium , that is the name of one of the seven hills of Rome (Palatine in English). Long after the city grew to the seven hills the Palatine remained a desirable residential area. Emperor Caesar Augustus lived there in a purposely modest house only set apart from his neighbours by the two laurel trees planted to flank the front door as a sign of triumph granted by the Senate. His descendants, especially Nero, with his "Golden House" enlarged the house and grounds over and over until it took up the hill top. The word Palātium came to mean the residence of the emperor rather than the neighbourhood on top of the hill. (source wikipedia )

Today I learnt that the word Safari means long journey in swahili , the language of the African Great Lakes region (Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Mozambique and Congo). More interestingly, the word is used for any kind of journey. In this sense, it is much more general compared to the general idea that we have of a safari like a big game hunt or a trip to observe and photograph wild animals. (from http://www.safari.com/ )

Have you ever wondered how the months got their names? I did it and this is what I learnt. Crash course of calendar history ... To understand the origin, the etymology of these names, we have first to refer to Latin and to Roman culture. Indeed Latin names of months haven't changed since 8 AD! I will happily omit all changes, over the centuries, in the definition of months, I will consider only the names. If you want to know more, please check references. Let's start! In Latin,  the 12 Julian (and Gregorian ) months are: Ianuarius  Februarius  Martius Aprilis  Maius Iunis  Iulius (formerly  Quintilis ) Augustus (formerly  Sextilis ) September October  November December as you see, many of them sound quite familiar to their English, German or Italian versions! At the beginning,  there was the Ancient Roman calendar, introduced in 753 BC, according to tradition, by Romulus , the founder of ROME. It had only 30...

I just found out that the name "Lego" came from the Danish phrase leg go dt which means "play well." Good to know :)

Have you ever wondered what's the etymology, i.e. origin of the Italian greeting word " Ciao " ? Or alternatively, as you will soon discover, what does it servus mean in German? Well, as I friend of mine told me, ciao derives from the Venetian dialect " s ciavo " or " s ciao " that means, wait-for-it ... slave! Basically, " ciao " is nothing but the shorter version of  " sono vostro schiavo " literally " I'am your slave " but it doesn't sound so weird when you translate it in the much more appropriate  " I am at your service ". Surprised? Well, maybe it can help you knowing that in Bavaria (south Germany), friends greet each other using the word  " servus ". I have studied (and mostly forgotten) Latin but I clearly remember that servus in that language means "slave", so, again, a short version for " I am at your service "! Interesting eh? Sources: My friend V...