Cordon Bleu

Originally the "Cordon Bleu" ("blue ribbon") comes from L'Ordre des Chevaliers du Saint Esprit, an elite group of French knights created in 1578. Each member was awarded the Cross of the Holy Spirit, which hung from a blue ribbon.

At the end of the 19th century a French culinary magazine, La Cuisinière Cordon Bleu, was published. The magazine began offering lessons by some of the best chefs in France. This grew to become a cooking school that opened in Paris in 1895 and which became recognized as one of the most elite cooking schools in the world.

By extension it refers now to a cook of the highest class.

 

No Husband for married feminist!

Husband - originally "husbonda" replaced during the 13th century the Old English word wer (married man," companion of wifcomes).  

It was probably borrowed from Old Norse husbondi meaning "master of the house," from hus "house"  and bondi "householder, dweller, freeholder, peasant,". 

 A lot of woman are married but do they really have a husband? 

A little water: Cheers!

The word Vodka comes from Poland and is first recorded in 1405. It comes from "Voda" meaning "water" and "ka" being a diminutive form. Therefore it means litterally "Little Water".

Interestingly enough it was originally brought to Russia as a medicinal drink!

By the way Whiskey also has a rather similar etymology. It comes from the Gaelic word uisgebeatha, which means “water of life.” That makes you wonder about the colour of actual water in the old days!

Disaster: Blame it on the stars!

The word Disaster can first be found in english in1590s, borrowed from by French "désastre" and comes originally from Italian "disastro" meaning "ill-stared". 

The sense is astrological, of a calamity blamed on an unfavorable position of a planet. So next time you hear about natural disaster you might want to turn to an astronomer rather than a weatherman.

Posh names for simple meat

Why do we eat beef, mutton and pork but the actual animals are called cow, sheep and pig. The differentiation dates from the Norman invasion. 

The peasant spoke the Anglo-saxon common language where animal and meal were called the same way: cow, sheep,pig... 

The upper classes, who had enough money to eat the meat, wanted to sound fancy and agreeable to  the conqueror by using his language (French) to describe what they were eating: beef from the french boeuf, mutton from mouton and pork from porc.  

 Nevertheless for the less expensive meat that could be also eaten by the less fortunate, the name remained unchanged (e.g. Chicken) and is just as tasty!

Robots: are they really slaves?

Robot comes from Czech "robotnik " which means slave and "robota" meaning "serf labor" Traditionally the "robota" was the work period a serf had to give for his lord (typically 6 months of the year).

The word "robot" was introduced in its actual meaning by the Czech writer Karel Čapek in his play R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots), published in 1920. The play begins in a factory that makes artificial people called robots (Androids) who can think for themselves and seem happy to serve. By extension, the word got used to refer to any mechanical or virtual artificial agent, guided by a computer program.

Barbarian!

Nowadays when we think of barbarians the first that comes to mind is a probably an Arnold Schwarzenegger (in his best day) looking person wearing a minimal fur garment.
 

Barbarian actually comes from the Greek word βάρβαρος (barbaros). Ancient Greeks thought that when non-Greek people spoke they sounded like a bleating sheep (Bah-Bah-Bah) and not being very clever.

No Clue!

Originally "Clue" is a derivation from the medieval word "Clew", meaning ball of thread. 

 
The reason why clue gets his actual meaning comes from classical mythology. The hero Theseus was given a ball of thread to help him find his way out of the labyrinth of Minos. By following the trail of thread he left behind him he was able to navigate his way to the exit. 

The word clue then became associated with anything which might hint at the solution.

Such a beautiful flower: the Orchid!

The name orchid for the well-know delicate flower is fairly new as it was introduced in 1845. It comes from the Greek "orchis", which literally translates as “testicle.” 

If you are wondering why this name was chosen for such a beautiful, delicate flower, take a look at some orchids’ roots.

Beach

The word "Beach" can be found in the 1530's. It meant "loose, water-worn pebbles of the seashore" and extended around 1590 to "loose, pebbly shores". 

This probably comes from Middle English bache, bæcche (“bank, sandbank”), and from Old English bæċe, beċe (“beck, brook, stream”). In dialect around Sussex and Kent, beach still has the meaning "pebbles worn by the waves.