Quotes from Robert Hendrickson

Adidas. The popular running shoes, famous since marathons became popular in the late 1970's, bear the name of their German inventor and manufacturer Adi Dassler.

adlib. Deriving from the Latin adlibitum, at will, ad lib means to speak words or perform actions not in a script or speech being used. Ad libitum was first recorded in 1705.

Afghanistan. Afghanistan is named after the biblical King Saul's grandson. Afghana, according to legend, which has traditionally described the Afghanistan people as Ben-i-Israel, "Children of Israel." Legend also has it that King Solomon' (Sulaiman) settled the country. Whether such stories, and many more, are true or not, they are widely believed, and the country does bear Afghana's name.

Africa. The Romans may have named this continent Apricus, meaning "sunny," which became the English Africa. But Africa, according to my correspondent Professor Howard Marblestone, "probably derives from the Afri, a name centered in the Carthagonian realm...

aftermath. The after mowth, which later came to be pronounced "aftermath," is the second or later mowing, the crop of grass that springs up after the first hay mowing in early summer when the grass is best for hay. This term was used as early as the 15th century, and within a century aftermath was being applied figuratively to anything that results or follows from an event.

afterward. The Saxons called the stern of a boat the aft and their word ward meant "in the direction of." Thus aftward meant "toward the rear of a ship," or "behind." Over the years, the word aftward changed in spelling to afterward and came to mean "behind in time," "later on," or "later.

againbite [agenbite] of inwit. James Joyce revived the expression agenbite [againbite] of inwit in Ulysses. it is a good example of Anglo-Saxon replacements of foreign words, meaning the "remorse of conscience" and originally being the prose translation of a French moral treatise (The Ayenbite of Ynwit) made by Dan Michel in 1340.

agate; agate type; aggie. In ancient times colored stones were often found near the Achates River in Sicily. The river gave its name to these pretty stones, or gems, as they were called. Because they were small, the stones gave their name to a small printing type, agate type, that is still used widely today. This type is called ruby in England but has been agate type in America since 1871. The marbles called aggies are so named because their coloring resembles agate.

absurd. This word for ridiculous, foolish, or irrational comes to us from the world of music, as the original meaning of its Latin ancestor, absurdus, was "out of tune or harmony.

accolade. In medieval times men were knighted in a ceremony called the accolata (from the Latin ac, "at," and collum, "neck"), named for the hug around the neck received during the ritual, which also included a kiss and a tap of a sword on the shoulder. From accolata comes the English word accolade for an award or honor.

aardvark; aardwolf. Both these animals dig in the earth for termites and ants, the former somewhat resembling a pig, the latter looking a little like a striped wolf. Thus the Boers in South Africa named them, respectively, the aardvark (from the Dutch aard, "earth," plus vark, "pig") or "earth pig," and aardwolf, or "earth wolf.

Abderian laughter. Inhabitants of ancient Abdera were known as rural simpletons who foolishly derided people and things they didn't understand. Thus these Thracians saw their name become a synonym for foolish, scoffing laughter or mockery. Though proverbially known for their stupidity, the Abderites included some of the wisest men in Greece, Democritus and Protagoras among them.