My main resource for the fascinating history of words is etymonline.com. However, I also peruse the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), dictionary.com, and Merriam Webster for additional insight.
For more on the OED, I highly recommend reading, or watching, The Professor and the Madman for a great backstory and a deeper understanding of the way we use words. Simon Winchester should receive knighthood for uncovering the delicious tale of woe and salvation in the plight of Dr. William Minor, the principal character of Winchester’s historical chef d’ouevre.
One could say that a chief characteristic of a lawyer, or one versed in the law, is dexterity with words. Some often say that we are wordsmiths, but we do not usually make the words. Rather, we use them as crude tools in the representation of our clients. In fact, as the world uses them with a sort of definite primacy, we view them as malleable and uncertain.
Below is the beginning of a list of words that have piqued my interest over time, and perhaps you will find them to be intriguing as well. Or, maybe you will gain a better sense that words lie at the juxtaposition of order and chaos, and a dictionary is part of our feeble attempt to maintain a sort of status quo through space and time.
Relevant and Random
ATTORNEY: early 14c. (mid-13c. in Anglo-Latin), “one appointed by another to act in his place,” from Old French atorné “(one) appointed,” past participle of aturner “to decree, assign, appoint,” from atorner “to assign,” literally “to turn to” (see attorn). The sense is of “one appointed to represent another’s interests.”
FLOCCINAUCINIHILIPILIFICATION: “action or habit of estimating as worthless,” in popular smarty-pants use from c. 1963; attested 1741 (in a letter by William Shenstone, published 1769), a combination of four Latin words (flocci, nauci, nihili, pili) all signifying “at a small price” or “for nothing,” which appeared together in a rule of the well-known Eton Latin Grammar + Latin-derived suffix -fication “making, causing.”
HANDICAP: 1650s, from hand in cap, a game whereby two bettors would engage a neutral umpire to determine the odds in an unequal contest. The bettors would put their hands holding forfeit money into a hat or cap. The umpire would announce the odds and the bettors would withdraw their hands — hands full meaning that they accepted the odds and the bet was on, hands empty meaning they did not accept the bet and were willing to forfeit the money. If one forfeited, then the money went to the other. If both agreed either on forfeiting or going ahead with the wager, then the umpire kept the money as payment.
IRREGARDLESS: an erroneous word that, etymologically, means the opposite of what it is used to express; probably a blend of irrespective and regardless, and perhaps inspired by the colloquial use of the double negative as an emphatic. Attested from at least 1870s (e.g. “Portsmouth Times,” Portsmouth, Ohio, U.S.A., April 11, 1874: “We supported the six successful candidates for Council in the face of a strong opposition. We were led to do so because we believed every man of them would do his whole duty, irregardless of party, and the columns of this paper for one year has [sic] told what is needed.”).
LAWYER: late 14c. lauier, lawer, lawere (mid-14c. as a surname), “one versed in law, one whose profession is suits in court or client advice on legal rights,” from Middle English lawe “law” (see law) + -iere. Spelling with -y- predominated from 17c. (see -yer). In the New Testament (Luke xiv.3, etc.) “interpreter of Mosaic law.” Old English had lahwita, with wita “sage, wise man; adviser councilor,” and an earlier Middle English word for “lawyer” was man-of-law (mid-14c.). Related: Lawyerly.
MAVERICK: 1867, “calf or yearling found without an owner’s brand,” a word from the great cattle ranches of the American West, so called for Samuel A. Maverick (1803-1870), Texas cattle owner who was notoriously negligent in branding his calves.
MINISTER: c. 1300, “man consecrated to service in the Christian Church, an ecclesiastic;” also “an agent acting for a superior, one who acts upon the authority of another,” from Old French menistre “servant, valet, member of a household staff, administrator, musician, minstrel” (12c.) and directly from Latin minister (genitive ministri) “inferior, servant, priest’s assistant” (in Medieval Latin, “priest”), from minus, minor “less,” hence “subordinate” (from PIE root *mei- (2) “small”).
XMAS: “Christmas,” 1551, X’temmas, wherein the X is an abbreviation for Christ in Christmas, English letter X being identical in form (but not sound signification) to Greek chi, the first letter of Greek Christos “Christ” (see Christ). The earlier way to abbreviate the word in English was Xp- or Xr- (corresponding to the “Chr-” in Greek Χριστος), and the form Xres mæsse for “Christmas” appears in the “Anglo-Saxon Chronicle” (c. 1100).