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Douglas Harper: 4 ideas worth knowing

4 ideas from Douglas Harper, each explained in a minute and credited to the original work. Free on Savvy.

• The word 'muscle' literally means 'little mouse'

  The English word 'muscle' comes from the Latin musculus, a diminutive of mus meaning 'little mouse' — Roman anatomists thought a flexing bicep looked like a mouse moving under the …

  — Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary — 'muscle'

• The word 'sandwich' comes from a gambling earl - but the story is likely fiction

  The food term 'sandwich' is first recorded in 1762, named for John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich, who supposedly invented it so he could eat without leaving the gaming table. That …

  — Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary - 'sandwich'

• The word 'clue' comes from the ball of thread that led Theseus out of a maze

  'Clue' began as 'clew,' the Middle English word for a ball of thread or yarn. It took its modern sense from the Greek myth in which Ariadne gives Theseus a clew to unwind through t…

  — Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary

• The word 'nice' used to mean 'foolish' or 'ignorant'

  'Nice' entered English from Old French, tracing back to the Latin nescius, 'ignorant' or 'not knowing.' Over the centuries it meant foolish, then fussy, then precise, then pleasant…

  — Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary — 'nice'

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