Ø 

Argentina:
§  From the Latin argentum, meaning "silver". Early Spanish and Portuguese traders used the region's Río
de la Plata or "Silver River" to transport silver and other treasures from Peru to the Atlantic. The land
around the terminal downstream stations became known as La Argentina – "The Land of Silver".
Ø  Bahamas:
  ·         From Spanish Baja Mar – "Shallow Sea" or "Low Tide". The islands may have been named by the
Spanish conquistadors after the waters around them or the Lucayan word for Grand Bahama Island, ba-
ha-ma, "large upper middle land" (pointing out the fact that Grand Bahama is the second largest island
in the northern Bahamas).
Ø  Philippines:
§  "Lands of King Philip" (Philip II of Spain, reigned 1556–1598). The suffix "-ines" functions adjectivally. A
recent and romantic descriptive name, "Pearl of the Orient Seas", derives from the poem, Mi Ultimo
Adios, written by Philippine nationalist hero José Rizal. Other names include Katagalugan (used by the
Katipunan when referring to the Philippines and meaning "land/region of the river-dwellers", though
that name originally refers to the Tagalog areas) and Maharlika (from the name of the upper class in
pre-Hispanic Philippines, meaning "noble"). The name "Philippines" is ultimately derived from the Greek
phrase Φίλος ίππος Νησιά Fílos Íppos Ni̱sí meaning "Islands of the Horse Friend."
Ø  Abacus
§  Comes from the Greek word abax, which means "sand tray." Originally, columns of pebbles were laid
out on the sand for purposes of counting. See calculate and exchequer.
Ø  Addict
§  Slaves given to Roman soldiers to reward them for performance in battle were known as addicts.
Eventually, a person who was a slave to anything became known as an addict.
Ø  Appendix
§  In Latin it means "the part that hangs." A human appendix hangs at the end of the large intestine;
appendices come at the end of books.
Ø  Biscuit
§  From the mediaeval French 'Bis + cuit' meaning 'cooked twice'
Ø  Carnival
§  Literal meaning: "Flesh, farewell." The "val" ending does not derive from Latin "vale". Modern Italian
"carnevale" comes from Old Italian "carnelevare"; levare = raise, put away, remove. Carnival originally
refered to the traditional, pre-Lenten feast (like Mardi Gras) after which people usually fasted.
Ø  Cretin
§  From the French "Crétin," which originally meant "Christian."
Ø  Demon (German and English)
§  From the Greek "Daimon" for a non-human power somewhere between people and gods, without any
negative connotations. An example would be the daimon of Socrates. The daimon had a wisdom which
has nothing to do with our modern conceptions of good or evil: it was a force of nature that could offer
hints about fateful situations and actions.
 
 
 
 
     
 Elite
o    From the Latin elire, meaning "to choose," from which we also get the modern Spanish word
meaning the same, elegir.
       Forest
o    From the French meaning the same, Forest originally comes from the Latin foris, which means
"outside," and captured the idea of a place forbidden or protected by a barrier. The concept would later
signify the legal barriers around the territories reserved for royal hunts (and the felling of trees).
Incidentally, the English word foreign is of the same derivation, denoting the stranger outside the royal
territory, on the other side of the frontiers.
        Mongolia
o    From Mongol (Монгол); it probably means "brave" or "fearless".
       Saudi Arabia:
o    "Saudi" after the House of Saud, the royal family who founded the kingdom and who still rule it. The
dynasty takes its name from its ancestor, Sa`ûd, whose name in Arabic means "a group of stars/planets".
The etymology of the term "Arab" or "Arabian" links closely with that of the place-name "Arabia". The
root of the word has many meanings in Semitic languages, including "west / sunset", "desert", "mingle",
"merchant", "raven" and "comprehensible", all of which appear to have some relevance to the
emergence of the name. Remarkably, in Ancient Egyptian the area was already known as Ar Rabi.
       Singapore:
o    Singapura (in Malay) derives from Sanskrit सिं गापोर Simhapura (or Singhapura) which means "Lion
City". Earlier the island was known as Temasek from Malay or Javanese root tasik meaning lake.
Singapore is the anglicized form of the Malay name which is still in use today along with variants in
Chinese and Tamil, the four official languages of Singapore.
       Guapo (Spanish) Handsome
o    Guapo, and Chulo ("cool"), both originally had the connotation of "scoundrel", coming to mean
"good-looking" probably by way of "valiant." The derogatory "Wop" also comes from "guapo", by way of
Italian dialect "guappo".
       Husband
o    Comes from the Old German words hus and bunda, which mean "house" and "owner," respectively.
The word originally had nothing to do with marital status, except for the fact that home ownership
made husbands extremely desirable marriage partners.
       Mayonnaise
o    The -aise suffix is French for "native to" or "originating in." Mahonnaise was supposedly created to
celebrate a 1756 French battle victory over the British on the Spanish isle of Port Mahon.
       Nice
o    From the Latin "nescius," for "ignorant," and, at various times before the current definition became
established meant "foolish" then "foolishly precise" then "pedantically precise" then "precise in a good
way" and then our current definition.
       Pineapple (Eng.); Piña (Sp.); Nana (Fr.); Ananas (Germ.)
o    When Columbus landed in Guadeloupe in 1493, he found pineapples, which probably had originally
come from Brazil. As Father de Acosta observed as early as 1589, the Spanish thought this new fruit
resembled a pine cone; hence, the Spanish name of pinya, and the English name of "pineapple" (the
fruit was often just called a "pine" when it was first introduced into Britain). The word nanais a portion
of the Brazilian Guarani word that means "perfumed" and was retained in both French and German.