The word siesta was first used in 1655 with the same meaning and spelling as today. It was borrowed from Spanish, and the Spanish word developed from the Latin phrase sexta hora, which literally translates to "sixth hour" but was practically used to refer to noon time, the sixth hour after sunrise according to the Roman timekeeping system, when people would take their naps. The sexta part, which we are concerned with here, is the female version of sextus, meant "six" and is also the etymon of the words sextuple, sextile, sestina, and sextet, and the name Sistine Chapel (which was named after Pope Sixtus IV). Going back even further, sextus is reconstructed to Proto-Indo-European sweks, which also meant "six". According to Google NGram Viewer, usage of siesta has had its ups and downs and has recently been on the rise again.
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The phrase ay, caramba is a Spanish exclamation conveying surprise, perhaps most recognizable from being popularized by Bart in The Simpsons. The ay part of the phrase is just a thing Spanish speakers say when they're surprised or in pain, but caramba has a fascinating history. It's thought to be a euphemism for carajo, the word for "penis" (so the expression worked a lot like oh gosh would for us, except more vulgar), and carajo comes from the Vulgar Latin word caraculum, meaning "little arrow", due to a perceived visual similarity. Finally, that's reconstructed to the Proto-Indo-European root ker, meaning "to cut". Interestingly, both Google NGrams and Google Trends show a spike in usage of ay, caramba in beginning in 2012, well after the first season of The Simpsons had come out in 1990.
When the word stadium was first used in the English language in the late fourteenth century, it actually referred to a unit of measurement used in the ancient world, equivalent to one-eighth of a Roman mile. That was the standard length used in competitive footraces, and it came to be applied to running tracks because they were made to be one stadium in length. Eventually, that got naturally extended to any open-air circular structure for viewing sporting events. Going back in time, stadium was a Latin word that came from Greek stadion, which was pretty confusing because it could be used to refer to several different types of length, but especially the running track in Olympia. Beyond that, it might be from the Proto-Indo-European root steh, meaning "stand", on the notion of it being a "fixed" length.
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AUTHORHello! I'm Adam Aleksic. I have a linguistics degree from Harvard University, where I co-founded the Harvard Undergraduate Linguistics Society and wrote my thesis on Serbo-Croatian language policy. In addition to etymology, I also really enjoy traveling, trivia, philosophy, board games, conlanging, and art history.
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