Anthology of Ideas

I think this selection of words shows evidences the many ways words enter into the English vocabulary.

Itinerary:

Itinerary began as the word itinerarium from Latin which means “account of a journey”.

Mouse:

Mouse began as the Greek word m?s it the evolved over time to be (in chronological order) m?s in Latin, maus in German, m?s in Old English, then finally as mous in Middle English. This word is interesting for two reasons the first is that it has a rather long etymology and the second is that English first borrowed the word directly from Latin and then later borrowed it in a different form from the Germans.

Algebra:

Algebra began as the Arabic word al-jabr and then when introduced into Latin it was rewritten into Algebra where it remains. This word demonstrates how words are many times absorbed into English with only minor modification to fit the alphabet and phonetic structure. The word itself spread with mathematics allowing the word to popularize without much change. This evidences that technical vocabularies have a much easier time spreading in their original form than nontechnical vocabularies. This unchanging vocabulary allows the science to spread quickly and at the same time allows the different groups understand each other allowing scientists to be able to effectively transmit ideas and technology in ways that other groups cannot.

Tea:

Tea is a direct absorption of the Chinese (Amoy) word te. This word evidences the assimilation of words through commerce and trade. The word tea, like algebra, spread with the product it was named for. However, unlike algebra it remained in its original form not for scientific understanding but for marketing purposes. Tea began was a very expensive resource and to change its name would also remove the prior marketing and “buzz” that helped to popularize the product in the first place.

Juggernaut:

Juggernaut began as the word jagannthah from Sanskrit which is the title of the god Krishna. This word demonstrates the frequent perversion that occurs when new words are introduced and removed from their native dialects. The word Juggernaut was assimilated to mean a large and dangerous object because in its native India the word referred to Krishna whose idol would be pulled on a large cart through the streets. Allegedly when this occurred devotees would throw themselves on the ground in front of the cart to be trampled and crushed. This manipulation of meanings also occurred with the words dictator (Latin) and tyrant (Greek) which originally referred to a person appointed temporarily appointed in times of need and a person who came to power through extralegal means respectively. However, they were adopted into English to refer to people who were generally considered evil and cruel.