Terminology and Etymology
The plot is also known as Oplan Bojinka, Operation Bojinka, Project Bojinka, and Bojinga. Word "bojinka" is a nonsense word Khalid Sheikh Mohammed adopted after hearing it on the front lines in Afghanistan. FBI officials dub Operation Bojinka "48 hours of terror".
Several media outlets, including Time Asia, falsely observed that the word Bojinka means "loud bang" or "explosion" in Serbo-Croatian language. The most intriguing meaning of Bojinka gives Russian word "боженька" sometimes transcribed as "божинька": this is a derogatory term used by so-called 'militant atheists' in Russia for "God".
Endnote 7 of Chapter 5 of the 9/11 Commission Report states that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed "says bojinka is not Serbo-Croatian for 'big bang', as has been widely reported, but rather a nonsense word he adopted after hearing it on the front lines in Afghanistan."
Read more about this topic: Bojinka Plot
Famous quotes containing the word etymology:
“Semantically, taste is rich and confusing, its etymology as odd and interesting as that of “style.” But while style—deriving from the stylus or pointed rod which Roman scribes used to make marks on wax tablets—suggests activity, taste is more passive.... Etymologically, the word we use derives from the Old French, meaning touch or feel, a sense that is preserved in the current Italian word for a keyboard, tastiera.”
—Stephen Bayley, British historian, art critic. “Taste: The Story of an Idea,” Taste: The Secret Meaning of Things, Random House (1991)