Etymology
The word "elephant" appears in Middle English as "olifaunt" and was borrowed from Medieval French "oliphant". The French word is based on the Latin "elephantus" ("elephant"), which in turn derives from the Greek elephas (ἐλέφας), a word possibly of Phoenician origin. Homer only used the Greek word to mean ivory, but from the time of Herodotus on, the word also referred to the animal. Loxodonta, the genus name for the African elephants, is Greek for "oblique-sided tooth".
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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)
“The universal principle of etymology in all languages: words are carried over from bodies and from the properties of bodies to express the things of the mind and spirit. The order of ideas must follow the order of things.”
—Giambattista Vico (1688–1744)