Villain/etymology

Famous quotes containing the words villain and/or etymology:

    I am given up by traitors,
    I talk wildly, I have lost my wits, I and nobody else am the greatest traitor,
    I went myself first to the headland, my own hands carried me there.

    You villain touch! what are you doing? my breath is tight in its throat,
    Unclench your floodgates, you are too much for me.
    Walt Whitman (1819–1892)

    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)