Quiz: How much do you know about the origins of words?

Question

We'll start with an old one, the roots of 'democracy' are 'dēmos' (the people) and 'kratia' (power, rule), but what language is it from?

Alamy

Latin

Greek

English

Irish

Answer 1

He was a shop owner that charged extortionate interest rates.

Answer 2

He was a land agent for an absentee landlord.

Answer 3

He was tasked with checking if people were using gas during restricted periods.

Answer 4

He was a body-snatcher, who dug up graves to sell the corpses.

Answer 5

That was the ancient Greeks again.

Answer 6

No, the Romans. Credit where it's due.

Answer 7

Gothic. Refers to the Ostrogoths.

Answer 8

Low German from northern Germany.

Answer 9

Paleosiberian

Answer 10

Native American languages

Answer 11

Accommodation

Answer 12

Assassination

Answer 13

Auspicious

Answer 14

Apostrophe

Answer 15

All of the above (and that's just some of the A's)

Answer 16

John Adams

Answer 17

Samuel Adams

Answer 18

Thomas Jefferson

Answer 19

Benjamin Franklin

Answer 20

That's also true.

Answer 21

No. You're having me on now.

Answer 22

It comes from the US Civil War and denoted a line which prisoners would be shot if they passed.

Answer 23

Wanamaker's Department Store in Philadelphia used the term to describe clearance sales.

Answer 24

It refers to early telephones and the fact that the line would go dead if the user didn't repeatedly charge the device with a hand crank.

Answer 25

It comes from the newspaper industry, where reporters were routinely shot for filing their copy late.

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