Wiktionary:Etymology scriptorium/2011/October

гусеница

I'm looking for the etymology of Polish gąsienica, Russian/Croatian гусеница, Slovene gosenica, Bulgarian гъсеница, Ukrainian гусениця, Macedonian гасеница, Slovak husenica and Czech housenka. Maro 19:09, 5 October 2011 (UTC)

Etymology of grig

The etymology currently provided only seems to cover the noun sense. Any etyls for the verb sense "to annoy"?

In addition, my electronic copy of The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (c) 1998 gives a definition of a lively, bright person, with the etyl deriving from ME and meaning (deprecated template usage) dwarf. Alternately, google:"grig"+etymology leads me to the Online Etymology Dictionary, which doesn't include (deprecated template usage) grig itself, but does give an etyl for (deprecated template usage) greyhound arising from an ME word grig meaning (deprecated template usage) bitch. Our (deprecated template usage) greyhound page shows this older grig spelling, but lists the etyl for this portion as unknown.

Anyone else have any insight? -- Eiríkr Útlendi | Tala við mig 21:54, 5 October 2011 (UTC)

According to the OED, the "greyhound" root is not "grig" but Old Norse "grøy" (neuter, bitch). I've added Johnson's suggestion to the etymology, but the precise origins seem to have been lost. Dbfirs 15:46, 12 October 2011 (UTC)

aviary

Can someone add the etymology for this word? It seems to be quite straight-forward - from Latin aviarium, from [[avis][ ("bird"). ---> Tooironic 12:55, 27 October 2011 (UTC)

• Done! Ƿidsiþ 14:25, 27 October 2011 (UTC)

  Benigne dicis. ---> Tooironic 11:54, 30 October 2011 (UTC)

Hold the ring

Anyone know the etymology of hold the ring (and can add it to the entry)? — Cheers, JackLee ^–talk– 14:15, 28 October 2011 (UTC)

The original expression was "keep the ring", meaning to keep order amongst the spectators at a fight, first cited in Sporting Magazine, October 1828, but it was also used with the meaning of retaining a title. The OED's first cite of "hold the ring" is from 1928: "... the State ought not to meddle with industry, ... but should confine itself to holding the ring while the disputants fight out their differences.". Dbfirs 13:14, 29 October 2011 (UTC)