(air whooshes)
Hey there, I'm Teela with Deep English,
and I'm really excited for
another lesson together today.
Today, we'll be looking
at the hidden meanings
of some common English words.
If you've been following these lessons,
you know that it's important
to uncover hidden meanings
of common English words,
because when we understand
a word's origins,
we have a better idea of
what we're actually saying
when we speak English, and
I think that's really cool.
So before we get started,
I just want to remind you
to subscribe to our
channel so that you get all
of the newest videos as
soon as they're available.
So take a moment to do that.
Okay, let's get started.
Our first word is the word
idiot, idiot (chuckles).
It's a little bit hard for me
to even say that word, because
the word idiot is an insult.
It refers to someone who is
ignorant or not very smart.
So we might use the word
idiot in a sentence like,
growing up, my mom told me to
never call someone an idiot,
because it would be too painful,
because it was such a harsh insult.
So never call someone an idiot,
because it would hurt their feelings.
Or we could use the word
idiot in a sentence like,
she called him an idiot,
because he didn't know how to fix the car,
but the truth was even
though he knew nothing
about mechanics, he knew a ton
about things like accounting.
And so the word idiot is an insult.
Let's take a look at the
origin of the word idiot.
The word idiot comes
from the Greek word idios,
and it translates to one's own.
This could also be understood
as belonging to one's self.
Interesting.
This one makes me think
of the word heresy.
This word was a word that
we covered in another lesson
of uncovering hidden meanings.
And the word heresy meant to make a choice
that was different from the norm.
And back in the day, people
were actually murdered
for being heretics, for
simply making a choice
that wasn't in alignment
with what the church thought
that they should do.
So it seems like, in the
past, there was a lot
of demonization around people
who wanted to make choices
that were different from the norm
or people who wanted
to belong to themselves
or kind of really be themselves.
The good news is it seems
like that is changing.
Now we are starting to embrace
each other's differences,
but it's still interesting to look
at things like the word
idiot coming from a root
that simply meant one's own, interesting.
Okay, let's move on to our second word.
The word is humble, humble.
The word humble means to be modest,
or to be someone who doesn't brag
or who does not have a
big ego, so to be humble.
We might use the word
humble in a sentence like,
she was so humble that even
though she won every race,
she didn't tell anyone about it.
So she didn't tell anyone
that she was the winner,
because she was so humble.
Or from my own life, one
time, in high school,
I broke my school's long jump record.
I'm happy that I was humble about it,
and I decided not to tell
anyone, because the next day,
a different girl broke my record.
So it was good that I stayed humble.
Now let's look at the
origin of the world humble.
The word humble comes
from the Latin word humus.
The word humus means
earth, soil or even ground.
I love this one, because
it reminds us that
to stay humble means to stay
connected with your roots,
to even maybe stay
connected with the earth.
So the more connected we are
with our roots and the earth,
the less inflated our ego will be.
So do you know someone
who's really humble?
Feel free to share below
about the most humble person you know.
Okay, let's move on.
Our third word is bankrupt, bankrupt.
The word bankrupt means to
be unable to way your debt
or completely out of money.
We might use the word
bankrupt in a sentence like,
she wouldn't have bought the
car if she would've known
that in just two months
she'd be totally bankrupt
and unable to pay back the loan.
Or who would've guessed that just a month
after being fired from
her job, she was bankrupt
and found herself homeless
on the streets, bankrupt?
So let's look at the origins
of the word bankrupt.
The word bankrupt actually
comes from two Italian words.
And they are (speaks in foreign language).
And those two words directly
translate to broken bench.
Interesting, so bankrupt, broken bench,
how does this make sense?
Well, back in the day, it was said
that merchants would sell
their goods on a bench.
If the merchant had a
point in his business
where he was no longer
able to sell his goods
or to buy goods to sell
or to pay back his debts,
his bench would be broken,
and this was a symbol
to the other merchants that
this was not a good person
to do business with, and
it was also a sign to him
that he should not return.
So that's pretty harsh.
His bench was broken.
(chuckles) I'm really happy
that we don't do public displays
of bankruptcy now (groans),
but that is an interesting
origin of the word bankrupt.
Okay, so let's move on to our fourth word.
This word is eavesdropper, eavesdropper.
The word eavesdropper refers to a person
who listens to things not meant for them.
So we might use the word
eavesdropper in a sentence like,
my grandma told my mom once
that I was an eavesdropper,
because I loved to sit in the corner
and listen to the adults' conversations,
or in a sentence like,
no one likes an eavesdropper,
especially one who likes
to gossip and spread everything
that they've heard, so eavesdropper.
Okay, now let's take a look
at the origin of the word eavesdropper.
The word eavesdropper came
from an Old English word
which was yfesdrype,
and it actually pertained to the part
on a roof where the rain would drip from.
So (chuckles) again, this
is a really interesting one.
So before, when someone
wanted to hear something
that wasn't meant for
them, they might go outside
of the house, go underneath
the part of the roof
where the rain drips and
listen and try to see
if they can hear things
inside of the house
that weren't meant for them.
So this is kind of
funny, because nowadays,
if someone did something like that,
they would probably have
the police called on them.
So I don't think people
will be eavesdropping
underneath a roof like that,
but it's still interesting
to know the origins of this word.
All right, let's move on to
our fifth and final word,
and the word is muscle, muscle.
You guys know the word muscle.
The word muscle pertains to tissue
that helps us to move and lift things.
We often think of our
muscle as this tissue
that helps us to be strong.
So we might use the word
muscle in a sentence like,
He had so much muscle from working out
that you could see it
underneath his shirt.
Or we might use it in a sentence like,
a lot of times, people
exercise to lose weight,
but they find that they
actually gain weight.
And that's because muscle
weighs more than fat.
Okay, so now let's look at
the origin of the word muscle,
and this one is interesting.
The word muscle actually comes
from the Latin word musculus.
And this word actually
meant small mouse (laughs).
I find this one really funny.
Apparently, people used
to think that the way
that a muscle moved under our
skin resembled a small mouse.
I think this is especially funny,
because we often think
of mice as really timid
and weak creatures, and
it's strange that we decided
to name our own muscles after small mice.
It's both interesting and funny.
Okay, so that does it for this lesson.
Thank you so much for joining me.
I had a ton of fun.
I hope that you did, too.
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Thank you guys so much.
I'll see you later.
(air whooshes)
