467 - 468 World History - Phrases Related To World History And Their Meanings

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America

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The U.S.A., after Amerigo Vespucci, the Italian-born explorer sailing for Spain and Portugal who between 1499 and 1504 made 3 confirmed trips to South America

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Attila the Hun

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Any extremely brutal and violent person

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Augustan

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Classical; brilliant; elegant; pertaining to the highest point in the literature of a country, from Augustus Caesar, the first emperor of Rome, whose reign was called the golden age of Latin literature

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Balboa

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Panama’s main monetary unit, named for the first European to cross the Isthmus and discover the Pacific Ocean

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(A) Beau Brummell

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Excessively well-dressed person; any dandy or fop, after George Bryan Brummell, a dandy and friend of the Prince of Wales, later King George VI

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Big Bertha

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Long range German gun, after the daughter of the owner of the Krupp works

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Bloody Mary

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Vodka and tomato juice drink, after the nickname of Mary I, Queen of England, who was known for persecuting Protestants

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Bobby

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British policeman, after Sir Robert Peel, the Home Secretary who organized London’s Metropolitan Police

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Bolivar

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Venezuela’s main monetary unit, after Simon _____, the “Liberator of South America”

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(A) Borgia

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Ruthless person, after the Renaissance Italian family who achieved power through whatever means necessary

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Boycott

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To refuse to deal with, after Irish land agent Charles _____

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Braille

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System of writing for the blind, after Louis _____, a blind French boy who invented the system

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Cabal*

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Small group of people joined together in a plot, a Hebrew word given political significance from the initials of the inner circle of advisers to Charles II of England *The 5 ministers are (Lord) Clifford, (Lord) Ashley, (the Duke of) Buckingham, (the Earl of) Arlington, and (the Duke of) Lauderdale.

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Caesar

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Any emperor or dictator, after Roman emperor Julius _____

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Caesarean

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Surgical operation to deliver a baby from the uterus, after a Roman emperor who may have been born in such a manner

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Canute

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Person who tries to hold back a relentless force, after the Dane who became king of England in 1016 and who, according to legend, ordered the tide to stop advancing

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Cardigan

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Sweater that opens down the front, after James Thomas Brudenell, the 7th Earl of _____, the leader of the charge at Balaclava during the Crimean War

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Casanova

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Seducer; philanderer, after Giovanni Giacomo _____, a person who claimed in his memoirs to have had many love affairs

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Chauvinism

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Blind loyalty, particularly loyalty to one’s own sex or country, after Nicholas Chauvin, a loyal soldier to Napoleon

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Cicerone

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Guide who conducts sightseers, from Marcus Tullius Cicero, a Roman orator known for his verbosity

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Colon

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El Salvador’s and Costa Rica’s main monetary unit, named for Christopher Columbus, whose name in Spanish is Cristóbal Colón

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Crispin

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Shoemaker, after a missionary in France spreading Christianity who along with his brother Crispianus was martyred about 286

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Croesus

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Very rich person, after the last king of Lydia, noted for his great wealth

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Daguerreotype

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Early photographic process, after Louis-Jacques Daguerre

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Demosthenes

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Orator; powerful speaker, after the Athenian orator and statesman who lived 384-322 B.C.

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Derrick

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Equipment used to support drilling machinery over an oil well, after Thomas _____, a 17th-century London hangman

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Diogenes

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Person who seeks the truth, after the Greek philosopher who went in search of a honest man

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Draconian

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Extremely severe, after Draco, an Athenian lawgiver, known for his harsh laws

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Dunce

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Ignorant person, from the middle name of John Duns Scotus

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Elgin Marbles

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Ancient sculptures that once adorned the Parthenon on Athens’ Acropolis before being removed by Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin, in the early 1800s

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Epicure

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Person of luxurious taste in matters of food and drink, and art and music, after Epicurus, a Greek philosopher

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Fabianism

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Gradualism, a slow step-by-step evolutionary change, from Roman general Fabian who defeated Hannibal by avoiding direct contact

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(A) Florence Nightingale

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Nurse, after an English nurse during the Crimean War

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Freudian slip

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Unintentional slip of the tongue, after Sigmund _____, the Austrian founder of psychoanalysis

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Garibaldi

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Woman’s loose blouse, modeled after the red shirts worn by Giuseppe _____’s followers

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Guillotine

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To behead with an instrument that drops a heavy blade between 2 grooved uprights, after J.I. Guillotin, the doctor who invented it

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Guy

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Chap or fellow, after _____ Fawkes, the leader of the Gunpowder Plot to blow up the English House of Parliament in 1605 (in England the word now designates a ridiculous-looking person)

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Havelock

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Cap with a piece of cloth protecting the back of the neck, after Henry _____

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Hitler

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Dictator; autocrat, after the Nazi leader of Germany

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Hooligan

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Young hoodlum, after an Irish family so named in Southwark, London

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Hun

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Uncivilized or destructive person, after the barbaric Asiatic people who invaded eastern and central Europe in the 4th and 5th centuries under Attila’s leadership

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Jack the Ripper

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Cold-blooded murderer of women, from the name given to the unidentified man who murdered 6 prostitutes in London in 1888

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Joan of Arc

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Crusader; heroine, after the young girl who led France’s armies against the English in the 15th century

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John Bull

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British nation personified, from the fictional title character in John Arbuthnot’s satirical 1712 work

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Kaiser

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Any of the emperors of the Holy Roman Empire or of Germany from 1871 to 1918, after Caesar, the family name of the first Roman emperors

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Lavaliere

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Ornamental locket hanging from a chain around the neck, named for the duchess de La Vallière, mistress of Louis XIV

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Lucrezia Borgia

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Woman who kills by poisoning, after the 16th-century Italian woman who was Cesare Borgia’s sister

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Lucullan

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Lavish; rich; sumptuous, especially describing a “feast” or “banquet,” after Lucius Licinius Lucullus, a Roman general and consul noted for his elegant and luxurious living

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Luddite

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Protestor against technology, after Ned Lud, a worker who smashed several items in the workplace in 18th-century Leicestershire, England

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Machiavelli

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Ruthless manipulator, after the Italian Niccolò _____, the author of The Prince who believed that a ruler could use any means necessary to stay in power

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Machiavellian

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Characterized by craftiness and deception (see Machiavelli)

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Maecenas

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Generous patron of the arts, after a Roman statesman who advised Augustus and greatly helped Virgil and Horace

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Martinet

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Strict disciplinarian, after General Jean _____, a 17th-century French drillmaster

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Mata Hari

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Female spy, especially one who uses sex appeal to extract military secrets from men, after a Dutch spy during WWI who was executed by the French

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Mauser

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Breechloading rifle, after German brothers Peter Paul and Wilhelm _____ who invented it

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Mausoleum

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Large, majestic tomb, after King Mausolus who is buried in a large tomb at Halicarnassus

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Mesmerize

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To hypnotize, after Franz Anton _____, the German physician who practiced it

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Mogul

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Powerful person, especially one with supreme powers, from any of the Mongolian conquerors of Indian and Persia

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Montgolfier

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Hot-air balloon, from the surname of the French brothers Jacques-Etienne _____ and Joseph-Michel _____ who first built one

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Munchausen (syndrome)

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Pertaining to overstated or boastful stories or as a syndrome, any signs indicating the feigning of an illness or illnesses, after Baron von _____, the German officer who served in the Russia cavalry against the Turks and greatly exaggerated his activities

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Munchausenism

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Overstated or boastful stories or statements (see Munchausen)

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Napoleon

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Pastry whose flaky layers are filled with custard creme, after France’s leader with the surname Bonaparte

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Philippic

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Bitter verbal denunciation, derived from the orations delivered by Demosthenes against Philip, king of Macedon

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Platonic

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Purely spiritual, descriptive of a relationship that is free from sensual desire, as attributed to Greek philosopher Plato

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Pompadour

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Hair style with the hair swept straight up from the forehead, after the Marquise de _____, a mistress of King Louis XV

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Quisling

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A traitor, after Vidkun _____, the Norwegian who collaborated with the Nazis during WWII

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Raglan

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Loose coat, jacket, or sweater, or a kind of sleeve that extends to the neck of a garment, after Fitzroy James Henry Somerset, the first Baron _____, renowned for his courage, especially during the Crimean War

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Rasputin

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Person who has a strong, corrupting, and powerful hold on someone else, after the Siberian monk who had a controlling influence over the Czarina and her family

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Saddam Hussein

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Oppressor; tyrant, after the longtime leader of Iraq in the 20th and 21st centuries

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Sadism

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Pleasure, especially sexual pleasure, derived from inflicting pain on another, after the Marquis de Sade, a soldier and novelist whose writings describe sexual aberrations

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Sapphic

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Lesbian, after Sappho, a 6th-century B.C. Greek lyric poet in Lesbos, considered to have been a lesbian

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Shrapnel

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Fragments, or metal balls, scattered by an exploding shell, after Henry _____, the British general who invented the shell containing such balls

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Silhouette

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Profile portrait, after Etienne de _____, Louis XV’s comptroller general of finances

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Socrates

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Wise man, after an Athenian 5th-century B.C. philosopher and teacher known for his method of question and answer

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Solon

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Wise lawgiver, after a 6th-century B.C. Greek lawmaker who reformed the laws of Athens

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Tartar**

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Difficult person to deal with, after the Mongol hordes that Genghis Khan led in overrunning eastern Europe in the 13th century **To catch a tartar means “to have a difficult time overcoming a difficult opponent”; tartar sauce and steak tartare are also named after the nomadic Tartars.

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Tommy or Tommy Atkins

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British soldier, after a British private whose name was used to fill in sample army forms

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Vandal

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Person who willfully destroys or damages something, after the Germanic people who in A.D. 455 invaded Italy and plundered Rome

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Victorian

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Characterized by the moral strictness and hypocrisy of the 1837-1901 period during which Queen Victoria reigned

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Wellington

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High leather, waterproof boot usually worn just above the knee in front, after the 1st Duke of _____, a leader at Waterloo

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Xanthippe

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Shrewish woman, after the quarrelsome wife of Socrates

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Zenobia

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Powerful, ambitious woman, after the queen of Palmyra who openly defied Rome in 270 and tried unsuccessfully to take over its Eastern Empire

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Zeppelin

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Rigid airship, after Count Ferdinand von _____, the designer of such a ship