A number of names of different kinds of cloth originate from place names. The place of origin is shown in brackets ( ). angora (Ankara),
cashmere (Kashmir),
damask (Damascus),
denim (Nimes, France),
gauze (Саel),
muslin (Mosul, Iraq),
satin (Qingjiang, China),
suede (Sweden),
tweed (River Tweed,
Scotland)
More examples:
1.
bantam "miniatur e, diminutive" - from Bantam, a village in west Java in Indonesia, where this
chicken is supposed to have originated.
2.
bayonet "a dagger-like weapon fitted onto the front of a rifle" - from French baionette. From
the French city of Bayonne, where the weapon was first made or used.
3.
bungalow ―a one-story dwelling with a low-sloping roof and wide veranda‖ - from Hindustani
bengla , which means ―belonging to Bengal, or Bengalese.‖
4.
bunk ―nonsense‖ - a clip from bunkum; also spelled buncombe, from Buncombe County, North
Carolina, whose congressman F. Walker, of the 16th Congress (1819-21), made tiresome
speeches, "for Buncombe."
5.
currant ―small, seedless raisin or acid berry‖ - originally
raisins de Corauntz , through Anglo-
French, from French
raisins de Corinths , which means ―raisins of Corinth.‖
6.
dollar ―unit of currency‖ - from German
taler , a clip of
joachimstaler (or
-thaler ; the German
'th' is pronounced like 't'), a coin minted at Joachimsthal in Bohemia.
7.
gypsy (also British gipsy) ―an independent or itinerant worker‖ - a shortened and altered form
of Egyptian, from a belief that gypsies originally came from Egypt.
8.
