QRIOSITY 2018: Etymology and Origins

Tapas Kumar Nag
Tirthankar Nag
Kunal Mandal
Sayantan Bose (Puplu da)
Bedbyas Datta
Sukalyan Sen
Anik Dasgupta
Krishnadev Roy
Robin Dey
Arindam Dutta
Prithwish Datta (Boss)
Raktim Kumar Nag
Sumantra Sarathi Datta
(Central)
Titash Banerjea
Debanjan Bose
Sarbajit Mitra
Pratyoy Das
Baneswar Sarker
Siddhant Aggarwal
Acknowledgements..

- Arka Panda
- Aryapriya Ganguly
- Sachin Deshpande
- Subhalakshmi Dasgupta
- Fellow Quiz Masters
- Enquiryfolk:
Ananyo, Arunava, Bala, Banu,
Ishan, Pratyoy, Rushati & co.
- Jadavpur University
Acknowledgements

House Rules..
• 40 Questions
• 8 starred questions: Multiples of 5
• 10 two-pointers marked as 2P
• Total Play: 30x1 + 10x2 = 50 points
• No 0.5’s or fractions awarded anywhere
• Best first-streak rule applies to ties unbroken by
stars
• Please switch off all electronic devices

QRIOSITY 2018
Coming up..
Subhankar Nag Memorial Trophy
The JU Open General Quiz (4)
4:30
PM
NERD Stereotype
The U-25 MELA Quiz (3)
10:00
AM
Calcutta Kedgeree
The Open Kolkata Quiz (W) (2)
1:30
PM
Picture AV Baaki Hai
The Open A/V Quiz (3)
3:30
PM

1.
• William Dimond’s 1816 play The Broken Sword, A Grand
Melo-drama Interspersed with Songs, Choruses, &c. is
credited with bringing the term X into popular usage.
These lines from Act 1, Scene 2 is cited as the origin of the
term:
ZAVIOR…When suddenly from the thick boughs of a cork
tree—
PABLO.(Jumping up) A X, Captain, a X…Captain, this is the
twenty-seventh time I have heard you relate this story, and
you invariably said, a X, until now.
• What 2-word term of interest are we talking about?

2. (2P)
• St. Isidore (c. 560-636), who served as the Archbishop of ___X___,
is considered as "the last scholar of the ancient world“. (picture next
slide)
• Published in 636, his 20-book opus called Etymologiae was for
centuries considered the encyclopedia of all human knowledge.
• Since Jan 1, 2000, The Order of St. Isidore honours him as the
patron saint of ___Y___, as nominated for the role by the late Pope
John Paul II, although the Vatican has yet to make it official.
• The X football club, oldest in the country (e.1890), has the following
image of Isidore, his brother Leander and Ferdinand III depicted on
their crest.
• What is St. Isidore the patron saint of? Which football club?

3.
• What is the ancient
Greek crane’s divine
contribution to solving
seemingly unsolvable
problems better known
as?
• (bigger picture depicting the
mechanics next slide)

Deus ex machina or God on a machine

4.
•What non-educational institution was
founded by 6 young men in 1878, in a
weekly format, declaring in its first editorial
that it would pursue fairness, justice and
promotion of harmony and unity among the
unfree people?

5.**
• X is a surname meaning ‘long stride’ in Konkani and is
attributed to a certain Bodke whose brisk strides were
something of a novelty in the region and his house was
promptly named ______ghar.
• It was registered as a clerical mistake at the birth
registration office where, instead of registering the
family name, the whimsical nickname came to be
recorded. As the family gained in importance with the
Europeans, the name became Romanized to its present
form.
• Identify this apt surname with a sporting connect.

Dempo (from the Konkani Dhemp)

6.
• The swamps of Italy smelled pretty bad, and the people who
wandered off there caught this disease, naming it "bad air," after how
they thought they caught it.
• Venice was founded by refugees fleeing from the invading Huns,.
The town survived because any Huns who tried attacking it tended to
go through the wrong part of the swamp and get affected, suffering
crippling losses. Venice thereby grew because it was so easy to
defend, thanks to X.
• The term entered English in early 18th century, initially with reference
to the conditions in Rome, as the word existing in English for the
disease since 14th century was ague. Horace Walpole wrote in 1740
of ‘A horrid thing called the X, that comes to Rome every summer
and kills one’.
• What is this Draconian evil?

7.
• X is a term that, originally derived from Latin, means to ‘fill out’,
linguistically though it is a word or a phrase that is inserted into
a sentence and is unnecessary to express the meaning of the
sentence. Though it acquired a negative connotation much
earlier it wasn’t till the Watergate Scandal that it captured the
public’s imagination when the heavily censored transcripts were
released and much publicized that the word gained a wider
audience and cemented its present negative connotation even
though not all that was omitted was negative. What is this often
used term?

8. (2P)
• _____ ____ : A Bicycle Built For Two is an
1892 song by Harry Dacre, inspired by
_____ Grenville, Countess of Warwick.
• The fact that the song was historically sung
in 1961 thanks to musical accompaniment
from Max Matthews (picture next slide) is
the reason for a protagonist of a seminal
1968 movie, X, to sing the same song.
• What is the name of the song?
• Who sings it? OR Identify the movie, X.

Daisy Bell | HAL 9000 OR 2001: A Space Odyssey

9.
• X’s name is derived from the Sanskrit name of a
mythological creature and is also part of the zodiac.
The second largest of its species, this marsh dweller’s
name amounts to a redundancy in English.
• The British backformation is a reference to the
creature’s habit of snatching hunting dogs or already
captured prey.
• What is this marsh dweller, X?

10.** (2P)
• Two food items X and Y get their names from the
root word “turn” in the respective languages of
their origins.
• The corresponding countries are separated from
each other by the Aegean Sea.
• Which 2 food items?
• Which 2 countries?
• 1 point for getting 2-3 parts right

Shawarma/Doner – Turkey/Lebanon | Gyro – Greece

11.
• Initially termed “Weird Sensation Feels Good” and
“Attention Induced Head Orgasm” X is a term coined in
2010 by Jennifer Allen, she says she chose the term for
being ‘more objective, comfortable, and clinical than
alternative terms, X is a relaxing, often sedative feeling
that begins on the scalp and moves down the body and
is a major Youtube trend with performers called
____tists.
• What is this popularly known as?

Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response (ASMR)

12.
• In 1920, the East India _______ Committee chaired by Sir
William Acworth recommended the need for unified
management of the entire _______ system in India.
• Based on this, the colonial government took steps such as
taking over the actual management of all _______.
• Now, the Acworth Committee also put forward what is
known as the ‘Separation Convention’, which explained a
peculiar practice in India until a year or so ago.
• What annual practice that was recently brought to end after
92 years?

13.
• X is a foam based dessert from Lucknow named after
the unit of measurement which has been calculated to
be one eighth of a second.
• A winter delicacy, it is said to be concocted when
unboiled, sweetened and aromatized milk is left outside
in an earthen pan, overnight under moonlight, and dew
condenses on it giving X it’s characteristic texture and
incredibly short shelf life. (picture next slide)
• Identify this dessert.

14.
• The word comes from John X Scotus (c.1266–1308), the Scottish
Franciscan scholar who, with Thomas Aquinas and William of
Ockham, was one of the leading Scholastic philosopher-theologians
of the High Middle Ages. X’s treatises were widely influential
throughout West Europe, earning him the papal accolade Doctor
Subtilis (Subtle Teacher) and posthumous beatification from Pope
John Paul II in 1993.
• However, with the advent of Renaissance, the New Learning, and
then the Protestant Reformation, many of X's theories were
challenged or rejected by scholars, who used the term X in a
pejorative sense to denote those who foolishly clung on to outmoded
doctrine. Gradually X-man or X was used more widely for anyone
stupid or dull-witted.
• What is the derogatory term, X? HINT: The quizmaster

15.**
• An Acte for the punishment of the vice of Buggerie was
passed by an Act of Parliament in 1533 under the reign
of Henry VIII and was subsequently introduced to the
colonies. In India it was introduced and enforced after
the Mutiny though another Act replaced it and made
certain changes to speed up justice for some crimes
while also making lives tougher for an accused of a
certain crime.
• How do we know this piece of law on the subcontinent?

16.
• After Werner von Siemens introduced his electric-powered
tramway in Paris 1881, it made its US debut 7 years later.
• Electric trolleys had already proven to be dangerous in other
cities since they could travel at speeds of up to 15 mph, about 3
times faster than horse-drawn ones. The high speeds,
combined with chaotic traffic patterns of the time, made life
more dangerous in the streets and trying to evade them
became almost an art form.
• What sporting entity that later shifted states in 1958 owes its
nickname to this act of survival by the residents of this town?

Brooklyn/LA Dodgers from Trolley Dodgers

17.
(2P)
• X is a geographical term meaning ‘reef’,
popularized by Darwin in his theory of coral
formation, it originates in the Dhivehi language
and is used in the country Y to refer to an
administrative block and is a distinctive feature of
the country whose name is derived from its
capital city or alternately from it’s ornate
geographical appearance.
• What is this unique formation? Also, which
country are we talking about?

X - Atoll (from ‘atholu’) | Y - Maldives

18.
• According to popular etymology, this town in
Hoshangabad gets its name from its two former
major produces: bricks and rope.
• While neither industry is a major employer now, it
is well known for being a major railway junction in
its state.
• Which Indian town is being talked about?

19.
• X is the penultimate work created by a Dutch artist escaping
WWII Europe. He settled in a former Dutch settlement and was
mesmerized by the architecture and cultural scene.
• He created an iconic work to honour his new home where he
omitted his trademark black thus creating a different vibe more
in tune with the pulse of the city, and a particular kind of music
started in the 20s that he fancied in his new home to give a new
flow to his characteristic style.
• Identify this work immortalizing a culturally rich street where he
was introduced to this kind of music, which is also a slang for
dance. (picture next slide)

20.** (2P)
• Louis Volant’s (inset) services as a French
corporal in WWI earned him the Légion
d'honneur. Little did he know that almost a
century later, one of his great grandchildren X
would become the second member of the
family to win the same.
• This French connection came into light when a
primary character in the great grandchild’s
literary work owed its name to the French for
“flight of death”.
• What is French for “flight of death”?
• Also, who is the great grandchild, X?

21.
• X is a 44 year old perpetual 3rd grader who lives
outside London and is part of the second highest
grossing franchise of all time and even has 2 dedicated
theme parks. X’s first name is a reference to the
company’s motto of social communication (ironic
considering the character is noted by the absence of a
mouth) and the last name is inspired from a playful
scene in Through the Looking Glass.
• How do we better know X?

22.
• This edible product originally referred to the ‘brine
of pickled fish, known in the Amoy Chinese
dialect as _______ [a portmantreau of ___ (a kind
of fish), and _____ (‘juice’)]. This was borrowed
into Malay and then into English ultimately into
the form we know today.
• Which food taste enhancer?

23.
• X means ‘the religious king’ or ‘the king who rules with
righteousness’ and is a prophesied ruler that was predicted by
the ‘lotus-born’ patron saint of the region. He foretold of four
wise men coming to meet from the cardinal directions to crown
the man from the East.
• When the event came to pass only three men showed up and
debated on who should be crowned king but one of them
recalled the prophecy that the one from the East would be
crowned the king but alas he had not arrived. This led to a
manhunt in the East until one worthy man fitting the description
was placed on the throne.
• What the head of this monarchy ending in 1975 known as?

24.
• The plant was originally grown for animal
fodder and for its seed, which was used as a
vegetable. The Romans called it __X__-um,
derived from __X__-us, meaning ‘wolf-like’.
• Ancient belief held that, just as the wolf was
a greedy, ravenous creature, so the __X__
destroyed the soil, sucking out all the
goodness.
• Which plant is being shown here?

25.**
• X was developed in the 1920s as a treatment for
epilepsy but as antiepileptic drugs became more widely
available its popularity declined. It was highly effective
at the time and is especially prescribed for children, and
even been documented in First Do No Harm (1997), a
made-for-TV film starring Meryl Streep. It was found that
it mimics a state of near starvation, a state found to
decrease fits.
• What is X that has recently had a revival for a whole
another benefit?
• HINT: Has become quite the fad amongst people now

26.
•What club, that counts amongst its ranks -
Lasith Malinga, Upul Tharanga, Farveez
Maharoof, Kumar Sangakkara and Aravinda
de Silva, was named so as it was open to
people of all denominations on its foundation
in 1888, compared to the ethnic clubs like
Sinhalese SC and Tamil Union C&AC that
existed?

Nondescripts Cricket Club, Colombo

27.
(2P)
• X is an English word derived from the Latin for ‘traveller’ or
‘wanderer’ and became synonymous with ‘foreigner’ as they
had to take long journeys to foreign lands.
• The Latin name lives on in one of the most widespread and
adaptive species- Y is highly prized for a certain sport and has
been used for over 3000 years, but with a penchant for high
places they were notoriously difficult to get hold of and the
practitioner had to take long arduous journeys to find young
inexperienced ones wandering from their nest and thus gained
the moniker Y, meaning X.
• Who are X and thus what is Y?

X - Pilgrim | Y - Peregrine (Falcon)

28.
• In Old English, mainly Old Northumbrian, _____
meant “an institution”, literally something which is
contained in (another thing), and perhaps a loan-
translation of the source of institution.
• The German variant also means to use, employ;
institute, begin; install.
• What is this good word, used very commonly in
news articles or books?

29.
(2P)
•X is a derogatory term derived from the Italian for
‘baby’.
•It was originally used to insult men but the rise of
the bohemian unladylike attitude in the 20s
transferred the epithet onto women and has
remained so ever since and tragically a male
equivalent was coined in the 80s.
•What is X? What is the Italian for ‘baby’?

30.** (2P)
• So it is known that the Bengali calendar, despite having
started way before the Gregorian calendar, still runs
behind it due to a certain adjustment that was made a
few centuries back.
• The calculation is as follows:
• Current Bengali year = Current Gregorian year + 963 -
1556
• What are the values 963 and 1556 used to signify?
• HINT: They both signify the same thing, but in different forms

Akbar’s ascent to the throne as per Muslim Hijri calendar
Akbar’s ascent to the throne as per Gregorian calendar

31.
•X is a gemstone formed out of decaying wood,
which gives X its characteristic colour and was
popularized by Queen Victoria as a mourning
accessory and gives rise to the term X-Y which
refers to the extreme aspect of it.
•What is this chromatic term?
• HINT: Y is the colour it takes when the decay becomes extreme

32.
• This term is used in Chinese to refer to the act of deep
respect shown by prostration.
• Borrowed from Cantonese in the early 19th century to
describe the bow itself, its meaning soon shifted to
describe any act of submission or grovelling.
• The term is still commonly used in English with this
meaning, disconnected from the physical act and the
East Asian context.
• Which 1 or 2-word term is this?

33.
• X is a real life Biblical location meaning ‘hill of
testimony’ and is home to a Biblical cure we all
know as the Balm of X.
• X, now in Jordan, has gained a notorious
reputation due to a recent small screen
adaptation of an iconic work of feminist fiction.
• What location are we talking about?

34.
• In the 16th century, visitors from country X came to Gandaulim,
Old Goa and created a small legacy by building the Church of
Sao Braz (picture next slide), a smaller version of the Sveti
Vlaho Church in the city called the Pearl of the Adriatic.
• On April 1, 1999, the first official delegation from X arrived to
explore the links between Goa and X. Historians opine that the
Portuguese may have brought them to build ships (since their
expertise was respected) or they may have simply arrived as
merchants.
• Identify the country X, which grabbed headlines for something
that happened 5560 kms away from Goa 2 months ago.

35.** (2P)
• X and Y are two terms meaning left and right
respectively, derived from Latin. X stems from the
belief that left-handed people were crippled and not
fitting the ideal of the perfect man they were ill-natured
and deceitful thus came to be associated with evil and
malicious; whereas Y stands for the correct way to do
things as most people were right-handed and came to
signify readiness, adeptness and skillfulness, and
might remind you of a well-intentioned serial killer.
• What are X and Y?

36.
• This honour was initially proposed by Sophus Lie and
was to have started in the 1st decade of the 20th
century, only for the dissolution of Union between
Sweden and Norway to scupper the plans. It was finally
awarded for the first time in 2002, on the bicentenary of
the person the prize is named after.
• Which honour?

37.
• X is a Japanese term meaning ‘haze’ or ‘blur’
coined in the 90s and has grown immensely
popular with the availability of specialized tech to
artificially recreate the effect, especially for
phones. It describes an aesthetic way to render a
background using a shallow depth of field and not
just something out of focus.
• What technique are we talking about?

38.
• The town of Jachymov, situated in the Erzgebirge Mountains,
Czech Republic, was known as Sankt Joachimsthal (‘valley of
St Joachim’).
• In 1519, large coins were minted there under the direction of the
Count of Schlick, using silver extracted from a nearby mine
which had opened in 1516. A single coin was known as a
Joachimstaler. This was soon shortened in High German and
became X in Low German and Dutch. Denmark and Sweden in
imitation took rigsdcUer and riks-X respectively for their coins.
(picture next slide)
• 16th century English took the Low German version and it took until
1785 for X to be officially adopted. What is X?

39.
• X is the stage name for a multi talented performer when
he sings. He is much influenced by the Wu Tang Clan, a
hip hop group renowned for the elaborate back stories
to their names, that imitate old masters of the martial
discipline of Wudang quan. He was influenced so much
so that when it came to finding a stage name that he
relied on a Wu-Tang name generator that he chanced
upon in a Reddit thread.
• Who is this performer and what is the name X?

Childish Gambino from Donald Glover

40.** (2P)
• As to how the word has come to be associated with disaster, some
have suggested that an empty wine bottle never pleases anyone.
Others have turned to the skillful Venetian glass makers for
inspiration. They advance the theory that whenever a glitch was
discovered in the bulb of a piece of glassware, the blower would
simply turn it into an ordinary bottle, a ___X___ (6) and, therefore, a
disaster.
• ___X___ derives from Late Latin word which stems from the Old
French flacon and Middle English flagon (15th cent).
• Since the act of ___X___ was said to be that of bottling, it became
__Y__ (5) in Old French which ultimately led to the English synonym
for a bottle. (14th cent).
• Give both X and Y (synonyms for a failure and bottle, respectively).

QRIOSITY 2018
Coming up..
JU Open General
The Subhankar Nag Memorial Quiz
5:00
PM
NERD Stereotype
The U-25 MELA Quiz
10:30
AM
Kolkata Ache Kolkata Tei
The Open Kolkata Quiz (W)
1:30
PM
Sights & Sounds
The Open A/V Quiz
3:30
PM

1
•Which largely destructive pop icon with
a star on the Walk of Fame is a
portmanteau of the largest living ape
and a marine mammal?

Godzilla from the Japanese gorira, “gorilla” and
kujira, “whale”.

2
•X is a France based franchise founded
in 1969, and is named after the wife of
Moses, who was famed for her beauty,
and is Hebrew for ‘bird’. Identify this
aptly named iconic franchise.

3.
• When King Rama I founded this capital city, he named it such that it
translated to:
• “The city of angels, the great city, the residence of the Emerald
Buddha, the impregnable city (of Ayutthaya) of God Indra, the grand
capital of the world endowed with nine precious gems, the happy
city, abounding in an enormous Royal Palace that resembles the
heavenly abode where reigns the reincarnated god, a city given by
Indra and built by Vishnukarn”.
• Locals just call it “Krung Tep” and ultimately they started calling it
_______, a word which means “village of wild plums” and refers to
the original site of the Siamese capital west of the Chao Phyra.
• Which capital city is thus being referred?

4.
• The name of this fragrant plant, a native of southern Europe
was known as ‘sea dew’ in Latin (from ___ ‘dew’, and _______,
‘of the sea’ ( from ____, ‘sea’), supposedly because the plant
grew profusely on the coast.
• The word came into Middle English from Old French and Late
Latin variants, but its form was soon altered because of the
elements’ similarity to another flower and certain holy figure.
• Which plant is being talked about?

QRIOSITY 2018: Etymology and Origins

QRIOSITY 2018: Etymology and Origins

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