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1844, from berserk (n.) "Norse warrior," by 1835, an alternative
form of berserker (1822), a word which was introduced by Sir Walter Scott,
from O.N. berserkr (n.) "raging warrior of superhuman strength;"
probably from *ber- "bear" + serkr "shirt," thus lit.
"a warrior clothed in bearskin." Illustration: Adam R. Garcia
Designer Adam R. Garcia started this nifty project called Illustrated Etymology, where he invited artists to illustrate the history of words and their origins in graphical form.
Check it out: Link - via designworklife
Pigs don’t sweat much, so they wallow in the mud to cool off their bodies. So how did the English language expression “sweating like a pig” develop? It’s actually a reference to pig iron, which is form of iron smelting:
When pig iron is originally created from iron ore, the smelter needs to heat the ore to extreme temperatures, and then move the liquid metal into the mold. Until the liquid cools, it can’t be safely moved, as the extremely hot metal is liable to spill, burning whatever it comes in contact with.
How does the smelter know when the metal is cool enough to transport? When the “pigs” “sweat.” As the metal cools, the air around it reaches the dew point, causing droplets to form on the metal’s surface.
Link | Photo via Flickr user The Pug Father used under Creative Commons license
It’s easy to see how some nicknames came to be. "Alex" for instance is often shortened to "Al." But do you ever wonder how "Richard" becomes "Dick," William becomes "Bill" and Henry becomes "Hank"?
In this mental_floss article, Neatorama’s very own David Israel tells us the origin of some of the most common nicknames in the West:
The name Henry dates back to medieval England. (Curiously, at that time, Hank was a diminutive for John.) So how do we get Hank from Henry? Well, one theory says that Hendrick is the Dutch form of the English name Henry. Henk is the diminutive form of Hendrick, ergo, Hank from Henk. Hanks were hugely popular here in the States for many decades, though by the early 90s it no longer appeared in the top 1,000 names for baby boys.
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AskMen has a pretty nifty post about the 5 things you didn’t know about Shakespeare. Take, for instance, the word "torture" – yep, good ol’ Will invented it (well, technically he made the noun "torture" which existed at the time into the verb form):
3- Shakespeare invented "torture"
Shakespeare didn’t just invent "torture," but also "excitement," "addiction" and "savagery." Another of the five things you might not have known about Shakespeare is just how much he’s influenced the English language. Our man Will invented about 1,700 words in the English language. A remarkable number of the phrases and words we use every day first appeared in Shakespeare’s work. Shakespeare converted verbs into adjectives or nouns into verbs whenever it suited him. Amazingly, his linguistic inventions stuck, and we still use them today.
