Advertisement

Origin and history of Ophelia

Ophelia

fem. proper name, from Greek opheleia "help, aid," from ophelein "to help, aid, assist," ophelos "advantage, help," from PIE root *obhel- "to avail" (source also of Armenian avelum "increase, abound").

Entries linking to Ophelia

Anopheles(n.)

genus of mosquitoes, Modern Latin, coined 1818 by German entomologist Johann Wilhelm Meigen from Greek anopheles "hurtful, harmful," literally "useless," from an- "not, without" (see an- (1)) + ophelos "use, help, advantage" (from PIE root *obhel- "to avail;" see Ophelia). So called because it conveys malaria.

    Advertisement

    More to explore

    Topsy
    , immortal in cliche for her response to a question about her origin put to her by the pious Northern abolitionist Miss Ophelia...
    oblique
    early 15c., "slanting, sloping, sideways; crooked, not straight or direct," originally of muscles or eyes, from Old French oblique (14c.) and directly from Latin obliquus "slanting, sidelong, indirect," which is perhaps from ob "against" (see ob-) + root of licinus "bent upward,"
    angle
    "to fish with a hook," mid-15c., from Old English angel (n.) "angle, hook, fish-hook," related to anga "hook," from Proto-Germanic *angul-, from PIE *ankulo-, suffixed form of root *ang-/*ank- "to bend" (see angle (n.)). Compare Old English angul, Old Norse öngull, Old High Germa
    hermaphrodite
    late 14c. (harmofroditus), from Latin hermaphroditus, from Greek hermaphroditos "person partaking of the attributes of both sexes," as a proper name, the son of Hermes and Aphrodite, who, in Ovid, was loved by the nymph Salmacis so ardently that she prayed for complete union with
    bishop
    Old English bisceop "bishop, high priest (Jewish or pagan)," from Late Latin episcopus, from Greek episkopos "watcher, (spiritual) overseer," a title for various government officials, later taken over in a Church sense, from epi- "over" (see epi-) + skopos "one that watches, one
    stamp
    Middle English stampen "pound, mash, beat, crush," from Old English stempan "to pound, crush, or bruise in or as in a mortar," from Proto-Germanic *stamp- (source also of Old Norse stappa, Danish stampe, Middle Dutch stampen, Old High German stampfon, German stampfen "to stamp wi
    Anglo-Saxon
    Old English Angli Saxones (plural), from Latin Anglo-Saxones, in which Anglo- is an adjective, thus literally "English Saxons," as opposed to those of the Continent (now called Old Saxons). Properly in reference to the Saxons of ancient Wessex, Essex, Middlesex, and Sussex. I am
    beauty
    early 14c., bealte, "physical attractiveness," also "goodness, courtesy," from Anglo-French beute, Old French biauté "beauty, seductiveness, beautiful person" (12c., Modern French beauté), earlier beltet, from Vulgar Latin *bellitatem (nominative bellitas) "state of being pleasin
    taboo
    also tabu, 1777 (in Cook's "A Voyage to the Pacific Ocean"), "consecrated, inviolable, forbidden, unclean or cursed; prohibited to a certain class," explained in some English sources as being from Tongan (Polynesian language of the island of Tonga) ta-bu "sacred," from ta "mark"
    salon
    1690s, "large room or apartment in a palace or great house," from French salon "reception room" (17c.), from Italian salone "large hall," from sala "hall," from a Germanic source (compare Old English sele, Middle English salle, Old Norse salr "hall," Old High German sal "hall, ho

    Share Ophelia

    Advertisement
    Trending
    Dictionary entries near Ophelia
    Advertisement