C – arabic from comes from rounding of Greek gamma from Phoenician sign for camel

Cab – contraction of “cabriolet”, a small one-horse carriage

Caballero – Spanish knight or gentleman; “one who rides a horse” (caballo)

Cabiri – from Phoenician for “powerful”; the name for the seven planets collectively

Caboodle – possibly from the Dutch word “boedel”, possession

Cadmus – Greek, son of Agenor the king of Phoenicia; introduced alphabet to Greece; Athena counseled him when attacked to throw a precious stone in the middle of the attackers who fought each other for it

Caesar – male members of the dynasty after Julius retained this name; “Kaiser” and “Tsar” are both derivatives of Caesar

Calculate – from Latin “calculi”, pebbles; pebbles used by Romans for counting

Mohammedan Calendar – dates from July 16th, 622 the day of Hegira; 12 lunar months consisting of 29 days 12 hours and 44 minutes each; each year is 354 or 355 days; a cycle is 30 years

Caliban – meaning rude, uncouth, unknown; allusion to Shakespeare’s Caliban in The Tempest who was a half-human son of a devil and a witch

Caliph – successors of Mohammed; where the name Khalifa is derived

Calisto and Arcas – Calisto made into a she-bear by Jupiter; her son Arcas was to kill her before Jupiter turned him into a bear, too; sent to the stars as Big and Little Bear

Calvary – Latin translation of Greek “golgotha”, Hebrew for skull; where Jesus was crucified

Calypso – queen of Ogygia where Ulysses crashed; she promised him eternal youth, he dipped

Cameo – ornamental carving on precious stone

Camilla – Roman legend of a virgin queen so quick she could run over a field of corn without bending a stalk or over the sea without wetting her feet

Candidate – from Latin “candidatus”, clothed in white; Roman candidates for office would wear loose white to show their scars and symbolize purity

Candlemas Day – February 2nd, feast of Purification of Virgin Mary presenting Jesus in the Temple; later Groundhog Day

Cannae – where Hannibal defeated the Romans; any turning point in a general’s prosperity

Cannibal – from Spanish “canibales”, a corruption of “caribes”, inhabitants of the Caribbean that Columbus found and assumed ate human flesh

Canopy – properly means a gnat curtain; from Greek “konops”, a gnat

Canteen – properly means a wine-cellar; from Italian “cantina”, a cellar

Canvas – a cloth made of hemp; from Latin “cannabis”, hemp

Carat – 1/142 of an ounce; 1/24 of pure gold: 22 karats is 22 parts gold and 2 parts alloy

Cardinal – Latin “cardo”, hinge; on which something turns or depends

Carnival – season before Lent; Latin “carnis”, flesh; and “levare”, to remove; meat abstinence

Carpet Knight – real knights were knighted on the battlefield not kneeling on carpets in court

Cartel – originally an agreement for prisoner exchange; then the ship; then all transactions

Cartesian Philosophy – system of Rene Descartes; cogito ergo sum; motion excited by God

Cartoon – designs were drawn on “cartone”, a pasteboard

Casino – a little “casa” where would retire after a party

Cassandra – a Greek prophetess; she passed on Apollo’s advances, so he denounced her

Casuist – “the art of quibbling with God”; a hair-splitter

Cat – Satan’s favorite form; Roman symbol of liberty; Egyptian sacred to Isis the moon; male is a Tom, female Doe

Let the Cat Out of the Bag – trick to substitute pig for a cat in a bag to sell; disclose the trick

Catastrophe – from Greek “kata”, downwards; and “strephein”, to turn

Catholic – from the Greek word “katholikos”, general or universal

Caudillo – title for fascist leader of Spain, General Franco

Caveat – from Latin for “let him beware”

Celtic – the branch of Aryans including Irish, Manx, Welsh, Cornish, Breton, and Scottish; the word “Celt” probably means warrior

Cemetery – from Greek “koimeterion”, dormitory; properly a sleeping place

Centurion – Roman officer who had the command of 100 men

Ceremony – through Latin, from Sanskrit “karman”, a religious action, rite

Cestus -girdle for Venus made by Vulcan; Mars’s love made it fall off

Chapter – from Latin “caput”, head

Charlemagne – Charles the Great, founded the Holy Roman Empire in 800

Charm – from Latin “carmen” a song

Charon’s Toll – a coin placed in the mouth or hand of the dead to pay the toll to pass the River Styx in the Underworld guided by Charon

Chateau – French for mansion, castle, or country seat; wines bottled by certain chateaus

Chauvinism – blind, exaggerated patriotism; named after Nicholas Chauvin, a soldier and obsessive admirer of Napoleon

Checkmate – from Arabic “shah mat”, the king is dead

Chess – the game of the kings; from the Arabis “shah” to shag to saccus to eschec to chess

Chimaera – Greek word for “she-goat”; monster with goat’s body, lion’s head, and dragon’s tail

Chivalry – similar origin as cavalry; horsemen were the ideal conception of life

Chopsticks – from Chinese “k’wai-tsze”, the quick ones

St. Christopher – a giant who carried a child over a brook; the child was Jesus and Christopher carried the sins of the world; Christ-bearer

Cigar – from Spanish “cicada”, the cigar-shaped beetle

Cincinnatus – Roman hero, delivered his country from danger before returning to his plough

Cinderella – Eastern origin; glass slipper is a mistranslation of “pantoufle en vair”, a fur slipper, instead of “en verre”, glass

Cipher – from Arabic “cifr”, zero

Citadel – from Italian “citadella”, a little city

City of Brotherly Love – Philadelphia; from Greek “philo”, love and “delphi”, womb

Claque – a body of hired applauders at a theater or other performance

Claymore – two-edged sword used by Scottish Highlanders; from Gaelic “claidheamh”, sword and “mor”, great

Clean and Unclean Animals – among ancient Jews, those animals that chew the cud and part the hoof were clean. Unclean animals include rabbits, pigs, and birds of prey

Clerical Title – clerk, could read and write; curate, has the cure of souls; parson, full rights; rector, rules and guides the parish; vicar, a deputy

Climax – Greek for ladder

Knight of the Cloak – Sir Walter Raleigh; threw his cloak onto a puddle for Queen Elizabeth to step on as she entered her barge

Clotho – one of the Three Fates who presided over birth; the other two being Atropos, death, cut the Thread of Life, and Lachesis, spun the fate between birth and death

Clue – from Sanskrit “cloewen”, a ball of thread; one would follow thread to escape labyrinth

Cluricaune – another name for Leprechaun

Clytie – ocean nymph in love with Apollo; turned into a sunflower which still turns with the sun

Coffee – Turkish word is “qahwah”, pronounced “kahveh”

Cold Blood – not in the heat of temper

Against the Collar – when a horse travels uphill the collar is more taut; fatiguing

College – from Latin “collegium”, partnership or colleagueship

Colorado – from Spanish “coloured”; reddish appearance

Flying Colors – victorious ships would sail into the harbor with all of their flags flying

Colors Nailed to the Mast – hold out to the end; nailed flags could not be lowered in surrender

Accidental Colors – seen on a white background after staring at a bright object; accident of red is bluish green, pf orange dark blue, and of violet yellow, and conversely

Comedy – from Greek “Kome-ode”, village song

Comrade – from Spanish “camera”, sleeping chamber; one who sleeps in the same chamber

Conclamatio – loud cry raised by those around a death bed at the moment of death

Consummatum est – Latin, “it is finished”; the last words of Christ on the cross

Contango – in Stock Exchange, sum paid to seller on a futures payment

Cooper – half stout and half porter; from porters’ daily beer allowance being one of each

Cop – to catch or capture which is why police officers are called such

Copper – among alchemists the symbol of Venus

Copper-nose Harry – Henry VIII; called after the silver-coated copper coins minted with his face emboldened on them; the silver would wear down and reveal copper at his nose

Coral – Romans would band red corals around infants’ necks to ward off sickness

Cordon Bleu – French for “blue ribbon”; one time the highest order of France

Cornish Hug – used to overthrow you; Cornish men were great wrestlers

Cosmopolite – Greel for “citizen of the world”

Coup d’etat – French for “a state stroke”; government action to overthrow the ruling body

Coup de Grace – the finishing stroke or stroke of mercy

Coupon – from French “couper”, to cut; you cut coupons out of the newspaper to redeem

Court – from the Latin word for cohort; men originally met in sheep enclosures/cohorts

Court Cards – king of clubs represented the Pope; spades = King of France; hearts = England; diamonds = Spain

Courtesy – manners of the court, royal or otherwise

Cousin Michael – represents Germans; “Michel” in old German means “gross”

Coward – from Latin “cauda”, tail; scared animals turn tail, cower

Creole – person of European parentage born in West Indies/central America; used by French of white residents in Louisiana

Cretinism – corruption of “Christian”, Chretien; imbeciles, when baptized, are washed of original sin and incapable of actual sin due to their mental defects

Crillon – a man, named The Brave, who questioned his role in the Crucifixion

Crisis – from Greek “krinein”, to decide; Hippocrates said that diseases hebbed through critical days and crisis days, the latter of which could be used to determine the course of the rest of the illness

Crispin – a shoemaker of which St. Crispin is the patron saint; shoemakers don’t work on Mondays, called St. Crispins holidawest

Crocodile – symbol of deity among Egyptians, no tongue so need not speak and eyes above water with thin membrane so it can see but not be seen

Crusade – eight principle Crusades beginning in 1095 and ending in 1272; commanded by Pope to recover the Holy Land from Muslim conquerers

Cuba – Latin “cubare”, to line in bed; Roman deity who guarded infants in their cribs

Cunning – Old English “cunnan”, to know

Cupid – Latin “cupido”, desire

Curfew – French “cuevrefeu”, cover fire; bells ring in evening to signal putting out of fires

Curry Favor – from medieval allegories describing a fallow horse that had indefinite color, deceit

Cut of one’s jib – jib is a triangular foresail that sailors would use to judge incoming ships

Cycle of the Moon – Metonic Cycle of 19 years in which the phases of the moon repeat on the same days as they did 19 years earlier

Cypress – funeral tree because once it is cut it never grows again; dedicated to Pluto