Can you pick the common language of origin for each group of three words?

created by survivor

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Etymology, like all fields of scholarship, is subject to debate. However, each set of three words collectively points to a unique intended common language of origin.
Source: Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed.
Also try: Country Name Origins

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There are 23 comments for this game.
(Warning: comments may contain spoilers)

Word Trios by Language Origin Quiz

by survivor

Created Nov 3, 2012 in Language
Featured Dec 2, 2012
Game Plays 25,061

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Archived comments: show them

	Ubbiebubbie:	Dec 2nd, 2012 at 04:19 GMT		22 points
	Wow, great, quiz (Sporclese)

	theshliz:	Dec 2nd, 2012 at 04:29 GMT		24 points
	Really creative quiz. One of the best ideas I've seen. Nice work survivor!

	eab21:	Dec 2nd, 2012 at 05:00 GMT		19 points
	This quiz was chock full of awesome words.

Zak6009:

Dec 2nd, 2012 at 05:09 GMT

13 points

Knowing that Tagalog is spoken in the Philippines helped with the third word for that clue... though didn't expect that guess to actually be right.

	chikka2:	Dec 2nd, 2012 at 06:05 GMT		11 points
	Excellent idea, well-executed. Batik was a good clue but I missed it

	Syzygy_314159:	Dec 2nd, 2012 at 08:27 GMT		3 points
	OED on ketchup: " app. ad. [apparently adapted from] Chinese (Amoy dial.) kôechiap or kê-tsiap brine of pickled fish or shellfish (Douglas Chinese Dict. 46/1, 242/1). Malay kechap (in Du. spelling ketjap), which has been claimed as the original source (Scott Malayan Wds. in English 64–67), may be from Chinese."

	Azazello:	Dec 2nd, 2012 at 08:47 GMT		7 points
	Got so many wrong trying to get the Spanish words. Chocolate, llama, tomato, anaconda... I think it's harder if you actually speak Spanish.

	uphillrunner:	Dec 2nd, 2012 at 13:16 GMT		5 points
	Tougher than I thought it would be! My condor and I are going to dance a polka while screaming like banshees. Then we will eat a smorgasbord.

	dancastro:	Dec 2nd, 2012 at 15:22 GMT		9 points
	@Azazello: the problem is that the quiz asks for the ultimate origin or words. Of course the Nahuatl (Aztec) and Quechua (Inca) words (chocolate, tomato, llama, condor, etc.) entered English via Spanish. And also it happened the other way around: the Spanish words "mocasín" and "tobogán" were taken from English, although their ultimate origin is Native American/Canadian.

	NowOrNever:	Dec 2nd, 2012 at 15:46 GMT		19 points
	Awesome quiz! I love the way the history of words reflects the history of the world, and this quiz does a perfect job of demonstrating that. Europe learned of chocolate and tomatoes through the Spanish conquest of Meso-America, an Indonesian-Malay dish traveled by way of China, Wikipedia owes its name to the Hawaiian word for "quickly," ancient Hebrew words are used in modern English thanks to the Old Testament...it really enriches language to see it as a network of cultural interactions.

	geowiz85:	Dec 2nd, 2012 at 18:52 GMT		11 points
	I saw alcohol and immediately guessed Irish...ah, stereotypes.

	sam2249:	Dec 2nd, 2012 at 22:42 GMT		9 points
	First question, tungsten. Ah yes, now this is where my obscure school chemistry knowledge comes into play. Tungsten, chemical symbol W from the german wolfram, so that's german...oh wait....crap....

	nats30:	Dec 3rd, 2012 at 09:51 GMT		4 points
	I love the Algonquian (Powhatan)-- like the brackets may help clarify... Unfortunately, didn't help me!

	cavaliergirl18:	Dec 4th, 2012 at 17:02 GMT		3 points
	I knew very few of these - very interesting and very informative!

	cavaliergirl18:	Dec 4th, 2012 at 17:03 GMT		1 point
	And, on a completely unrelated note (sorry, everyone) - is anyone else unable to copy/highlight anything on Sporcle? I didn't notice an error in my post above until I was finished writing, and I tried to put my cursor down by the error and I couldn't!

	NotYou:	Dec 5th, 2012 at 02:40 GMT		2 points
	I have that issue, too, cavaliergirl18. It showed up (or at least I noticed it) about the same time as my "end" key stopped bringing me to the actual bottom of the page and started sticking at the bottom of the quiz.

	Ignis_Umbrae:	Dec 7th, 2012 at 20:23 GMT		1 point
	Niggle: "cocaine" is not wholly from Quechua -- "coca" is, but "cocaine" itself was formed as coca + -ine and the -ine is Latin in origin. Other than that, an excellent quiz indeed!

	Vails:	Dec 11th, 2012 at 15:36 GMT		5 points
	This is one of the first quizzes I've taken where I was so engrossed in the content that I was completely surprised when the timer ran out. Great job!