Etymology
The word entered into English in 1562 from the Turkish vezir ("counselor"), derived from the in Arabic wazir ("viceroy"). Wazir itself has two possible etymologies: on one hand it might be derived from āzara ("to help"), from the Semitic root W-Z-R ("to help somebody"); on the other hand, the presence of a Middle Persian predecessor for the word (in Pahlavi), vicir ("a legal document" or "decision"), derived from the Avestan vichira, meaning decreer or arbitrator, would seem to indicate an Indo-European origin. It is possible that the Semitic and Indo-Iranian terms influenced one another.
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Famous quotes containing the word etymology:
“Semantically, taste is rich and confusing, its etymology as odd and interesting as that of “style.” But while style—deriving from the stylus or pointed rod which Roman scribes used to make marks on wax tablets—suggests activity, taste is more passive.... Etymologically, the word we use derives from the Old French, meaning touch or feel, a sense that is preserved in the current Italian word for a keyboard, tastiera.”
—Stephen Bayley, British historian, art critic. “Taste: The Story of an Idea,” Taste: The Secret Meaning of Things, Random House (1991)
“The universal principle of etymology in all languages: words are carried over from bodies and from the properties of bodies to express the things of the mind and spirit. The order of ideas must follow the order of things.”
—Giambattista Vico (1688–1744)