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Today wow suggested "halcyon" as part of a name for an estate. The etymology is interesting, and taken from the Burnside site in URL inselpeter gave.
Halcyon is now seen only in the idiom "the halcyon days" although it was once used as a verb. It is generally used as referring to days distant and more pleasant, shrouded in the contentment of selective memory. Properly used, it refers to the 14 days of calm weather at sea which, according to Greek legend, interrupt the storms of mid-Winter. It comes from hals (salt, or the sea) and kuo (to brood on). According to Greek legend, the kingfisher makes its nest on the water and hatches its eggs during the 14 days of calm at mid-Winter. Properly used, halcyon means the tranquil spell surrounding the Winter solstice.
The same site gives etymology of word clue, but it is too long to include here.
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Rod Ward called the man FabonaciA typo in quick response to a query. I will try to be more careful when presenting "Facts" as opposed to opinions in future. Mea Culpa. (and while I was berating others for misspoilling my name!  ) Rad
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Carpal Tunnel
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(and while I was berating others for misspoilling my name!)
'S'all right, Red, we love you anyway.
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Asparagus (Eng.); Asperge (Fr.); Esparrago (Sp.); Asparago (It.); Spargel (Germ.)
All of these terms come from the Latin asparagus, which was adopted from the Greek word of the same name that means "sparrow grass," as it was often served with little cooked sparrows
One of my uncles used to call "asparagus" "sparrowgrass"
and I thought he was just joking, and never asked him about it. Perhaps he got it from his father, who was quite well read.
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There are some errors in the etymology given below. In the first place Leeuwenhoek's name is spelled wrong, he was not a monk, and he did not discover cells, which were first described by Robert Hook.
Cell
Originally meant a monk's living space. It was a monk, Leuenhook, who invented the first microscope. His first specimen was a peice of cork, which was made up of many small rectangular sub-parts. To him, the small rectangles were like the small room monks lived in, known as cells. Thus, he called these microscopic building blocks "cells".
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I was surprised to find "beads" came from a word meaning prayer. So "prayer beads" is a tautology.
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5ME bede, prayer, prayer bead < OE bed < biddan, to pray, ask: see BID16
1 a small, usually round piece of glass, wood, metal, etc., pierced for stringing
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veteran
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Asparagus
I was told that the word came from 'asperges', the phallic-looking thing a priest uses to sprinkle holy water. This name, in turn, from a line in one of the Psalms, "Asperges me, Domine, hyssopo, et mundabor", "Wash me, O Lord, with hyssop and I shall be clean." Of course, one wonders if this is merely a supposition, or a joke, or if the boot is on the wrong leg and it is the sprinkler that takes its name from the vegetable.
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Re: asparagus
Dear Bob: I think your version sounds much more probable.
I also remember reading that the head of the procession spread air conditioning fragrances and incense from a censer because the congregation, having no bathing facilities nor incentives to use them, smelled bad.
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Pooh-Bah
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I also remember reading that the head of the procession spread air conditioning fragrances and incense from a censer because the congregation, having no bathing facilities nor incentives to use them, smelled bad.
Do you think it more likely to be because incense was one of the daily offerings at the Temple in Jerusalem?
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AHD says it comes from the Latin --- Asparagus. Interesting note on the etymology, including a side trip into Sparrowgrass country. http://www.bartleby.com/61/47/A0464700.html
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