What would a crane's foot have to do with a genealogical chart (unless the
chart is about a crane's lineage, that is)? Many hundred years ago someone
figured that the lines of succession on an ancestral map bore a strong
resemblance with that bird's foot, and the rest, as they say, is history.
So even though you might think this week's words appear pedestrian, pay
special attention to the etymologies. You'll discover that these words have
pedigrees that are anything but ordinary.