“Disaster” comes from the Italian disastro — a compound of dis- (bad, against) and astro (star, from Latin astrum). Literally, a “bad star” — reflecting the Renaissance belief that the positions of stars governed human fate. An unfavorable stellar alignment was a disaster: celestial catastrophe written in the sky before it happened on earth.
“Calculate” comes from Latin calculare, itself from calculus meaning “small stone” or “pebble.” Romans used pebbles on counting boards to perform arithmetic, and the act of moving stones became the word for computation. The same Latin word gave mathematicians the term “calculus” (Newton’s system of infinitesimal calculation) and geologists “calcium” (from calx, limestone — the parent of calculus).
“Candidate” comes from Latin candidatus, meaning “clothed in white.” In ancient Rome, those seeking public office wore a toga candida — a toga whitened with chalk — to signal their openness and purity to voters. The gleaming white garment was a visual appeal for trust. The same Latin root gives us “candid” (frank, white = pure), “candor,” “candle,” and “incandescent.”
“Dunce” comes from the name of John Duns Scotus (c. 1265–1308), one of the most brilliant philosophers of the Middle Ages. Renaissance humanists mocked his followers — the “Dunses” or “Dunsmen” — as obstinate pedants clinging to an outdated system. The name of a philosopher celebrated for intellectual subtlety became, through this reversal of reputation, a word for a stupid person.
The word “disaster” comes from the Italian disastro, which literally means “bad star.” It combines the prefix dis- (bad, against) with astro (star), from Greek aster. In the age of astrology, a disaster was an event caused by an unfavorable position of the stars — a calamity written in the heavens.
The word “nice” has undergone one of the most dramatic semantic shifts in the English language. It originally meant “foolish” or “ignorant” in the 13th century, derived from Latin nescius meaning “ignorant.” Over seven centuries, its meaning shifted through “lascivious,” “extravagant,” “fastidious,” and “precise” before arriving at today’s sense of “pleasant” or “kind.”