“blood-red,” late 14c. (late 12c. as a surname), from Old French sanguin (fem. sanguine), from Latin sanguineus “of blood,” also “bloody, bloodthirsty,” from sanguis (genitive sanguinis) “blood” (see sanguinary). Meaning “cheerful, hopeful, confident” first attested c. 1500, because these qualities were thought in old medicine to spring from an excess of blood as one of the four humors. Also in Middle English as a noun, “type of red cloth” (early 14c.).
Month: February 2020
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2018: UN Human Rights Pledge Accepted for Value
2016: Public Acceptance of UN Day of Indigenous Peoples
2015: Public Acceptance of Pope’s Apology
2010: Public Acceptance of UNDRIP
1877: Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada Treaty Tests Treaty No. 6
1940: Rothschild Money Trust by George Armstrong
1671: Picture Evidence of the Original Inhabitants of Turtle Island America A New Description of a New World
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swag (n.)
1650s, “a lurching or swaying,” from swag (v.). Meaning “ornamental festoon” (1794) is said to be probably a separate development from the verb (but see swage). Swag lamp attested from 1966.
Colloquial sense of “promotional material” (from recording companies, etc.) was in use by 2001; swag was English criminal’s slang for “quantity of stolen property, loot” from c. 1839. This might be related to earlier senses of “round bag” (c. 1300) and “big, blustering fellow” (1580s), which may represent separate borrowings from the Scandinavian source. “The primary meaning was ‘a bulging bag'” [Klein].
swag (v.)
“to move heavily or unsteadily,” 1520s, probably from a Scandinavian source akin to Old Norse sveggja “to swing, sway,” from the same source as Old English swingan “to swing” (see swing (v.)). Related: Swagged; swagging.