Turkey is short for “turkey-cock” or “turkey-hen,” originally the name for the African guinea fowl, and eventually for the Western hemisphere fowl with which the earlier bird was confused. This large gallinaceous bird was found domesticated in Mexico at the discovery of that country in 1518, and was soon introduced into Europe. Two sub-species or species of this were found wild – including the Northern wild turkey, a native of the eastern half of the continent, from Canada and the Missouri region to Texas. The wild original of the domestic fowl of North America was described in print in 1613 by the Pilgrims. When Europeans arrived in America, they noticed similarities between the guinea fowl and the American bird and called the latter turkey. Drintling refers to turkeys’ clucking noises and the wishbone of a turkey used to be called the merrythought.

Car first came into Middle English as carre, from French and earlier from Latin carrus ‘wheeled vehicle’, and it first meant a carriage, chariot, cart, wagon, truck, or other conveyance. From the 16th to 19th centuries, the word was mainly used in poetry to describe any vehicle used in a solemn or dignified procession, as those concerned with pageantry, in times of triumph, or in war. The word was mainly used in relation to vehicles traveling on railways until it was transferred to automobiles around 1896. Other words related to car include career, cargo, caricature, carry, charge, and chariot.

There are several explanations for the origin of April Fools’ Day, but the following is the most plausible one. April 1st was once New Year’s Day in France. In 1582, Pope Gregory declared the adoption of his Gregorian calendar to replace the Julian calendar and New Year’s Day was officially changed to January 1st. It took some time for everyone in France to hear the news of this major change, and others obstinately refused to accept the new calendar, so a lot of people continued to celebrate New Year’s Day on the first of April – earning them the name ‘April fools’. The April fools were subjected to ridicule and practical jokes and the tradition was born. The butts of these pranks were first called poisson d’avril or ‘April fish’ because a young naive fish is easily caught. A common practice was to hook a paper fish on the back of someone as a joke. This evolved over time and a custom of prank-playing continues on the first day of April.

The word family first referred to the servants of a household and then to both the servants and the descendants of a common ancestor. It comes from the Latin word familia, meaning ‘household; household servants’, which came from another Latin term famulus, or ‘servant’. It was not until 1667 that the term was used specifically for the group of persons consisting of parents and their children. The word daughter is a very old English word, first recorded c. 1000 as dohtor. It descends from Old English and is related to words in many other Indo-European languages, such as Greek thugater. The modern spelling daughter was first used in a 16th century Bible and was popularized by Shakespeare. The word son is quite a bit older, found in Beowulf in 645. It also descends from Old English and is related to words in many other Indo-European languages, such as Greek huios. Mother is one of the surviving words from Anglo-Saxon (starting as modor), which are among the most fundamental words in English. Mother has many cognates in other languages, including Old High German muoter, Dutch moeder, Old Norse mothir, Latin mater, Greek meter, and Sanskrit mat. These words share an Indo-European root. Mother is one of the Anglo-Saxon nouns that has an Anglo-Saxon adjective as well as a Latinate adjective – motherly and maternal – and motherly also came from Old English (modorlic). Mom, a shortened form of momma, was recorded in 1894; momma was first used in 1884. Both are chiefly North American uses. Mamma and mama, created by children reduplicating an instinctive sound, are much earlier terms, showing up in the 1500s. In between came mommy (also North American in usage) in 1848, which was a variant of mammy (also 1500s). Father is derived from Latin pater and has cognates in many other languages; the word entered Old English as feder and foeder (among others).