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Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu
The "mast" in "mastodon" is the same one as in "mastectomy".
"The term "mastodon" comes from Greek roots: "mastos" meaning "breast" and "odon" meaning "tooth," referring to the nipple-like projections on the mammal's fossil molars. The name was coined by French naturalist Georges Cuvier in 1806."
Every form of the word "check" comes from a Persian word, shahmat, which means "the king dies". This is from the earliest known games of chess, and that specifically got brought into English as "checkmate".
That's not quite true - it does (probably) come from Persian shah mat, but that meant "the king is stumped, the king is astonished". When originally borrowed into Arabic it was incorrectly assumed that it instead meant "the king is dead", and the mistranslation survived from there into the languages that borrowed it from Arabic. Source.
In archery, arrows have three feathers (in a Y shape) rather than four (+) so that it can slide past the bow without damaging the feathers or the bow. This means that the arrow can be nocked either the right way (with the leg of the Y away from the bow) or the wrong way (with the leg of the Y towards the bow).
In medieval Europe, the arrow would be nocked with the bow held horizontally. To make it easier for archers to quickly and easily nock their arrows, the feather to go away from the bow (pointing upwards) was a different color, and came from a cock (rooster). So when drilling new archers, if they nocked the arrow the wrong way, the instructor would shout "Cock Up!".
This came to mean a mistake.
"Great" used to mean "big" rather than "really good". Which is why the largest of the islands in the North Atlantic archipelago is called "Great Britain".
The term "snorkel" is related to the German word for snoring.
Back in WW2, U-boats (and pretty much all submarines) needed to surface so that they would be able to run their diesel engines in order to charge their batteries because diesel combustion requires oxygen. One German scientist developed a way to get air without having to surface the boat. As this was a very big tactical advantage it was, obviously top secret. In order to not give away what it was, he referred to it by the sound it made i.e. that of someone snoring.
EDITED with new info from helpful Lemmings.
Proto-slavic used the root "dn" (дн) for water, which explains river names such as Dnipro (Дніпро,Днепр), Danube (Дунай/Donau), Don (Дон), Dnjester (Днестр, Дністро).
I tried to look up if Rhein and Rhône are from the same root. It's a theory but not proven.
It's from Proto-Germanic " erei" to flow.
Mosel (Moselle) is just a diminutive of Maas (Meuse)
A hassle is a foreign inclusion in a wool top (what is spun into yarn), which is a real hassle to remove.
A skanky fleece is a wool fleece that is matted and infested with maggots.
The terms date back to the 19rh century.
Goodbye is a contraction of God be with ye
I think it's the same for other languages as well.
Goodbye in Italian is "addio" = a(d) Dio = to God
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/XiD4st5MpFg
Apparently, 'Yucatan' is named as a joke.
