Which languages are the following words derived from?
Many words are derived from more than one language (eg. from Latin via French). I have tried to limit the choices so that only one option is correct for each word. In most cases we are looking for the direct etymology.
Nice quiz! Maybe add more words that could be guessed by knowing their history? For example laconic (easier if you know the Spartans) or berserk (ditto the Vikings) or avocado (Aztecs) or kahuna (Hawaiian). Or words that you could guess by the way they sound, like kowtow or balalaika or alcohol/algebra/alchemy? It's always more fun to do an educated guess than to use pure luck.
The quizmaster's quizzes often start with a couple easy ones, so maybe start with gimmes like cuisine or lingerie.
Those are some interesting ideas - thank you! "Laconic" is lovely, I wasn't aware of that one. I'll add it when I get round to it. On the whole though I do get a bit tired of quiz questions which feel easy, and this is supposed to be a slightly specialised one around language (rather than history or geography), so it's intended to be quite hard for most people - and judging by the nice triangular shape of the answer statistics so far, it is a reasonable gradation, although perhaps the order isn't the best. Some of them I have included because they're not immediately obvious, but when you find out, they should be a real head-smacker - that's how penguin was for me, I don't know about anyone else. On the other hand I am absolutely baffled at how there are far more people who got corgi than bimbo.
Anyway, thanks again for your comment, food for thought.
Neat quiz! Might suggest rewording the "galore" options, since Irish isn't typically called "Gaelic," Scottish Gaelic is usually written out in-full, and both derive from Old Irish and Proto-Celtic before.
Thank you! Well - in Britain and Ireland at least they are routinely called Gaelic, and distinguished by how you pronounce it ("gallic" for Scottish and the rather more questionable-sounding "gay lick" for Irish). You can of course say Irish or Scottish before them to be quite clear but it's certainly not always done. And if that weren't true then I'd have to take "galore" out of the quiz I think.... se mòr-thubaist a bhiodh ann!
The quizmaster's quizzes often start with a couple easy ones, so maybe start with gimmes like cuisine or lingerie.
Anyway, thanks again for your comment, food for thought.