Q 01/05

The word 'trivia' comes from Latin 'triviae', which literally meant what?

A) Three roads

B) Small things

C) Idle talk

D) Common knowledge

Answer · why

A) Three roads

A spot where three roads met was a public place, so 'trivialis' came to mean commonplace; the modern quiz sense dates only from 1960s college contests...

Q 02/05

Bread with a filling is named after an 18th-century English aristocrat with what title?

A) The Duke of Bedford

B) The Marquess of Bath

C) The Earl of Sandwich

D) The Viscount of Sandwich

Answer · why

C) The Earl of Sandwich

John Montagu, the 4th Earl, is said to have wanted food he could eat while gaming and drinking without leaving the table.

Q 03/05

'Quarantine' comes from the Venetian word for what period of time?

A) Seven days

B) Fourteen days

C) Forty days

D) One hundred days

Answer · why

C) Forty days

Ships were held for that long during plague years; the Black Death had killed an estimated 30 percent of Europe.

Q 04/05

The word 'salary' derives from the Latin word for which substance?

A) Gold

B) Salt

C) Grain

D) Silver

Answer · why

B) Salt

Whether Roman soldiers were literally paid in it is disputed, but 'salarium' clearly comes from 'sal'.

Q 05/05

The 'mare' in 'nightmare' originally referred to what?

A) A chest-sitting demon

B) A female horse

C) The sea at night

D) A dark phase of the moon

Answer · why

A) A chest-sitting demon

The word has no etymological link to the horse; the folkloric mare brought frightening dreams by pressing on the sleeper.