»umbrella

A lunch-time conversation revealed that I had no idea, none!, of the origin of the word "umbrella", nor of the origin of the device itself.

Several western european languages refer to the device with multiple names, depending on whether it is used for protection against sun (parasol, Sonnenschirm) or rain (parapluie, Regenschirm).

We speculated that the word comes from a long-expired trademark or patent, or perhaps was epoynmous, much as biro comes from its inventor, László Bíró.

Almost anti-climactically, "umbrella" comes from the Latin umbra + a diminutive, ella. The word itself dates back thousands of years, and the concept of the "portable device that creates a shady protected area from the elements" is probably as old as civilization -- a large leaf might qualify as an umbrella.