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Embarrassment
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==Etymology== The first known written occurrence of ''embarrass'' in English was in 1664 by [[Samuel Pepys]] in his diary. The word derives from the French word ''embarrasser'', "to block" or "obstruct",<ref>{{cite book |title=embarrass |publisher=The Oxford English Dictionary |year= 1989 |url=http://dictionary.oed.com |access-date= February 15, 2006}}</ref> whose first recorded usage was by [[Michel de Montaigne]] in 1580. The French word was derived from the Spanish ''embarazar'', whose first recorded usage was in 1460 in ''Cancionero de Stúñiga'' (Songbook of Stúñiga) by [[Álvaro de Luna]].<ref name=Corominas>Joan Corominas and José Pacual, "embarazar", ''Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico,'' (Gredos, 1980) Vol. II, p. 555-556.</ref> The Spanish word comes from the [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]] ''embaraçar'', which is a combination of the [[Prefix (linguistics)|prefix]] ''em-'' (from Latin ''im-'' for "in-") with ''baraço'' or ''baraça'', "a noose" or "rope".<ref>{{cite book |title=embarrass |publisher= Webster's Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged |year=2002 |url=http://unabridged.merriam-webster.com |access-date= February 15, 2006}}</ref> ''Baraça'' originated before the Romans began their conquest of the [[Iberian Peninsula]] in 218 BC.<ref name=Corominas/> Thus, ''baraça'' could be related to the [[Celtic languages|Celtic]] word ''barr'', "tuft". (Celtic people actually settled much of Spain and Portugal beginning in the 8th century BC)<ref>{{cite book |title=Iberian |publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9041884 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060830022330/https://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9041884 |url-status=dead |archive-date=August 30, 2006 |access-date=February 15, 2006 }}</ref> However, it certainly is not directly derived from it, as the substitution of ''r'' for ''rr'' in [[Iberian Romance languages|Ibero-Romantic]] languages was not a known occurrence. The [[Spanish language|Spanish]] word may come from the Italian ''imbarazzare'', from ''imbarazzo'', "obstacle" or "obstruction". That word came from ''imbarrare'', "to block" or "bar", which is a combination of ''in-'', "in" with ''barra'', "bar" (from the [[Vulgar Latin]] ''barra'', which is of unknown origin).<ref name=Corominas/> The problem with this theory is that the first known usage of the word in Italian was by [[Bernardo Davanzati]] (1529–1606), long after the word had entered Spanish.<ref>{{cite book | title=embarrass | publisher=The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language | year=2000 | url=http://www.bartleby.com/61/12/E0101200.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010411045201/http://www.bartleby.com/61/12/E0101200.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=April 11, 2001 | access-date=February 15, 2006 }}</ref>
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