English
Watergate
From the name of the Watergate Hotel; the complex itself was named after the "Water Gate" area where symphony orchestra concerts were staged on the Potomac River between 1935 and 1965.
A compound of water + gate + hotel
Proto-Indo-European *wed- ‘to well’
Proto-Indo-European *wódr̥ ‘water’
Proto-Germanic *watōr ‘water’
Proto-West Germanic *watar ‘water’
Old English wæter ‘water’
Middle English water ‘water (liquid H₂O)’
English water
Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰed- ‘to defecate’
Proto-Germanic *getaną ‘to find a way’
Proto-Germanic *gatą ‘hole, opening, passage’
Proto-West Germanic *gat ‘hole, opening’
Old English ġeat ‘gate’
Middle English gate ‘an entryway or entrance to a settlement or building’
English gate
Proto-Indo-European *gʰóstipotis ‘lord, master’
Proto-Italic *hostipotis ‘host’
Latin hospes ‘host’
Latin hospitālis ‘of or pertaining to a host or guest’
Old French ostel ‘shelter’
Middle French hostel ‘shelter’
French hôtel ‘mansion, town house, hotel’
English hotel
The story
From the name of the Watergate Hotel; the complex itself was named after the "Water Gate" area where symphony orchestra concerts were staged on the Potomac River between 1935 and 1965.
Today it means
name An American political scandal (beginning with a burglary in the Watergate Hotel in Washington, DC, in 1972) that eventually led to the resignation of US President Richard Nixon.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Watergate