worldwidewords.org

5YpbD TIL that use of the word "road" for a fixed land route started at the end of the 16th century, with Shakespeare the first known user. Because of that, there are no roads in the "City of London" (London's medieval core): all the ways there had been named before the word came into the English language
JYbD4 TIL that the word 'abracadabra" dates as far back as the 2nd century AD
gM7gA TIL that there is an English word equivalent to the German word: Shadenfreude: Epicaricacy, which means to derive pleasure from another's misfortune.