Etymology is the scientific study of the origin and evolution of a word’s meaning across time, language and culture. The word etymology itself derives from Ancient Greek -λογία (-logia) “study of, a speaking of” + ἔτυμον (- etymon) “true sense, original meaning.” E
Etymologies are vastly talked about in popular language media and the term has been tossed about so frequently that it has lost one of its crucial elements: the storytelling. Etymologies are stories of words, and these stories involve people. They are driven by the speakers who used these words, and as such the term “origin story” is far more suitable for analyzing language patterns across time.
One of these patterns is the expansion of the meaning of toponyms: place names. Like Wall Street , angora, tangerine and seltzer – “balaclava” is a toponym that has evolved past its geographic meaning. Originally the name of a small village on the Crimean peninsula, Balaclava came to the attention of the English speaking public during the Crimean war.

A famous battle was fought at Balaclava, which combined with extensive press coverage of the war, brought the word to the minds and ears of English speakers.
The semantic leap from a village to an item of clothing was made through the efforts of the army supply corps to undersupply the soldiers, who had to have hand knit hats sent from home.
Balaclava didn’t come to mean a warm garment worn over the face for a further twenty years or so, and it has been ever since for cold weather enthusiasts and bank robbers across the Anglosphere.
But aside from an exotic sounding word that is easy to pronounce what does balaclava mean? It is Turkic in origin and derives from baliqlaga , meaning fishing grounds, from /balik/ + /lak/ meaning fish place.
Through English the word balaclava has come to be adopted around the world for this type of head wear, but it is far from the only name. In Russian they are called wool masks and in Dutch they are called bivacmuts, from the word “bivouac” meaning a temporary encampment. In Basque they are called “pasomontana”. In Czech they are called “kukla” which means a cocoon. And in San Francisco they are called “shiesties”, but nobody seems sure why!