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barbican (n.): "outer fortification of a city or castle," mid-13c., from Old French barbacane (12c.), a general Romanic word, perhaps ultimately from Arabic or Persian (compare bab-khanah "gate-house"). Watkins identifies it as from Old Iranian *pari-varaka "protective," from *wor-o-, suffixed variant form of PIE root *wer- (5) "to cover" (see wier).
bivariate (adj.): also bi-variate, "involving two variables," 1906, from bi- + -variate, from Latin variatio (see variation).
ginger (n.): mid-14c., from Old English gingifer, gingiber, from Late Latin gingiber, from Latin zingiberi, from Greek zingiberis, from Prakrit (Middle Indic) singabera, from Sanskrit srngaveram, from srngam "horn" + vera- "body," so called from the shape of its root. But this may be Sanskrit folk etymology, and the word may be from an ancient Dravidian word that also produced the Malayalam name for the spice, inchi-ver, from inchi "root."

The word apparently was readopted in Middle English from Old French gingibre (12c., Modern French gingembre). In reference to coloring, by 1785 of fighting cocks, 1885 of persons (gingery with reference to hair is from 1852). Meaning "spirit, spunk, temper" is from 1843, American English (see gin (v.1)). Ginger-ale is recorded by 1822, the term adopted by manufacturers to distinguish their product from ginger beer (1809), which was sometimes fermented. Ginger-snap as a type of hard cookie flavored with ginger is from 1855, American English.
pile-up (n.): "multi-vehicle crash," 1929, from verbal phrase pile up, which is from 1849 as "accumulate," 1899 as "to wreck in a heap" (see pile (v.)).
semi-: before vowels sem-, word-forming element meaning "half, part, partly; partial, imperfect; twice," from Latin semi- "half," from PIE *semi- "half" (cognates: Sanskrit sami "half," Greek hemi- "half," Old English sam-, Gothic sami- "half").

Old English cognate sam- was used in such compounds as samhal "poor health," literally "half-whole;" samsoden "half-cooked," figuratively "stupid" (compare half-baked); samcucu "half-dead," literally "half-alive;" and the last survivor of the group, sandblind "dim-sighted" (q.v.). Common in Latin (as in semi-gravis "half-drunk," semi-hora "half hour," semi-mortuus "half-dead," semi-nudus "half-naked," semi-vir "half-man, hermaphrodite"). The Latin-derived form in English has been active in forming native words since 15c.
tome (n.): 1510s, "a single volume of a multi-volume work," from Middle French tome (16c.), from Latin tomus "section of a book, tome," from Greek tomos "volume, section of a book," originally "a section, piece cut off," from temnein "to cut," from PIE *tem- "to cut" (cognates: second element in Latin aestimare "to value, appraise," Old Church Slavonic tina "to cleave, split," Middle Irish tamnaim "I cut off," Welsh tam "morsel"). Sense of "a large book" is attested from 1570s.
weir (n.): Old English wer "dam, fence, enclosure," especially one for catching fish (related to werian "dam up"), from Proto-Germanic *wer-jon- (cognates: Old Norse ver, Old Frisian and Middle Dutch were, Dutch weer, Old High German wari, German Wehr "defense, protection," Gothic warjan "to defend, protect"), from PIE *wer- (5) "to cover, shut" (cognates: Sanskrit vatah "enclosure," vrnoti "covers, wraps, shuts;" Lithuanian užveriu "to shut, to close;" Old Persian *pari-varaka "protective;" Latin (op)erire "to cover," (ap)erire "open, uncover" (with ap- "off, away"); Old Church Slavonic vora "sealed, closed," vreti "shut;" Old Irish feronn "field," properly "enclosed land").
widow (n.): Old English widewe, wuduwe, from Proto-Germanic *widuwo (cognates: Old Saxon widowa, Old Frisian widwe, Middle Dutch, Dutch weduwe, Dutch weeuw, Old High German wituwa, German Witwe, Gothic widuwo), from PIE adjective *widhewo (cognates: Sanskrit vidhuh "lonely, solitary," vidhava "widow;" Avestan vithava, Latin vidua, Old Church Slavonic vidova, Russian vdova, Old Irish fedb, Welsh guedeu "widow;" Persian beva, Greek eitheos "unmarried man;" Latin viduus "bereft, void"), from root *weidh- "to separate" (source of second element in Latin di-videre "to divide;" see with).

Extended to "woman separated from or deserted by her husband" from mid-15c. (usually in a combination, such as grass widow). As a prefix to a name, attested from 1570s. Meaning "short line of type" (especially at the top of a column) is 1904 print shop slang. Widow's mite is from Mark xii:43. Widow's peak is from the belief that hair growing to a point on the forehead is an omen of early widowhood, suggestive of the "peak" of a widow's hood. The widow bird (1747) so-called in reference to the long black tail feathers of the males, suggestive of widows' veils.