abominable [ME] People used to think that abominable came from Latin ab- ‘away from’ and homo ‘human being’, and so literally meant ‘inhuman or beastly’. Consequently, until the 17th century it was frequently spelt abhominable, a spelling found in Shakespeare. In fact, the word comes from Latin abominari, meaning ‘to regard something as a bad omen’, and is related to omen [L16th] and ominous [L16th]. Abominable Snowman is another name for the Himalayan Yeti. The name was brought back by the Royal Geographical Society expedition mounted in 1921 to Mount Everest, which found mysterious footprints in the snow. Abominable Snowman is a translation of Tibetan Meetoh Gangmi, the name the Sherpa porters gave to the animal responsible for the tracks. Yeti is from Tibetan yeh-the ‘little man-like animal’.