History Memes

One sort of history I really enjoy is etymology. I am looking up the etymology of words often enough that I should probably create a sort of normal workflow, but I either use a search engine or Wiktionary.

In this case, it's not completely clear where the term "buff" as in muscular came from. It's slang from bodybuilders, so it might be anything, but maybe it comes from buffing objects to make them gleam. And maybe from the fact that they have to be sort of "in the buff" to see all the muscles?

The other definition, enthusiast, has an interesting etymology:

The color term "light brownish-yellow" (by 1788) comes via the hue of buff leather. The old association of "hide" and "skin" led c. 1600 to the sense in in the buff "naked." Buff-colored uniforms of New York City volunteer firefighters since 1820s led to the meaning "enthusiast" (1903).

These men, together with a score or more of young boys who cherish ambitions to be firemen some day, make up the unofficial Fire Department of New York, and any one who imagines they are not a valuable branch of the service need only ask any firemen [sic] what he thinks of the Buffs to find out his mistake. The Buffs are men and boys whose love of fires, fire-fighting and firemen is a predominant characteristic, who simply cannot keep away from fires, no matter at what time of the day or night they occur, or how long they continue.

So, the original buffs, meaning enthusiasts, were fireman buffs... Which is somehow not a common way of putting it in modern times.