Impeccable

I saw an egg carton in the supermarket on which was written, “Our eggs are impeccable!”
 
“Ha! Ha!” I thought, “Good one.” And then, “Where does the word impeccable come from?” I was happy to learn that impeccable means incapable of sin. The eggs must be really good ones.
 
One suggestion for the origin of the word impeccable is the Proto-Indo-European (PIE) root ped (foot; from which comes pedicure and pedestrian) and PIE ped-ko (to stumble, impair). Another suggestion is that the word comes from the PIE root pet (to fall) and PIE pet-ko (a fall, an error).
 
In any case, from such PIE origins comes Latin peccare (to sin, to miss, to make a mistake, to transgress, to offend). The Latin prefix in- (not, opposite of) + peccare = Latin impeccabilis (not liable to sin) which in the 15th century came to French as impeccable and, in the 1530s, came unchanged to English as impeccable (not capable of sin). By the 1610s, impeccable also meant faultless.
 
I’m still thinking of those eggs in the supermarket. They must have been perfect.
 
A word related to impeccable is peccadillo (a slight sin, a petty crime or fault) which comes from Latin peccare and Latin peccatum (sin, fault, error), words which are the source of Spanish pecadillo and, by the 1590s, the English word peccadillo.
 
A brief anecdote related to what must be the shortest military report ever: During the 1840s, Britain was expanding its rule over various parts of India which at that time included what is now Pakistan. British authorities were concerned that their armies did not move too fast or too far afield for fear of overextending themselves. For this reason, one of the generals, Sir Charles Napier, was ordered not to occupy the Pakistani province of Sindh. However, Napier, sensing no resistance occupied the province anyway. His report of victory to the authorities was simply “Peccavi”: meaning both “I have Sindh” and “I have sinned”; i.e., “I disobeyed orders.”
 
By the way, I bought the eggs. They make an excellent omelette.
 
Reference: Online Etymological Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com/
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