The word filibuster has a colorful etymology. It goes back to a Dutch word, vrijbuiter, which means “plunderer” or “robber,” the source also of the English word freebooter, or “pirate,” and a linguistic relative...
Alex from Los Angeles, California, remembers his Spanish-speaking grandmother using filibustero to mean “ruffian.” The term shares an origin with English filibuster: both trace back to Dutch vrijbuiter, meaning “freebooter,” a pirate who seizes...