Surprise, surprise

Of all books on the English language, I find Eric Partridge's etymological dictionary Origins the most fascinating.  This is because he groups together all words that are even remotely connected.  You start, say, by looking up 'syzygy' (don't ask me why, but suppose you do), and he directs you to the word 'join'. Who would ever guess that the two terms have the same origin ?  They haven't a single letter in common .

If, in your surprise, you look for an explanation, it turns put that the '-zygy' element is derived from Greek 'zeug-', and E 'join' (via French 'joindre') from Latin 'jungere';  and both of these from the ancestral Indo-European 'ieug-', which implies binding.  Compare the related 'yoke' (English), 'yoga' (Hindi), 'junta' (Spanish)  -  and of course (ha-ha !) English junction and conjugal (both via Latin), zeugma (via Greek), joust and rejoinder (both via French).

By the way, 'syzygy' is a technical term in Astrology (meaning three celestial bodies in a straight line); Mathematics (a pair of things that are either similar or opposite); Zoology (meaning a suture of two jonts of a crinoid); and Prosody (meaning a combination of two different feet in one measure). Don't forget this: it may come in  useful one day.

Surprise, surprise