"Where does the word nutmeg come from?" asks Kevin McDay and others.

In previous Knowledges, we've examined several possible answers, including that nutmeg is 1940s cockney rhyming slang for leg. However, in his superb book Football Talk - The Language And Folklore Of The World's Greatest Game, Peter Seddon points out a far more likely etymology for nutmeg: that it comes from duplicitous practice in the nutmeg trade.

As he points out, the verb nutmegged is listed by the Oxford English Dictionary as "arising in the 1870s which in Victorian slang came to mean 'to be tricked or deceived, especially in a manner which makes the victim look foolish'."

The word arose because of a sharp practice used in nutmeg exports between America and England. "Nutmegs were such a valuable commodity that unscrupulous exporters were wont to pull a fast one by mixing a helping of wooden replicas into the sacks being shipped to England," writes Seddon. "Being nutmegged soon came to imply stupidity on the part of the duped victim and cleverness on the part of the trickster."

Considering that so much of football's language dates from its formative years, that seems a better explanation for the word nutmeg than any we're heard before or since.

It certainly sounds more convincing than Jimmy Hill's claim that nutmeg was coined during the 1940s to describe the skill of placing the ball between an opponent's legs before retrieving it the other side. Or indeed the suggestion made in Alex Leith's book, Over the Moon, Brian: The Language of Football, that nuts - a term commonly used for nutmeg in the north of England - "refers to the testicles of the player through whose legs the ball has been passed and nutmeg is just a development from this."

IT'S ALL GREEK TO ME

"Regarding Italian side Hellas Verona, the word Hellas means Greece. Was the team originally founded by Greeks?" wonders Lazaros Spiropoulous.

You're on the right lines, Lazaros. "In 1903, a group of students from the 'Maffei' grammar school in Verona founded a football club," explains Robert Blyth, a senior researcher at the Universita' di Lecce. "They were aided by some of their teachers, notably the teacher of Greek, one Professor Corrubulo, who suggested the name 'Hellas' for the team." For more information on Verona - and a cracking read, besides - check out Tim Park's excellent A Season With Verona.

FRIENDS REUNITED

"With Liverpool now having 17 (thanks to Michael Owen) ex-players in fellow Premiership squads, has there ever been such a large number from one team now plying their trade for another in the same division?" asks Barry Keats.

While an honourable mention must go to the 21 former Leeds players currently furthering their top-flight careers away from Elland Road, it's Newcastle who can lay claim to the honour.

This season, the Magpies could have an old pals' act bonanza against 22 of their old employees in the Premiership. In alphabetical club order, they are:

Aston Villa - Aaron Hughes, James Milner (loan)

Birmingham - Nicky Butt

Blackburn - Craig Bellamy

Bolton - Gary Speed

Charlton - Darren Ambrose

Everton - Alessandro Pistone, Duncan Ferguson

Fulham - Alain Goma

Liverpool - Dietmar Hamann

Manchester City - Andy Cole, Sylvain Distin, Stuart Pearce (now manager)

Manchester United - Louis Saha

Portsmouth - Andy O'Brien, Andy Griffin, Laurent Robert, Lomana LuaLua

Sunderland - Stephen Caldwell

Tottenham - Jermaine Jenas

West Brom - Steve Watson

West Ham - Shaka Hislop

And breathe.

BIGGEST BETTING COUPS (2)

In last week's Knowledge we mentioned the strange case of Finnish layers Veikkaus, who "saw the 8,787-1 they were offering on Haka Valkeakoski to beat Allianssi Vantaa 8-0 snapped up by an unusually large number of punters - and then winced when it happened on July 7."

We've over-estimated this somewhat, for - as Mika Galkin points out - Veikkas is a betting exchange. "On that particular match, Haka - AC Allianssi, only one euro was placed on 8-0 and 8786 euros was collected by a single punter. For all I know, the biggest bets on this match were made with Asian bookmakers. However, the Finnish Police are still investigating if there is match-fixing involved." For more information, go here.

CAN YOU HELP?

"Can anyone explain the origins of the 'classic' numbering system of the starting players in a game before the introduction of squad numbers? (i.e. Keeper is No1, full backs No2 and No3, central defenders No5 and No6, right midfield No7, central midfield No4 and No8, left midfield No11 and strikers No9 and No10)" asks Dominic Jones.

"Who has won the most caps for England as a substitute?" asks Matt Toulson.

"I was at the Wales v England game the other day and saw Owen 'I'll-play-anywhere' Hargreaves come on for what must be his 189th cap. My question is: what is the total number of caps a player has achieved before reaching 90 minutes for his country? If he plays in five-minute spurts, a player would have to play 18 games before he racked up 90 minutes" - Mark Diggory.

Send your questions and answers to knowledge@theguardian.com.