what's in a word

The word etcetera is one I am fond of.I remember first hearing it as a child when the King of Siam or rather Yul Bryner repeated it endlessly in the movie 'The King & I'.

I particularly like the idea of it's inclusive nature if not entirely specific,it is implied. I hadn't realised that it was common practice for royalty to use this word to effectively save on reciting all their titles and that even Oliver Cromwell had put it on a coin.

I found this out courtesy of Wikipedia which in many ways is a marvelous free resource. 

Now, I just need to check this out to see if it is true :) In any case I like it.