Sinister means evil. It comes from the Italian word sinistra, meaning left. When children reached for something with their left hand it was hit, as left handedness was considered to be a sign of the devil.
And because heraldic descriptions of shields are always based on the perspective of the shieldbearer, those described as sinister are on the right.
Been listening to an excellent audiobook called the Etymologicon
“A stroll around the English language” with lots of quirky facts about how certain words or phrases came to be.
The metal antimony was used historically as a laxative.
It was re-usable - the same piece was used again and again and passed (excuse the pun) down through the generations…