alliterative

joined 5 years ago
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submitted 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
 

The surprisingly connected origins of "acorn" and "pilgrim".

#etymology #WordNerd #linguistics #HistoricalLinguistics #language #words #lingcomm #acorn #pilgrim #thanksgiving

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submitted 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
 

The surprisingly connected origins of "sue" and "sequel".

#etymology #WordNerd #linguistics #HistoricalLinguistics #language #words #lingcomm #sue #sequel

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submitted 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
 

The surprisingly connected origins of "malice" and "blame".

#etymology #WordNerd #linguistics #HistoricalLinguistics #language #words #lingcomm #malice #blame

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submitted 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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Edge/Ear #etymology (tilvids.com)
submitted 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
 

The surprisingly connected origins of "edge" and "ear".

#etymology #WordNerd #linguistics #HistoricalLinguistics #language #words #lingcomm #edge #ear

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submitted 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
 

Some interesting details about the origins of "raincheck" and "tarpaulin".

(Clipped from this short video from 2015! https://youtu.be/BJPrrQWvfvU )

#baseball #etymology #historicallinguistics #language #lingcomm #linguistics #wordnerd #words

1
submitted 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
 

The surprisingly connected origins of "Trans" "Cis" "Gender" "Through" "Harass" and "Kind".

#pridemonth

#etymology #WordNerd #linguistics #HistoricalLinguistics #language #words #lingcomm #trans #cis #gender #through #thorough #harass #kind

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submitted 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
 

The surprisingly connected origins of "leprechaun" and "lung".

#etymology #WordNerd #linguistics #HistoricalLinguistics #language #words #leprechauns #lung

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submitted 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
 

The surprisingly connected origins of 'short' and 'skirt'.

#etymology

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submitted 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
 

The surprisingly connected etymologies of "Advent" and "diabetes".

#etymology #advent #christmas

 

Some word origins for Labour (or Labor) Day!

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Transcript:

Today in “Surprisingly Connected Etymologies”, we’re going on strike!

Being on strike can produce a certain amount of stress and strain, but even though this goes along with the etymological territory, ultimately it should have a very different effect. Strike used to have an almost opposite sense, “to touch softly, rub” and is related to stroke, with strike, stroke, strain, and stress all going back to the Proto-Indo-European root *streig- “stroke, rub, press”. The more violent sense of “hit hard” didn’t appear until the 13th century, and the labour disruption sense developed in the 18th century, from the notion of downing one’s tools, particularly sailors striking the sails when they didn’t want to leave port.

What does picketing have to do with magpies? A lot it turns out. Picket in the sense of picket lines comes originally from a military formation in which solders were stationed with pikes (a related word). Picket comes into English from French piquet, from Latin picus “woodpecker” and pica “magpie”, ultimately from the Proto-Indo-European root *(s)peik- which referred to the birds as well. The -pie in magpie also comes from this root, and when a person is referred to as a magpie it means they’re a hoarder of things or information, or that they’re a chatterer.

Why do universities need unions? Etymology! It’s probably clear that both words come from Latin unus “one”. A union is a collection of workers. You might have thought that the word university reflects the idea of universal education or the universal coverage of subjects, but in fact it’s short for universitas magistrorum et scholarium, the union of teachers and students. The university started out as a kind of scholastic guild to protect their interests against outside, non-academic forces, reducing the financial barriers to education and protecting the livelihood of the teachers.

What is a labour union to do when their contract has lapsed? Turn to etymology! Labour comes from Latin labor “toil, distress, trouble”. Its deeper etymology is uncertain, but one suggestion is that it’s related to labare “to totter” and/or labi “to slip”, which also gives us the word lapse, and if so this would mean the underlying sense of labour is “to stumble under a burden”. But one thing a labour union won’t do is collapse, literally “to fall together”!

And finally, solidarity will save the day! Solidarity (and solid) come from Latin solidus “solid, whole” which can be traced back to the Proto-Indo-European root *sol- “whole”. This also leads to the Latin word salvus “safe, healthy” which, having passed through Old French, ultimately gives us the words safe and save.

Thanks for watching! This is one in a series of occasional short videos about connected etymologies; to see more, you can also follow the Endless Knot on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.

1
submitted 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
 

Some sets of connected word origins featuring food.

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Show notes & credits: http://www.alliterative.net/show-notes-credits

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Transcript: Today in “Surprisingly Connected Etymologies”, a cornucopia of food-related etymologies!

If you’re ecologically minded, you’ll likely avoid wearing fur and avoid meat products in your food because of all the pasture land it takes to farm animals. Fur comes from Old French forrer “to cover or line with fur” from Proto-Germanic fodram “sheath”, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pa- “protect, feed” (with PIE /p/ becoming Germanic /f/ due to the Grimm’s Law sound change). This root also leads to Proto-Germanic *fod- “food”, Old English foda “food”, and Modern English food. What’s more this root also gives us the word pasture through Old French from Latin pascere “to feed, graze”.

The words canopy and canapé sort of look and sound alike, but what’s the connection? Mosquitoes! Etymologically canopy means mosquito net, coming from Greek konopeion derived from konops “mosquito”. This passed into Latin canopeum which could mean both “mosquito net” and a couch with such a net. And the word canapé? Well it’s the sort of food you’d eat while lounging on such a couch!

Is there minestrone on the menu? There should be, etymologically speaking! Menu is a shortening of the French phrase menu de repas “list of what’s served at a meal”, from Middle French menu “small, detailed” (the “detailed” sense leading to the “list” sense), from Latin minutus “small”, from minus “less”. This Latin word was also combined with a comparative suffix to produce the word minister “inferior, servant” (from which of course we also get English minister). From this noun developed the verb ministrare “to serve, attend, wait upon” which eventually came to mean “to serve or prepare (food)”, eventually leading to minestra “soup” (literally “that which is served”, and minestrone in Italian, borrowed into English to refer to a particular type of Italian vegetable soup.

If you like cocktails, you should be sure to garnish your aperitif. The word garnish comes from Old French garnir “provide, furnish, fortify”, borrowed from Frankish *warnjan from Proto-Germanic *warnon, ultimately from the Proto-Indo-European root *wer- “to cover”. This same root is at the heart of the compound *ap-wer-yo- (with the prefix *ap- “off, away”) and becomes Latin aperire “to open, uncover”, and then French apéritif “laxative, laxative liqueur” literally “opening”, because an aperitif is meant to stimulate the appetite and thus aid the digestion.

And finally, it turns out speaking of digestive juices is etymologically appropriate. The words juice and enzyme are connected by the notion of the “blending or mixing of food”, expressed by the Proto-Indo-European root *yeuə-, which has descendants meaning “soup” such as Sanskrit yua and Old Slavic jucha, and in particular Latin ius which through French gives us juice. This root also produced Greek zume meaning “leaven” (yeast or other rising agent), which gives us the word enzyme.

Thanks for watching! This is one in a series of occasional short videos about connected etymologies; to see more, you can also follow the Endless Knot on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.

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