2648: sondern, sunder, & sine Mar 18, 2022
The German for 'especially' is 'besonders', and more commonly as the preposition meaning 'but rather; except is 'sondern'. The basic root also is used for compound-nouns to mean 'private'. This is related to the English 'sunder' meaning 'to separate' but in Old English the word also meant 'special; particular'. Still, lots of Indo-European languages have words with this root that mean 'only' or 'without' like the Latin 'sine' and all its derivatives like French 'sans' and Portuguese 'sim'.
2647: Nubō as a (Generally) Female Verb Mar 17, 2022
The word 'nuptial' comes from a verb in Latin that denotes wedding but specifically refers to a woman taking a husband. For instance, the each spouse would use different verbs to describe the wedding, such as:
A woman saying "virō nūbō" (I marry a man)
A man would say "dūcō uxōrem" (I marry a woman), though typically 'dūcere' means 'to lead', and 'nubō' can also be related to veiling, as a woman would do at a wedding.
This dichotomy maybe influenced its descendants like 'nubile' to also be specifically feminine.
2646: nuptial Mar 16, 2022
The word nuptial meaning 'of wedding' has a fairly simple etymology, from the Latin 'nuptialis', literally 'of a wedding'. Beyond that, things are more complicated, since it is unclear the exact root, and what it would be related to, though it is probably from the Proto-Indo-European root *sneubh- meaning "to wed". An early theory put this as a cognate with the Latin 'obnubere' (to veil) from 'nubes' (cloud) but this has been rejected. It may also be related to the word 'nymph' (in Greek νύμφη) which means 'bride' or indeed the mythical nymph, but this is also not certain. It is definitely related to 'nubile; nubility', which denotes a marriageable woman.
2641: Derivatives of Latin Plumbum (Lead) Mar 11, 2022
The Latin name for the metal lead is plumbum, hence the symbol on the periodic table of Pb. This word is borrowed from another pre-Indo-European language in the Italian peninsula like Etruscan. It is also where numerous other words and expressions come from in English. For instance, the word 'plummet' as in 'fall straight down', and pipes, even in Ancient Rome were often lead hence 'plummer'. More obviously like 'plumb' meaning 'straight' (e.g. "it hit him plumb in the jab"), or the stance of the batsman's legs in front of the wicket in cricket, since lead at the end of a plumb-line was used to keep a rope taut when held straight up. As a result of the meaning of 'straight', it also means 'truly; plainly' as in "the fish plumb swam away".
2631: Names from (Ancient) Latin Regions Mar 1, 2022
There are lots of sources of names, whether those will be from religion, animals, plants, or just qualities. Place-names as given-names is common now with newer locations, but we have at least two names from pre-Roman Italic tribes that are names still. The feminine 'Sabine' which is very popular especially in Western Europe is the name of a tribe that lived in Latium, north west of Rome. Likewise, 'Lucas; Luke' is commonly misunderstood to come directly from the Latin word for 'light' (lux, lucas), and that is somewhat true but it comes from a word meaning "man from Lucania". That was an Oscan-Samnium tribe, though the meaning of that group's name is probably from light, as is was in the east of the peninsula, though even this is not certain and it is possible the name was for woods, rather than light at all.
2631: Demetrius, Demi, & Demeter Feb 28, 2022
There are a number of names, like Demi, Demitri, or Dimitri to identify a few, all come from the same source. These are all based from the Greek harvest deity Δημήτριος (Dēmḗtrios), latinized Demeterius, but as some of you will notice, this name is masculine. Unlike other names like 'Martin' (from 'Mars'), this is because the name refers to a (male) devotee of Demeter, not naming after Demeter herself. Demi, which is traditionally a feminine name, is from Demetria, the same word but for a female follower of the deity.
2629: obliterate Feb 26, 2022
The English words 'obliterate' and 'literature' come from the same root. Although 'obliterate' is thought of in a generic way meaning 'total destruction', in a more literal sense it means 'blotting out with ink'. It is for this reason that the French 'oblitération' can mean 'stamp; validate a ticket'. Beyond this the word becomes obscured because the history of the Latin 'littera' is not clear.
2619: Greek Name for Mars Feb 15, 2022
English has lots of words with 'pyro-' like 'pyromaniac' from the Greek word for 'fire', but their word for the planet Mars, Pyroeis, which literally 'the fiery' we did not go with. Instead, we took took the Roman name 'Mars', a deity of war, because its red color was associated with blood. The Greek name was for the same reason, though it went in another direction.
2616: Mars & marshal Feb 12, 2022
Most words that English adopted from Latin—which is quite a high number—are either native or originally borrowed from Greek. That said, one overlooked source for the Latin words initially was Etruscan, and many of the Roman's words are from them. In the case of Mars, a deity, this is slightly more complicated as the religious elements were largely Greek but the name was Etruscan, with their Mars being a child-god, not a war-god. It is true 'military' is ultimately Etruscan, but as a result of this, so are other war-inspired words like 'marshal' and 'martial'.
2602: Echo Languages Jan 29, 2022
Latin famously doesn't have a word for 'yes', but this is not unique. Other Goidelic languages don’t have words for either 'yes' or 'no', and just repeat the verb of the question back. This would appear like
"Do you run every day"
"I run" [yes]
These are known as "echo languages". Finnish, and Chinese do this as well, as did Latvian until they got 'ja' from the Germans. Likewise, Romanian had this quality until it got the Slavic affirmative ‘da’. In addition to echoes, Latin would also employ lots of adverbs like 'sic', 'certe' (certainly), 'sane' (healthy), planē (plainly), or for negative responses, 'minime' (least).
2590: vinyl Jan 16, 2022
The material vinyl doesn't have any grape products in it, but it is named for them. The first half of the word is from the Latin 'vinum' (wine) and the ultimate Greek ending '-yl' for υλος (hylos) meaning 'matter', used now for many groups of chemical compounds. The name in particular is from the association with ethyl alcohol, but does not have any particular relation to wine otherwise.
2585: Rhotacism in Latin 'esse' Jan 11, 2022
Rhotacism in Latin, a process in which [s] and [z] in Archaic Latin would develop into [r] in Classical Latin. This was not universal, and some lingering traces existed because of the oppositional phenomenon of zetacism. This led to the Archaic Latin verb 'esō' ('to be') having the 3rd infinitive form of 'esse' in Classical Latin, but the imperfect and future forms of the word all have a root with 'r', such as 3rd person future 'erit'.
2583: Latin -ere Ending Jan 9, 2022
Rhoticism in Archaic Latin did not describe the mere pronunciation of the consonant of [r] in words as that term would be used in English, but rather the process of transforming [s] and [z] into [r]. This didn't happen in every case (1), but perhaps the most notable is in the '-ere' ending, and its derivative forms -āre, -ēre, and -īre. These were originally *-ezi in Proto-Italic, reconstructed as *-esi in Proto-Indo-European.
2579: charm & oscine Jan 5, 2022
One might not think so by looking, but 'charm' and 'oscine' are related to each other. 'Oscine', which means 'related to a songbird', and while he prefix 'os-' is a mutation from 'ob-' (towards), the remaining '-cine/-cen' doesn't look that similar either. Both 'charm' [1] and 'obscen', here in its nominal form, are related to the Latin 'carmen' and come from the verb 'canere' (to sing). In Latin, '-cen' is tacked onto the ends of instruments as well to denote players thereof, such as 'lyricen' (lyrist) or 'tubicen' (tubaist; trumpetist).
2577: charm & charisma Jan 3, 2022
The words 'charm' and 'charisma' are not related, though this fact is often confused in particular because of how they are used for certain Biblical translations as it pertains to the Holy Spirit. 'Charisma' is from the Ancient Greek χᾰ́ρῐσμᾰ (khárisma) for 'grace; gift', ultimately from χαίρω (khaírō) meaning 'I am happy'. 'Charm' on the other hand, both as it relates to magic and to personality types comes from the Latin 'carmen' which meant both 'song' and 'incantation', or as it were 'chant' and 'enchant'. Both terms have been used for translating ideas of speaking in tongues or other trance-like experiences.
2564: Ursula Dec 20, 2021
The name 'Ursula' is from the Latin 'ursa' (meaning 'bear'), with the feminine diminutive suffix '-ula', but that is not the main reason why people would chose to give that name perhaps. The popularity came from a 4th century saint, Saint Ursula. Many fantastic stories exist about her, though the exact historical record on her is not solid. Still, in addition to making famous an old Latin name—especially in non-Romance speaking areas especially in Slavic Eastern Europe—she also inspired the name for the Virgin Islands in the Caribbean, among other places.
2562: cauliflower Dec 18, 2021
Many plants are related to cabbages biologically, but this is also reflected in the name of some foods. 'Cauliflower' for instance is from the dated French 'chou fleuri' meaning literally ‘flowered cabbage’. This on its own is pretty old, but the original English for this developed into 'colieflorie' with the first element influenced by 'cole' (related to 'kale') meaning 'cabbage'. This 'cole/kale' connection is also seen in borrowed from Dutch 'cole' for 'coleslaw'.
2558: paul Dec 14, 2021
The name 'Paul' is found around the New Testament, though it is not from Greek. Indeed, the apostle who bore the name was himself born 'Saul' (שאול) but in Latin 'Paulus', literally 'small', was used to distinguish people with the same name, not so unlike 'junior'. Later, the connotations to 'small' took on the sense of 'humble'. This in turn took on religious connotations, and 'Paul' gained popularity thereafter.
2557: Lunatics Dec 13, 2021
There is a misunderstanding that the word 'lunatic' relates to a medieval or otherwise Christian understanding of witches practicing paganism or sorcery around the moon and its cycles. The word is actually much older and the concept can be seen across the ancient world, even in pagan cultures, as reflected in the etymology. This word is from Latin 'lunaticus' (moon-struck), replacing the Old English 'monseoc' (literally 'moon-sick'). These sorts of concepts of staring at the moon to cause mental diminishment also exist in Jewish scriptural literature—though not with such specific terminology for the people—millenia before the accusations of medieval European opinions.
2554: taut, tie, tough Dec 10, 2021
The word 'taut' (once 'taught') is now only an adjective, but originally it was a participle from Old English 'toen' meaning 'drag; pull'. This would connect it with the word 'tow' which has retained the earlier meaning more than 'taut' has. Furthermore, not only would this give another English connection to 'tie' but also 'tough'. This is from the Proto-Indo-European *dewk-, also the source of the Latin 'dux' meaning 'lead', and this Italian 'duce' (leader).