2622: Alkaline & Basic: Why 2 Words Feb 19, 2022
Something that is an alkaline is described as being basic, but this is a totally different root. The reason that a substance's alkalinity is denoted as basic is because 'basic' is the more generic term; all alkalis are basic but not all bases are alkaline. A base will always neutralize an acid creating a salt and water but only alkalis, alkali metal hydroxide specifically, will dissolve in water. Though 'alkali' is only a specific term, originating from Arabic meaning 'the ashes' some of the meanings of 'base' have overlapped with it.
2568: Much vs. Mucho Dec 24, 2021
Despite the obvious similarities in form and meaning, it would be wrong to assume that 'much' and the Spanish 'mucho' are unrelated. 'Mucho' is from the Latin 'multus' and while at first glance it might not seem so close, the Portuguese cognate 'muito' provides some context. The English 'much' on the other hand is from the Germanic *mikilaz (great; much), like the Old English 'michel'. The Middle English 'muchel' retained the [l] but this was eventually lost. It is related to the Spanish 'maño', no longer in use, meaning 'big'.
2378: Bill vs Beak Jun 22, 2021
Birds have beaks, but some beaks are bills, and while the term 'bill' is now the more restricted term of those two, historically it was the general term with 'beak' only referring to the sharpened bills of birds of prey. In part from that historical confusion, and simply the breadth of variety in which these of rostra are found, there is not much of a practical distinction, and while some are conventional such as ducks having bills and hawks having beaks, other birds may be found described with either nearly synonymously or as a subjective judgment on the shape of the rostrum.
2349: Aluminum vs. Aluminium May 24, 2021
It's well known that the North American spelling and pronunciation of 'aluminum' differs from that of Britain's 'aluminium', but whether to use -i- or not may not really be the most interesting part of this spelling: it was originally just 'alumium' with no -n-. This is because the word is from Latin 'alumen', a name not for the metal but for the chemical compound known in English as 'alum' (not directly etymologically related) and into the 19th century it was the English, not Latin, where the name was taken from for a resultant 'alumium'.
The difference between the North American and British spellings came after the name was changed to keep with the convention of using Latin roots. For some time the -um and -ium were used interchangeably even by the same individuals, but the British scientific opinion was that it didn't appear to sound as classical, but in America -ium was at first actually more popular anyway. Both of these terms had variant levels of popularities in the respective regions but the current situation was more or less established by the turn of the 20th century.
2347: philanthropy vs. philandery May 22, 2021
Both 'philanthropy' and 'philandery' are doublets, coming from the very same Greek root of φίλ- (phil-) for 'love (of)' and while the latter halves may differ, the Greek ἄνθρωπος (anthropos) and ἀνήρ (andros) are understood to be variants cases of the word meaning 'man'. These had fairly similar meanings—certainly compared to today—in the past, but starting in the 18th century the term (or really name) was used for a lover in drama, poetry etc. with the word eventually meaning basically 'a flirt'. In the 20th century, the word gained even more serious way denoting a man with more serious romantic involvement with women than just flirting, with ''philanthropy' retaining its sense of 'charity'.
2183: Unrelated: improve vs. disprove Dec 6, 2020
Although broadly it could be said that 'improve' means to strengthen something while 'disprove' means to weak it, but the two words are not related, despite the apparent similar root. 'Improve' comes from the Latin 'prode' (advantageous) and is closer related to 'proud'—more on that tomorrow— and meant 'cause to profit', whereas 'disprove' is from the Old French 'prover' as in 'to test'. The spellings and pronunciation of 'improve' was however influenced by 'disprove' since before the 17th century it was uncommon to see it spelled with a -v-: rather it might be 'improu'. Indeed, its more general meaning did not come about until recently either, initially referring only to making something profitable as in "improving land" i.e. by clearing it for farming.
2148: 'merely vs. 'only' Nov 1, 2020
The difference between 'mere' and 'only' is qualitative, with both referring solely to what is specified, but 'mere' exerts a judgement that it can be no better than that, at best. In the past however, it referred to purity, coming from the Latin 'merus' meaning ‘undiluted’. The sense of lacking contamination has technically remained, though these days people would likely opt for 'exclusively' in order to convey (merely) high quality, which is no longer possible with 'mere'.
2128: dope vs. dopamine Oct 12, 2020
While dope (as in drugs, particularly heroine) causes someone to have a chemical reaction with a rush dopamine, these words are not related however. 'Dope' originally meant 'thick sauce' and as such refers to things that make one slow, or just a slow person or especially a horse. Dopamine on the other hand comes as a combination 'dopa' and 'amine' (a type of chemical compound), with 'dopa' originating as a abbreviation (from the German) for dihydroxyphenylalanine, which by the way has nothing to do with thick sauces.
2127: Empathetic vs. Empathic Oct 11, 2020
There are two variants, 'empathetic' and 'empathic' which people use for more or less the same purpose. There are some regional differences certainly, but the more commonly used and the more generally accepted is 'empathic'. Due to the relation with 'sympathetic' however, there has been a gradual rise also of the word 'empathetic', especially in less formal contexts, which would follow a similar pattern ostensibly.
2126: Chai vs. Tea Oct 10, 2020
Around the world, lots of languages use a world like 'tea' and many others use 'chai' to describe the same thing; English uses both words but to describe the different preparation of the same plant-leaves. The word 'chai' comes to English via Arabic or Russian, ultimately from Mandarin ch'a, which also led to the now rare 'cha' or 'char' used in the 16th century. The word 'tea' came in the 17th century as a later variant (pronounced [tei] like 'pay') and also comes from this Chinese root, but through the Malay 'teh' (via the Dutch who held colonies there). The words in language like German, French, Dutch and so on that have the T come from this root, and the others like Greek, Farsi, Russian, and Arabic take the more direct Chinese root.
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2123: mosaic vs. Mosaic Oct 7, 2020
'Mosaic' (or to disambiguate, 'mosaic') and 'Mosaic' are two different words basically spelt the same, but from two very religious roots. The former, used to describe a mural of tiles, comes from the Greek Μοῦσαι (Moũsai) meaning 'Muse' whereas the latter is an adjective meaning 'of Moses'; the words became pronounced the same in French, 'mosaïque' for both, but the Latin roots reflected the difference.
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2116: Fluids vs. Liquids Sep 30, 2020
When people say during the summer to take a lot of fluids, there's a good chance this relates to hydration. This isn't a problem per se, because liquids are fluids, but the two are not directly synonymous. Fluids can denote anything which doesn't hold its shape and does not resist external pressure, which also includes gasses but not some pastes or really thick syrups for instance. In general use, it will most likely be understood to mean just the thinner liquids.
2057: Hurricanes vs. Typhoons Aug 2, 2020
Basically, a hurricane and a typhoon are the same thing insofar as they are tropical storms. The main difference really is where they originate, with hurricanes coming from the Atlantic and particularly the Caribbean, and typhoons originating in the Indian or Pacific Ocean; based on the respective colonial history, the former is more American (and Spanish) and the latter is more British. That said, if such a tropical storm hit Guam and then Hong Kong, it would not be referred to locally as a hurricane first, but a typhoon for both because it is in the Pacific.
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2022: genie: Disney vs. Arabian Mythology Jun 28, 2020
People might be familiar with the idea of a genies who live in lamps and grant three wishes, and while that is true in certain Arabian folklore, the sources for that are very mixed. In one sense, this draws from the Latin 'genius' used for French translations of "The Arabian Nights' Entertainments" which is a term for a sort of guardian spirit. Now of course 'genius' shifted along the lines of 'a person who can influence others' and hence 'a powerful/creative person'. Really though, this concept is adapted from the pre-Islamic Arabian demons called 'jinni' (singular) who could take human forms, and were adopted into Islam during the period of expansion.
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2002: Pluralization of Hair: English vs. German Jun 8, 2020
Although we may think of grammar as being strictly linguistic, but there are a few things that are cultural. For instance, when referring to a collective head of hair in English, one would use the singular with no article: "she has purple hair"; in German however, it is usual to use the plural "Sie hat lila Haare" (lit. "she has purple hairs"). Of course, in general, this is how one would use the plural in English, e.g. "he has purple dogs/clothes/pens".
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1930: virtual vs. virtuous Mar 28, 2020
Computers and the Internet have created a new sort of necessity for the word 'virtual', but its definition as "like something in essence but not actually" has been around since the 15th century or so. However, the word is a doublet with 'virtuous' which clearly has a very different meaning. Both of these come from the Latin 'virtus' meaning 'excellency; efficacy' or literally 'manliness' (i.e. also like a person) which lead to the split for 'virtue'.
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1927: curry: English vs. Indian Mar 25, 2020
While people might think of curries today as being Indian, the oldest England language cookery book is titled "The Forme of Cury" (1390). These two things have nothing to do with each other culinarily. It was written by the the master-cook to king Richard II, and it takes the word 'curry' from the French 'cuire' meaning 'to cook'. Other cookery books had been written at this time and before, but always in Latin or French in that part of the world. Indian 'curry' comes from the Tamil 'kāri' meaning 'sauce' or also 'morsel'.
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1802: wizard vs. dullard Nov 20, 2019
'Wizard' and 'dullard' today mean very different things, one of which is magical and the other is simply pejorative, but they come from same template. Indeed, the '-ard' suffix is simply to nominalize an adjective. In the case of 'dullard', this is easily parsed meaning 'dull person', but 'wizard' parses as 'wiz' originating as 'wise'. The early meaning of this word was a sagely, non-magical person. There will be more on this tomorrow.
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1793: 4th Estate vs. 4th Power Nov 11, 2019
People often use the term '4th estate' to refer to the press, but none of the other 3 estates exist really. It comes from the pre-republican European estates of realm, which is another way of saying the clergy, the nobility, and the commoners together, with those making up the 3 estates. Later, '4th estate' merged conceptually with '4th power'—also denoting the press—but with the other 3 powers this time referring to the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of government, which may be why people still use '4th estate'.
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1731: C vs. K (& Q vs. G) Sep 10, 2019
In very old Latin writings, C, K, and Q were all used to represent the sounds /k/ and /g/, those two not yet distinguished in writing. This is mostly the same as in English now, and similarly certain variants were prefered in certain contexts, such as Q before a rounded vowel (hence Qu-). C eventually replaced K in most words, one exception being 'Kalend' (calend), and G was invented off of C—that's why they look so similar—and in places where the Latin alphabet was adopted, like Roman England or places where the Romance languages are spoken today. Elsewhere, like in Germanic areas or Eastern Europe, this was not so, and they kept K. This was influenced also by runic letters, but only so far.
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