Emmett Stone 8/5/21 Emmett Stone 8/5/21

2419: Read: Unique Germanic Evolution Aug 5, 2021

English is thought of as being unusually different to its European relatives because of its borrowed (usually Romantic) words, but this is not always why. 'To read' for instance is a Germanic word meaning 'advise; counsel' that developed differently to any other. *rēdaną, also led to the German 'Rat' (council)—also borrowed in some Slavic areas for political divisions—and Dutch 'raden' (to advise; guess), and this root eventually came to mean 'to interpret' in English and then specifically 'to interpret a letter' hence 'reading'. This now exclusive meaning is unique, but it should be noted that the Scots word 'rede' can also mean both 'to advise' but also 'to decipher', also from Middle English.

Emmett Stone 8/3/21 Emmett Stone 8/3/21

2417: Functionality of Ge- in German Aug 3, 2021

Like German, Old English frequently used the prefix 'ge-' for a variety of purposes. Indeed, while most Germanic language use this—a feature lost in Modern English—it wasn't used in all the same ways. While both Old English and Modern German use this for participles and to indicate association like the modern 'co(m)-' prefix derived from Latin, in Old English this was also used as an intensifier, especially indicating a completed action of a verb. The prefix could also be used to form nouns and verbs indicating a result.

Emmett Stone 7/28/21 Emmett Stone 7/28/21

2411: Language-Specific Names for Germany Jul 28, 2021

There are a number of etymologically distinct names for Germany around the world—far more than other countries—that are shared by at least a few languages, but others too went another way. Particularly North American native tribes made these names, like Lakota's Iyášiča Makȟóčhe (Bad Speaker Land), Navajo's Béésh Bich’ahii Bikéyah (Metal Cap-wearer Land); Cree has two different names both meaning roughly the same as those. Other languages like Sorbian, Silesian, and Medieval Greek took their names from different Germanic states, not so dissimilar to the practice of ancient languages taking their names from tribes. Kinyarwanda, the language of Rwanda, uses 'Ubudage' or just 'dage' thought to derive from the 'guten Tag' greeting during the days of the German colonial presence. Old Norse used the term 'Suðrvegr' literally 'South Way', which is effectively opposite to 'Norway' (Norþweg). Medieval Hebrew went another way and used the biblical name אשכנז‎ (Ashkenaz), thought to be the ancestor of the Germans.

Emmett Stone 7/27/21 Emmett Stone 7/27/21

2410: Standard Etymologies for Germany Around the World Jul 27, 2021

Around the world, there are roughly 7 etymologies for the country of Germany where various languages derive their exonyms, along with a few exceptional cases. Those would be:

•From Latin 'Germania' as seen in English and Russian

•From 'Alamanni' tribe as in French (Allemagne) and Arabic

•From Germanic ‘Diutisc’ as in German (Deutschland) or Chinese

•From the Saxon tribe, as in Finnish (Saksa) and Romani.

•From Slavic němьcь as in Polish (Niemcy) and Hungarian

•From Prussia, as in Tahitian (Purutia) or Silesian

•A root found in Baltic states without clear origin, like Lithuanian (Vokietija) or Latvian (Vācija)

Some of these roots have applied to different Germanic states too, like Austria or the Holy Roman Empire in various languages. Notably this list means the term used in Romantic French and Spanish is Germanic, and the term used in Germanic English is Romance based. More on the exceptional cases next.

Emmett Stone 7/26/21 Emmett Stone 7/26/21

2409: Functionality of Ge- in German Jul 26, 2021

The prefix 'ge-' in German has a wide variety of meaningful, grammatical functions, though this is on the decline in some. One use is to form collectives, such as 'Gebirge' (mountain range) from 'Berg' (mountain), ‎'Gewässer' (body of water) from 'Wasser' (water). It is also used for nouns from verbs to express frequency and repetition, like '‎Gerede' (chatter) from '‎reden' (talk). It is used quite commonly and fairly ubiquitously for forming past participles from verbs, especially with '-en' or '-et' suffixes, though this last point is contentious about how distinct 'ge-' is if would require these suffixes. Aside from these, it is also used to express the terminitive case in certain regional dialects—e.g. 'geleiten' (escort) from 'leiten' (lead)—along with referential nouns formed from verbs—‎'‎Gelege' (clutch of eggs) from 'legen' (lay). Finally, it is used to indicate union, like the Latin-based 'co-and 'com-' do in English and indeed certain German loan-words.

Emmett Stone 7/19/21 Emmett Stone 7/19/21

2404: @ in Hebrew and German Jul 19, 2021

The modern Hebrew word for the @ symbol is שטרודל (strudel), as in the German dessert. This is coincidental that both the pastry and the symbol are from the same name, but in German, and also Yiddish whence the Hebrew derives, this literally means 'whirlpool' and is supposed to be reminiscent of something twisting and spinning. In German, the word for the @ symbol is 'der Klammeraffe' which means 'spider monkey', though 'Klammer' on its own does not mean 'spider' but rather 'bracket'.

Emmett Stone 7/8/21 Emmett Stone 7/8/21

2393: whale Jul 8, 2021

The word 'whale' has its origins even in idioms and phrases of Old English, the concept used to be more generic. First off, the Old English could refer to a walrus, which is a compound once meaning 'whale-horse' in Dutch, or 'horschwæl' in Old English. This word was also part of many kennings like 'hron-rād' ('whale-road'). Likewise, this root historically just referred to any large sea-animal, such as the Latin 'squalus' denoting anything big in the sea. Indeed this idea carried on into modern phrases like 'whale of a time' which just means 'big; grand'.

Emmett Stone 7/6/21 Emmett Stone 7/6/21

2391: ululate, howl, & owl Jul 6, 2021

There are umpteen synonyms out there with formal-informal distinctions, like the words 'ask' and 'question' or even 'interrogate', but in the case of 'howling' and 'ululation', these are distant cognates. Both of these are traced back to the Proto-Indo-European *u(wa)l- meaning and leading to 'wail'. Plenty of words come from this, including 'owl', so called for the screeches it makes. Indeed, a number of languages around Europe have this same pattern of owls and howling being connected etymologically, though of course there are many birds named for their sounds, most obviously perhaps being the cuckoo.

Emmett Stone 6/3/21 Emmett Stone 6/3/21

2359: fellow Jun 3, 2021

The word 'fellow' has both casual and general connotations as would 'guy' but can also convey some level of union and equality, not to mention its use for academia and professional endeavors. It is from the original notion of a peer in a union that the other meanings arise. In fact, the original meaning was of a partnership but specifically one of joint properties from the Germanic word 'félag’ via Old Norse. This itself is from 'fé' (livestock) and 'lag' (cohabitation; guild) and these roots also led to 'fee' and 'law' eventually, the latter initially just the plural form of 'lag'.

Emmett Stone 5/6/21 Emmett Stone 5/6/21

2331: narwhal May 6, 2021

The word 'narwhal' unsurprisingly has the root of 'whale', but the spelling comes from Old Norse. The name really originates with the Old Norse 'náhvalr' which likely metathesized from 'nár' meaning 'corpse' in reference to its white-gray skin. This root 'nár' is related to the English 'need' which connotes lacking, and historically meant a severe shortage or extreme poverty. This is related to Old English 'ne; neo' and the Old Irish 'naunae' (famine).

Emmett Stone 5/1/21 Emmett Stone 5/1/21

2326: gymnasium #2 May 1, 2021

The word 'gymnasium' in English is usually refers to a place where exercise is done, and in German it is the name for a type of a lower school usually at a high academic standard, but in Greek γυμνός (gumnós) means 'naked'. Indeed this word belongs to a larger family of European words descended from the Proto-Indo-European root *nogw- meaning 'naked'. In Ancient Greece, it was a standard community feature to have an open-air area for sports, all done in the nude, but eventually this developed into a place of training the body and even the mind, hence the English and German senses.

Emmett Stone 4/21/21 Emmett Stone 4/21/21

2317: walnut Apr 21, 2021

Walnuts originate from Persia, but they are named for Wales, sort of. 'Walnut', or 'wealhhnutu' in Old English literally meant 'foreign nut'. This is from the Germanic root *walhaz, whose meaning developed in many ways including 'Roman; Romantic' (hence 'Walloon'), 'Celtic' (hence 'Wales'), or just generally 'foreign'. This is also seen in 'Welsh onions' which are Japanese, and in many other Germanic languages.

Emmett Stone 4/19/21 Emmett Stone 4/19/21

2315: Italy, Włochy, and Olaszország—How Are These Related? Apr 19, 2021

Many names for Italy follow a similar format: Italien, Italia etc. Some clear exceptions to this exist however in the Polish Włochy and Hungarian Olaszország. In the case of Polish, this word actually has an old Germanic root, despite Germanic languages by and large not using this anymore for 'Italy' from *walhaz meaning 'Roman; Romance', and having the same root as 'Wales' and 'Wallonia'. Similarly, 'Olaszország' is also ultimately of this same proto-Germanic, and proto-Slavic root, possibly related to the Latin 'Volcae', the name of a Celtic tribe. At any rate, only the first half of this comes from the 'Vlasi' root, and the rest is a suffix, as can be seen in Hungarian's related word 'Oláh' for a Romanian.

Emmett Stone 4/17/21 Emmett Stone 4/17/21

2314: Cat=Dog, Lamb, and Goat?—Wanderwort Apr 17, 2021

The word for 'dog' in Latin is 'canis' (hence English's 'canine') but the word for 'puppy' is 'catulus'. This also led to its own derivative word in English: 'cat'. This gets stranger however, with more distant relation to the Russian око́т (okót) meaning 'lamb', and Old Irish 'cadla' for 'goat'. Others go on still to connect this to the Arabic قِطّ‎ (qiṭṭ) (i.e. 'cat) and other Semitic words to classify this root as a wanderwort across Indo-European, Uralic, and Semitic languages without one clear origin. The original idea seems to involve however young, often small animals, or sometimes more generally animal fertility.

Emmett Stone 4/10/21 Emmett Stone 4/10/21

2307: druid Apr 10, 2021

Before the word 'magician' there was 'druid'. More accurately, there was the Old English 'dry', which later became 'druid'. Oddly, while 'magician' is ultimately of a Germanic root, 'druid' comes from a Celtic root as a name for the priest of Gaul, the Brittons, and Ireland. Still, the word did not come to English via contact with Celtics, but rather first through Latin. The root is ultimately from '*dru-wid-' meaning effectively 'strong seeing', but actually the root of the first element, '*deru-' means 'tree' or partially 'oak' and *weid- meaning 'to see', probably relating to auguring with plants like mistletoe which grow on those trees. Moreover, the early Germanic settlers to the British Isles had the same word for 'tree' as 'truth': treow. This was eventually replaced in English and now has a mostly historical and cult meaning.

Emmett Stone 3/15/21 Emmett Stone 3/15/21

2280: wrong, wrangle, worry and wring Mar 14, 2021

The suffix -le can signal diminutives but also it is retained as a historic suffix to mark the frequentative form which once expressed repeated action over multiple instances. This is the case in 'wrangle' for instance which comes from Low German 'wrangeln' (to wrangle) but from the root 'wrangen' (to strangle). This led to the split in the English 'wrangle' and 'wring' which likewise lost the W in the German 'rangeln' (wrestle), and related to the Dutch 'vringle' (twist). The sense of twisting of truth also elucidates the connection there with 'wrong'—this being a common Germanic root each time eventually gaining the same moral connotations—and 'worry', which originally meant 'choke'.

Emmett Stone 3/6/21 Emmett Stone 3/6/21

2272: Intro to Hunsurik: Brazil's Own German Mar 6, 2021

The language of Hunsurik, a German language spoken in Brazil, in many ways mirrored the historical process seen in the development of German in the 18th and 19th centuries. In those times, there was no standard German, neither in spelling nor in dialect. Eventually in the early 19th century this started to take place in Germany along with the unification of the country around what is now the standard, but with mass immigration to the Americas, German use in Brazil instead involved the Hunsrück dialect in part due to numerical superiority among the German immigrants. The spelling as well does not resemble that of Standard German, resembling certain aspects of Dutch and Portuguese orthography, but despite having around 3 million speakers and a number of school its writing is not standardized or even completely codified.

Emmett Stone 3/5/21 Emmett Stone 3/5/21

2271: Zwei...Zwene, & Zwo? Mar 5, 2021

The German word for 2, 'zwei' is not declined like a regular adjective in German. Historically, all three grammatical genders were used, including 'zwene' or 'zween' for the masculine which has entirely dropped out, and the feminine 'zwo' which is a variant sometimes used for clarity with 'drei' (three), such as in military radio transmissions. This loss of gender in cardinal numbers is not universal in German with 'eins' (one) declined normally; moreover, Luxembourgish and certain Swiss German dialects still feature variants like 'zwou' and 'zwéin' [Luxembourgish]. It does elucidate the connection to the English 'twain'—also historically the masculine form of 'twā' [feminine]—but in the case of 'twain' this was later used more broadly before certain types of words such as nouns as to disambiguate between it and 'to' or 'too', thus outlasting the general breakdown of English's grammatical gender.

Emmett Stone 3/2/21 Emmett Stone 3/2/21

2268: doubt and 2 Mar 2, 2021

Though it may not be too surprising that the word for ‘doubt’ is also related to words for ‘two’ including ‘duo’ and indeed ‘two, but keep in mind this replaced an earlier word with the same quality: Old English ‘twēo’ (doubt) from the same root as ‘two’. Likewise, the German word for doubt is ‘Zweifel’ which clearly has the root ‘zwei’ (two) in it. Moreover, the Latin root ‘dubitāre’, which led to the current English word is thought to come from habeō (I have), combined with the Proto-Indo-European *dwóh₁ “two” as in ‘holding two’ making the word seemingly even more literal, but actually the sense in Latin would be closer to ‘hesitate’.

Notably, the word ‘doubt’ in Middle English was not spelt with a B, but this was added later to correspond with the Latin root even though the Old French root, and the modern French derivative ‘douter’ (to doubt) aren’t spelt that way.

Emmett Stone 2/9/21 Emmett Stone 2/9/21

2248: scythe & sickle Feb 9, 2021

'Scythe' and 'sickle' are related semantically, but the etymological connection more distant than one might expect. The word 'sickle' in Old English was 'sicol' or 'siċel' while 'scythe' from the Old English 'sīþe; sīðe', though granted both are thought to come from the Proto-Indo-European '*sek-' meaning 'cut', and which would also relate both of these word to 'saw' (as in the tool). Indeed, the fact these are two separate words is not exclusive to English among Germanic languages, but many make no distinction. The -c- of 'scythe' came in with a perceived connection to 'scissor', but these words aren't related.