2273: jewel Mar 7, 2021
The word 'jewel' being associated exclusively with precious stones and other gems only began in the 14th century. The word's origins are not certain, but it is generally associated either with the same root as 'joy', or as 'joke'; either way originally having the meaning of something to cause happiness. Along the first line, the Latin gaudium (joy) is the root of the French 'joie' which these days has a rather carefree and innocent sense, but historically related to physical pleasures and sometimes materialism. Alternatively, this word might be related to the word 'joke', from the Latin 'iocus' which also had a more general sense historically. Either way, the word has surely diverged in its meaning over time.
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.
2266: cutler(y) Feb 28, 2021
The word 'cutler' and by extension 'cutlery' may come from the same root as 'cut', but only very distantly at best. These two terms originate with the Latin 'cultus'—not '*cutlus'—but eventually metathesized into the 'coutel'. The '-erie' suffix is is used in French to mean 'belonging to' such as 'bakery', or 'jewellery'.
2256: Pro-, Far, Portable, and Porous Feb 18, 2021
'Fare', 'far', and 'ferry' are all related to each other and are obviously connected semantically (the sense of 'fare' also as money initially in reference to paying for travel) but the connection spans across many Indo-European languages. For instance, all the words related to 'pro-' and 'fore-' as a prefix, as well as other words like the Latin 'per' (through). Moreover, words like the Latin 'portare' (to carry) and Greek (peran) meaning 'pass through. Indeed, that root would as well connect this to the English 'pour' and by extension 'porous'. There are many more words in this family, but even here it goes to show that there is the possibility for far-reaching roots to develop into nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs and even prefixes at once.
2253: John Doe & Other Stand-In Names Feb 15, 2021
'John Doe' is the name given to men when there is not another name given for whatever reason for law enforcement in the US. More exist in the US for other purposes such as John Q. Public, and of course around the world similar names have been created. In Ancient Rome even the name was 'Numerius Negidius' for the defendant—a play on actual given names that comes to mean "I refuse to pay"—while 'Aulus Agerius', another pun-name from the verb 'agere' meaning 'to set in motion'. In some modern European countries another Latin one is used, but it isn't a pun; Nomen Nescio (n.n.) just means "I do not know the name". In religious Jewish contexts and sometimes secular Israeli ones, the name פלני אלמני (Ploni Almoni) is used as a stand-in, which is originally found in the Book of Ruth probably as a euphemism for Boaz. More on this at another point.
2252: nova Feb 13, 2021
Along with 'novel' and 'novice', the Latin 'novus' (feminine 'nova) meaning 'new' also led to a couple literally stellar words like 'nova' and by extension 'supernova'. This is from the phrase 'stella nova' (new star) because at least in the 16th century, the sudden expanding brightness of a nova was thought to be a new star. These were only distinguished from supernovae in the 1930's which was actually the phenomenon that occurred in the 1572 description that led to the coining of the term.
2247: testis & testifying Feb 8, 2021
There are a lot of etymologies related to genitalia, such as 'avocado', the word 'testis' (of which 'testicle is merely a diminutive) has perhaps a surprising origin. Ultimately it comes from a Latin word meaning 'witness', related to 'testimony; testament' and ultimately the word 'three' from *tréyes (three) as in a third party observer. The witness in this case is as a proof of one's virility. Lest this be considered an isolated example in history, consider also the translation of the Greek synonym derives from a word meaning 'one who is present'.
2243: lobster, locusts, and spider Feb 4, 2021
Although they do have many legs, exoskeletons, antennae etc., lobsters are not insects. That said, there is believed to be a close etymological connection between that word and 'locust' insofar as it is thought to be a corruption of the Latin 'locusta' meaning both things. It also has an Old English suffix '-estre'—as with 'spinster' and 'gangster'—making this originally feminine. Others have connected this with the Old English lobbe/loppe meaning 'spider' along with the same suffix above. It's possible that both explanations are partly true, with the word 'lobbe' influencing by the current -B- in 'lobster' exists.
2235: Etymology for Clocks around the World Jan 27, 2021
The word ‘clock’ is derived from the sense of a bell, but other languages have even stranger origins for their words for ‘clock’ including ‘water thief’. In Old English, the word was dægmæl or literally ‘day measure’, from ‘mæl’ meaning ‘measure’ or ‘mark’ still retained in ‘piecemeal’ and of course the idea of a meal, eaten at regular times throughout the day. The Latin word is ‘horologium’, originally from Greek ὡρολόγιον (hōrológion) meaning ‘hour-count’, but the Greeks themselves used a term κλεψύδρα (klepsydra) literally meaning ‘water-thief’. Today that word refers specifically to an hourglass or water-clock.
2233: fawn & fawn Jan 25, 2021
Little fawns may be cute, but the verb 'fawn' and the noun aren't related. Indeed, the nominal form, such as to denote a young deer is closer related to the word 'fetus' than to the verbal form 'fawn'. While now 'fawn' and 'fetus' look to only share one, initial sound ([f]), looking to the Vulgar Latin *fetonem it should clarify things. This evolved into the Old French 'faon' from the Latin fētus (offspring) understood to come ultimately from a root meaning 'suckle', and referred to any young creature as late as the 17th century. 'Fawn' as a verb on the other hand is closer related to 'fain', originally in the sense of 'rejoice'. Those two words have both shifted meaning somewhat, with 'fawn' coming to mean 'exaggerated flattery; swooning', and 'fain' meaning 'happy, relative to the circumstance'.
2228: scandal & slander Jan 20, 2021
Although the overall meaning has generalized, the word 'scandal' has always been negative, originally from Ancient Greek σκάνδαλον (skándalon) referring to a trap lain for an enemy to fall into. In that sense, it is also related to the Latin 'scandere' (to climb) but it also referred to something that causes a moral fall. In Ecclesiastical Latin 'scandalum' went from meaning something which causes malfeasance to something causing discreditation, though bear in mind this may not have only been cultural but also influenced from words like the Old English 'scand' (disgrace). Moreover, the word 'slander' is related via the Old French 'esclandre' (scandalous statement) with the L added somewhat curiously.
2209: How 'Caramel' and 'Cannon' are Related through a Semitic Root Jan 1, 2021
The word 'caramel' and 'cane' in English may actually be related through a root found in Biblical Hebrew. Indeed, the list of related words would also include 'canal', 'channel', 'cannon', and 'canon'. This is because while the '-mel' of 'caramel' comes from the Latin word for honey (mel), the 'cara-' most like comes from the Ancient Greek κᾰ́ννᾱ (kánnā) from a Semitic root also leading to the Hebrew קנה (kanë) which as a verb means 'to take' but as a noun refers to a hollow tube, usually meaning 'reed' or 'windpipe'. This sense of a hollow stick was retained in the English words mentioned above like 'cannon' or 'cane' (e.g. sugarcane) etc.. 'Canon', a more conceptual sort of thing usually denoting cultural or especially literary and artistic collections might seem odd on that list, but the original sense of 'canon' was 'standard' or 'measured' in the literal sense of a measuring stick. The way this transformed into ‘cara-’ is also not immediately obvious, but in Greek the [r] became an [n] and in Latin this ‘cannamellis’ before morphing into ‘calamellus’, where in Spanish the [l] developed into an [r], which are fairly close sounds.
For more on how those sounds morph: see this on kiSwahili.
2206: nurse & nourish Dec 29, 2020
Nurses today have a wide variety of tasks to accomplish, and while there have always been a number of roles associated with the job, the initial meaning was inextricably linked to children. Indeed, the word is related to 'nourish', both from the Latin 'nutrix' (person who nourishes) from an even earlier term 'nūtriō' (suckle). Contrast this with the chiefly historical terms 'wet nurse' and 'dry nurse', the latter referring to someone who looked after a child but did not breastfeed it, and this will become clear. This word is very distantly related to 'nutrition' as will be explained tomorrow.
ב״ה
2181: Names for Cardinal Directions Dec 4, 2020
At this point the cardinal directions in English—North, East, South, and West—are basically stripped of their original meanings, but unsurprisingly they are related to the Sun. Most directly so is with 'South' thought to come from the Proto-Germanic *sunthaz, understood to mean literally 'sun-side', which being so far north geographically would mean the Sun is usually seen towards the South. 'North' is uncertain, but it either comes from the Proto-Indo-European root *h₁ner- (inner, under) or the *ner- (left, or also 'below) and if the second is true, then it would likely be as a reference to being on the left as the Sun is rising. 'East' and 'West' both come through a different sort of pattern: Roman deities, kind of. While not necessarily directly from these sources, 'east' is related to the Latin 'aura' or Greek αὔρα (auos) meaning 'dawn', and a minor deity. Likewise 'west' is related to the Latin 'vesper', the evening star, and a minor deity.
2169: Squash and Cucumber Nov 22, 2020
The Latin name word for New World squash—genus: Cucurbita—different to Old World version, Lagenaria. The African variety is called so because its primary use was as a flask, like the calabash, and in Latin the word for 'bottle' is 'lagena'. The word 'cucurbita' instead comes from the the same root "cucumis, cucumer-" that gave English 'cucumber'. This root however also led to the Persian ḵarbuz (‘melon’), and the German Kürbis (squash) so it is pretty varied. It may also be related to the Sanskrit चिर्भट (cirbhaṭa) for “long melon" hence the Persian word, and definitely the Latin 'corbis' (basket).
2162: Deponent Verbs Nov 15, 2020
Latin, a language whose grammar is notoriously simple to learn (...) has passive-voice deponents: verbs which are passive in form but active in meaning. For instance, the normal active ending for 1st person singular is -o (present tense) or -āvī (perfect aspect) but these do not exist for verbs like 'loquī' (to speak), 'verērī' (to fear), or 'blandīrī' (to flatter) and so on. In these cases, it would look like:
'loquor' (I speak) or 'hortātus sum' (I have exhorted) which would normally indicate the passive. These verbs have lost their active forms to history, and so given there is only one form, there is no way to use them to indicate the passive; one would need to opt for a synonym. It is not the only one to feature these verbs of course, but the list of these others is not too long either, including North Germanic languages like Danish, Ancient Greek, and Sanskrit.
2159: 'Frau', Meaning 'Lord' (*frawjǭ) Nov 12, 2020
Yesterday’s post discussed the odd pronunciation of ‘women’, but consider that most Germanic languages do not use this word. The German ‘Frau’, Dutch ‘vrouw’, Swedish ‘fru’ and so on all come from the same root *frawjǭ meaning ‘lady’, as in the female form of ‘lord’. More on this word tomorrow. Indeed, this root word referred to nobility but also normal women not unlike ‘lady’ does today. The Old English ‘frōwe’ for instance was connected to the OE ‘frēa’ meaning ‘lord’ or also ‘husband’. It is also related to the Russian пра́вый (právyj) meaning ‘right’ (also connected to words for a judge or a master), related to пра́вда (pravda), as in the infamous newspaper meaning ‘truth’. This Russian word is also related to the Latin ‘prōvincia’ (territory; dominion) and might help to elucidate why the connection to lordship exists.
2152: man Nov 5, 2020
One of the oldest and certainly significant root across all Indo-European languages is 'man'. For sure it has broad-reaching senses that gave us many modern derivatives, but not only is it unclear where it comes from, but also across Germanic languages it pushed out an earlier word 'wer'. One theory on its origin connects it to another root *men- giving 'mind' and more obviously the Latin 'mēns', hence 'mention', 'admonish', 'demonstrate', and 'automatic' through Greek, but other linguists contest this idea. Another theory points to Germanic mythology involving a figure known in Latin as Mannus who was the progenitor of people, known in the language as *Mannaz. Either way, it was used as a generic term for humanity and the pronominal use—still seen in German 'man' for 'one'—before it pushed out 'wer' (hence 'werewolf') as a word for 'man' (as in male) by the 13th century. This process is similar to the generic Latin term 'homo' (hence the French 'homme') pushing out 'vir' for specifically male. In all these words though, it also had the sense of 'husband'.
2150: ser/estar: Why Differ? Nov 3, 2020
The Spanish verb 'ser' is notable for a lot of reason, but both it and its counterpart 'estar'—meaning 'to be'—come from the Latin meaning 'to sit' (sedēre) and 'to stand' (stāre) respectively, which may help to explain why 'ser' is for permanent things, and 'estar' is more often for transient uses. This is not actually so rare to see verb meaning 'sit' or 'stand' used existentially. While in some languages this is standard, even English has the phrase "that sits well with me", though this is obviously not exactly the same. In the case of 'ser', the verb is irregular partly because some forms come from the Latin 'sum', always having meant 'to be', namely present tenses, the imperfect, and the preterite tenses.
2146: país, land, or country Oct 30, 2020
English is a language classes as Germanic, with some 60% overall Latinate vocabulary and yet both often it seems to go its own way. Its grammar is far more analytical than either, but even in the simple things like vocabulary, most Germanic languages use a word like 'Land' for 'country', whereas many Romance languages use a word from the Latin 'pagus' (countryside) like the French 'pays' or Spanish 'país'. The word in English instead comes from a word meaning literally 'lying opposite (i.e. land)', from the Latin "(terra) contrāta".