2491: republic Oct 7, 2021
There is a prefix 're-' used either for repetition ('reshape'), negation ('react'), or intensity ('resound'), and while 'public' is a word 'republic' fits none of those above categories. This is because it comes from a Latin phrase, effectively a compound from 'rēpūblicā', the ablative form of 'rēspūblica'—the nominative [subject] form—meaning 'matter/thing of the people'. The loss of -S- is because 'rēspūblica' is two words, which are both being declined separately, and the -S- of 'rēs' (thing) doesn't appear in the form borrowed into other languages.
2480: Latin Vowel Length: Different Vowels? Sep 26, 2021
Latin, like many languages but unlike English, distinguished between long- and short-vowels. In some languages, these are merely the same vowels but said for roughly double the amount of time, which affects things like meter and syllable length. In Latin, even with Classical pronunciations, these vowels were qualitatively different. For instance, the letter I would be realized as [iː] (the symbol ː just indicates lengthening) when long like the vowel in 'seat' but long, whereas when short it was realized as [ɪ], like the vowel in 'sit'. Indeed, for all the basic letters vowel AEIOU, only A was qualitatively the same vowel, just lengthened [aː] and [a].
2470: Codex & Affix: Why Different Plurals? Sep 16, 2021
The plural of 'index' is 'indices' and likewise with 'codex' to 'codices', but the plural of 'affix' is 'affixes'. This is not in fact inconsistent, but a result of the way in which English borrows words from Latin. In the case of 'codex', this is a Latin word in the 3rd declension which had a Latin plural of 'codices'. Strictly speaking, the plural is simply '-ēs' but the 'x' is assimilated along with the vowel as seen in the rest of the forms including the genitive singular 'cōdicis'. In the case of 'affix', this is formed from the prefix 'ad-' (toward) and 'fixus', which is the participial form of the verb 'figere' meaning 'to fasten', as in 'join together'. Since English generally does not take the 2nd declension '-us-' ending, 'affixus' (the -d- was assimilated) becomes mere 'affix'.
2468: forest Sep 14, 2021
'Forest' is a word with cognates in both Germanic and Romance languages, but few with meanings like in English. Originally, the phrase was from Late Latin phrase 'forestis silva' (the outside woods) as a term to distinguish the royal forests, also called a 'park' (parcus). The actual Latin word 'silva' was misunderstood and they took 'forestis'. This replaced 'weald' in Old English (related to 'wald' in German), 'scough', originally Old Norse 'skógr', and Middle English 'firth'.
2464: C-K-Q were Redundant, Even in Ancient Times Sep 10, 2021
In English C, K, and Q may seem redundant together, but this is not actually new. Etruscan used C before front vowels, K before the vowel [a], and Q before back vowels. Effectively, this would be as if English used two different letters for the T in 'tail' as compared to 'trail', which also changes due to the linguistic environment. These Etruscan letters were therefore not phonemic—the sounds, if theoretically used in each other's places would not have changed the meaning of any word—and were in that sense basically redundant even back then. In Etruscan this may have been phonologically redundant, but there is a very minor, allophonic change that happens going from [ki] to [ka] to [ku] in where the consonant is pronounced in one's mouth. You can try this out yourself.
In Latin, which inherited these letters but did not distinguish between back and front vowels in its spelling, this redundancy was present, and some writers commented on it at the time even. Eventually C morphed into a fricative before E and I, like how it is found in Spanish or Italian today. This therefore made the letter K relevant to distinguish when one wanted to indicate the [k] sound in any context, but still it was not terribly useful.
2465: lamb & yean Sep 9, 2021
Old English had the word 'ēanian' (now 'yean') for 'to lamb' as a verb, but 'lamb' is an Old English word anyway too. This disparity comes from two different roots, but the verbal form is related to many Romantic or Slavic nouns like the Latin 'agnus' (lamb) or Serbo-Croatian ја̏гње (jȁgnje). 'Lamb' on the other hand is mostly related to modern Germanic cognates, and even the English 'elk'. These both come from different Proto-Indo-European roots that converged into the same meaning, and in some languages one became dominant. By the Middle Ages, 'lamb' won out in English.
2452: New Latin Spellings: Things of the Past Aug 28, 2021
The words 'dinosaur' and 'deinonychus' both come from the same root, with the first element. The first part of 'dinosaur', coined in 1842, is from Ancient Greek δεινός (deinós) meaning 'terrible'. That said, it came to English through New Latin which has a standardized way of transliterating Greek into Latin letters, including going from Greek < ει > to Latin < ī >, and < ός > into < us >. Later, scientists stopped using (New) Latin as much—even though here it may technically be listed as being of New Latin—and even if they would, it was not with any real consistency: 'Utahraptor'. As a result, the word over 120 years later, 'deinonychus', uses <ei>.
2451: Re-Latinization of (Vulgar) Romance Languages Aug 27, 2021
The modern standard Romance languages associated most as descendants of Latin would include French, Spanish, and Italian. Of those, each has varied over time to different degrees, but one of the reasons that Italian has diverged less than French for instance is that there were simply more, usually educated people who over time re-latinized the language. For instance, usually in French the 'al-' becomes [o] and this happens too in Spanish, such as 'alter' (Latin for 'other') becoming 'autre' in French, 'otro' in Spanish, but 'altro' in Italian. Even medieval Spanish is less like Latin in certain phonological ways than today due to similar efforts to transform Castilian in particular which is why some medieval text will use the form 'oto' for the Modern Spanish 'alto', from Latin 'altus' (high) but in French it is still 'haut(e)'.
2450: Hebrew סלמון: Overproduced [l] Sound Aug 26, 2021
The Hebrew סלמון [salmon] is directly taken from the English, including the now-not-silent [l]. What makes this even more remarkable is that there was never a point in English the L was pronounced in 'salmon' and in Middle English the word was 'samoun'; before this the Old English 'leax' (related to ‘lox‘) was used. The L was added in association with the original Latin root, but it's unclear where this comes from. This process of adding traditional but unproductive letters from Latin was pretty common, as in 'indict' or 'island'.
2430: interest Aug 16, 2021
The original sense of the Latin word for 'interest', 'interesse', meant 'to be important'. This sense was not gotten from the Old French 'interest' though, even though this is exactly the same root, because at the point English took from French it meant 'damage; loss', and it was at this point the -t was added to the other English word. The early meaning having a share in ownership. It is not clear how this sense transferred to its current meaning of money to pay back on top of repaying a loan. The financial senses were cemented by the 16th and 17th centuries considering certain connotations, but the emotional sense was a little earlier.
2427: Gaul(e) & Gallia Aug 13, 2021
There are many names of places and people around Europe and Anatolia from the name *walhaz [1] such as in Wallonia, Wallachia, Wales and Cornwall, but even a more quintessentially Celtic name: Gaul. Not only is 'gaul' descended from this root meaning , but also the regions of Spain 'Galicia', Ukraine and Poland's 'Galicia', and Turkey's historical region of 'Galatia'. What is more surprising is that the Latin term for the modern France, 'Gallia', is not related to the French 'Gaule' even though this is often how the region is translated. The French word is from *walhaz, but the Latin 'Gallia' actually morphed through the regular sound shifts into the French 'Jaille' which is found in certain place-names across the country.
2425: Cakes and Existing: wastel, victual, & gâteau Aug 11, 2021
The French cake 'gâteau' and the far more obscure English word 'wastel' also meaning 'cake' both happen then to be from a root meaning 'to be'. This relation between pastries and existing did not originate with desserts, but with the idea of sustenance. It was in this sense of general food that came out of the Proto-Indo-European *wes- (to be). In the interim period as well, the Old English 'wist' (to exist) and Latin 'victus' hence English 'victual' meaning 'food; sustenance' related also to 'vital' show that this process was not taken exactly at the same time around the world.
2423: Is 'Taurus' (Bull) Semitic? Aug 9, 2021
The Latin 'taurus', Greek ταύρος (tauros) and Lithuanian 'tauras' all could come from the Proto-Indo-European PIE *tau-ro- meaning 'bull', but this could actually be Semitic. The Aramaic for 'bull' is תור (tor), in Hebrew שור (shor), and Arabic ثور (thawr) and so on throughout the whole Semitic family. Meanwhile, many Indo-European languages do not have a word descended from this root, such as in many Indo-Iranian languages, or other related languages spoken further the East. Some notably may have exceptions to this, as in Persian or Avestan with a similar word for horses, or Sanskrit sthura- (thick; standing firm) related to the Old English 'steer'. It could be that those missing cases are simply lacking data, or that this is a wanderwort.
2412: Words for 'Green' and Plants Jul 29, 2021
Lots of languages, unsurprisingly perhaps, have words for 'green' that relate to plant growth, particularly of young ones. The Germanic 'green'—also related to 'grow' and 'grass'—which after taking on the meaning of the color eventually led back to meaning 'plant life' in the form of 'greenery'. In Romance languages the Latin 'virere' (to sprout) led to 'viridis' and descendants including the Italian 'verde'. Before this an earlier word for green (galbinus) and yellow (gilvus) developed from the same origin and would have been the same. This pattern holds up in Semitic languages as well such as the Hebrew ירק (vegetable) and ירוק (green), but the same Semitic root led to the Tamazight [wriɣ] meaning 'yellow'.
2406: palace & palatine Jul 23, 2021
The term 'palace' may connote certain specific architectural images, but technically it doesn't have to be any sort of building, so long as the head of state is established there. The term originates with the Latin 'Palatium', the name for the Palatine hill of Rome, which is here the emperor happened to live. This is also where the English name of the German Palatine region (today the state of Rhineland-Palatinate) arose, since this was the title of the ruling family during the days of the Holy Roman Empire. In German those this state is known as Rheinland-Pfalz.
2402: palm Jul 17, 2021
The word for the palm of one's hand and palm of palm trees are from the same root, but while these trees do not grow in Northern Europe, this pattern is common pattern across Germanic languages. The trees are named for the way the fronds fan out like fingers—though notably then these are not finger-trees—but the concept was imported due to Christian biblical imagery. Phrases like 'palm-sunnandæg' in Old English here or also Old Norse existed, but technically this was via Latin 'palma' (palm tree).
2398: pomegranate Jul 13, 2021
Pomegranate is pretty clearly involving the root of the French 'pomme' (Latin 'pomum') meaning 'apple' or more accurately 'fruit' but it is less clear about the second element. Some say this is from the Latin 'granatum' meaning 'seeds' from the root of *gre-no- (grain) but this is not the only theory. Part of the difficulty there is that the word used to be 'poumgarnet' and the '-gra-' came to be through metathesis, so to go on this etymology which does certainly have some historic backing would require two rounds of metathesis on the same term. Still, names including the Latin 'mālum grānātum' (seeded apple) and mālum Punicum (Punic apple) are attested historically, so this may just be so. The scientific name is Punica granatum, in line somewhat with the Roman naming.
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'.
2390: family Jul 4, 2021
Family is not a choice, and neither is slavery. In Latin, 'familia'—the source of many derivatives in languages around the world—most specifically referred to the domestics of one house or estate, and this would include relatives but also servants. An earlier 'famulus' exists as a word for 'servant' or 'slave'. For the sense of family across generations it was more common in fact to use the word 'domus', which has its own very interesting set of derivatives in English. The English word 'family' also referred to the household staff even into the 16th century, though by the 17th the word came to mean 'parents with their children'. This replaced the Old Enlgish 'hiwscipe' which had a similarly broad meaning as well as 'ham' (as in 'hamlet') leading to the word 'home' but originally meaning 'village'.
2384: felon Jun 28, 2021
While no one should want to be called a felon, it used to have certain additional bad connotations in the past. In Old French 'felon' could mean any sort of 'evil-doer' both in a legal sense including treachery or oath-breaking, but also generally being a scoundrel in the traditional sense. One theory as to where it originates beyond that point is with the Frankish '*fillo' meaning 'scourge', or the Latin fel (poison) while others point to the Latin 'fellare' meaning 'to suck'. Beyond this, it is especially unclear if this was of Romantic or Germanic origins.