1473: interest Dec 24, 2018
Bankers certainly have an interest in interest, but otherwise the two words don’t seem to overlap much, grammatically or in meaning. However, as you might have guessed from this, the two are indeed related, only splitting fairly recently. The word comes from Latin ‘interesse’ but in Old French it gained the meaning of ‘possession or right to something’. This then went on to equate to both financial interest, and then in the 18th century became a associated with wanting to know something. However, in the senses relating to finance and property with this word, it was influenced in the Middle Ages by other words ‘interest’ and ‘interesse’ that had meanings in French and Latin respectively of ‘damage’ and ‘debt defaulting’. Catch up on the newest video here: https://youtu.be/97RX-SwGq5U
1472: A Brief Study of '-(o)logy' Dec 23, 2018
The suffix '-(o)logy' often is used in words to mean 'study of'. Initially most of the elements to which this suffix affixed itself were Greek in origin, but in other, newer words like 'mixology' the stem word is English. However, other words like 'phraseology' does not refer to the study of phrases, and it never did; the suffix also denotes characteristics of speech and language. This is true of words like 'eulogy' and 'trilogy' as well.
Check out the newest video from Word Facts here: https://youtu.be/97RX-SwGq5U
1471: When do Babies First Hear Words Dec 22, 2018
1470: English as a Non-Native Language Dec 21, 2018
1469: Sabertooths and Saberteeth Dec 20, 2018
Even in compounds, words that are formed in an uncommon way, like 'man' to 'men', tend to stay the same, such as in 'postman' to 'postmen'. However, in the case of 'sabertooth', both 'sabertooths' and 'saberteeth' can be there own words and mean different things. The first refers to multiple of the animal and the second is the actual teeth themselves, becasue 'teeth' is the plural of 'tooth', but in 'sabertooth', the pluralization applies to the word as a whole, because of how a noun in a compound can modify the other in multiple ways.
1468: bodega and boutique Dec 18, 2018
No matter where—even across languages—'bodega' doesn't denote something that is necessarily fancy; in The Philippines, it refers to any warehouse, and in the Spanish speaking areas or the US it denotes a grocery store. The root word, from Greek, denoted a storehouse, so this makes sense today, but in French the etymological equivalent is 'boutique', which—denoting a small artisanal shop—is not so different literally but culturally is quite different. Indeed, both come from the Greek for 'apothecary': apothḗkē, which only denoted a place for storage.
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1467: Confusing Scientific Names Dec 17, 2018
Every studied animal, living or extinct, will get a scientific, so at this point there are quite a vast number, and it can be difficult to keep track of this. For instance,the scientific name for the most famous of the saber-toothed cats, 'smilodon' comes from σμίλη (smilē):a scalpel or two-edged knife, and 'οδόντος' (odontús) which means tooth. Originally however, it was slated to be Hyaenodon from 'hyena', but then a whole three years later, the discoverer, Peter Wilhelm Lund had found out that another animal already had this name and so changed it to the one used now.
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1466: california pt 2 Dec 16, 2018
The origin of 'California' is from a book, but for a long time there was a lot of difference in opinion on the matter. Some possibly etymologies popped up that were from many different languages, but one that was particularly arresting and plausible was that the word came from 'caliph', as in the root of 'caliphate'. Nevertheless, even once the novel that inspired the name of California was uncovered, many scholars believed that Ordóñez de Montalvo made up the name 'California'—the name for the fictional utopia—at least inspired by 'caliph'. Ultimately, this will never be known for sure.
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1465: Letter Frequency Dec 15, 2018
The frequency of letters in English starts with E and ends with Q or Z depending upon the count, but when all of these are laid out, the frequency from the most- to least frequent, the chart is logarithmic. This is true, however, of most languages across, regardless of whether or not the spelling is made to match pronunciation to some extent, as with German, and despite writing system. Indeed, this is not just true of alphabets, but even Japanese pictographic characters can be mapped out logarithmically, as shown in the graph below. This is important information for printers, or back in the day, telegraph codes.
1464: okra and Accra Dec 14, 2018
Okra has for a long time been a staple of African American cooking, and its linguistic origin shows this as well. Unlike many other classically American —particularly Southern—foods, okra originates from African tropics. It is believed that the name comes from the word 'nkru'. While this in and of itself it not particularly significant, it shows a similar process that happened to other words like it, such as how the Ghanan city—now capital of Ghana—is natively 'Nkran' but is Anglicized as 'Accra'.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzKhTxYYlal1d1-XhqPh122t6bgaNpI7A
1463: abracadabra Dec 13, 2018
Like any good magician might, the etymology of 'abracadabra' has not revealed itself. There were for a long time a lot of folk etymologies as to where it derived, and in particular that it came from a Semitic root meaning something along the lines of "I create the word", but this has since been many-times debunked. The word is actually from Latin, and was used in incantations starting in the 2nd century, usually for medicinal practices, and likely started from Greek. The word is also found in English later, again to indicate sickness, and only recently did it gain the connotations of any kind of illusion or spell. If you liked this, check out the post about 'hocus-pocus'.
1462: Islamic State vs Islamic Republic Dec 12, 2018
Even though the two may be used somewhat interchangeably in lay conversations, there is an understood difference between an 'Islamic state' and an 'Islamic republic'. The former refers to a country that has Sharia as its constitution in some respect, and includes country like Saudi Arabia. In this way, on a state-level the country is Islamic, and usually this will exclude democratic elections. Meanwhile, an Islamic republic may also involve Islam on a legislative level, but it will also include more elections. Ultimately however, there is a great deal of overlaps, and these are just norms for usage.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzKhTxYYlal1d1-XhqPh122t6bgaNpI7A
1461: Can Language Standardization be Descriptive? Dec 11, 2018
If you saw the most recent Word Facts video, you'll have seen mention of the Dutch Language Union (DLU) or natively Nederlandse Taalunie, which is an organization that standardizes Dutch between Suriname, Belgium, and the Netherlands. However, this should not be conflated completely with something like Académie Française (AF). Even though the DLU and the AF both organizations created to monitor and regulate their respective language, the DLU is far less prescriptive, and mostly tries to maintain a standardization for spelling, as well as descriptively adding new words to the dictionary, instead of attempting to enforce rules onto other people.
1460: proof is in the pudding Dec 10, 2018
The phrase 'the proof is in the pudding' doesn't make a lot of intuitive sense. Even considering how 'proof' has historically meant 'evidence' and that pudding has a variety of meanings, the phrase cannot be understood only semantically because the phrase that is used is not the full phrase. As with "the last straw", only the first half of the phrase "the proof of the pudding...is in the eating" is used. The full phrase has been used in many varieties for nearly 700 years, but has always had the meaning of "the only way to know if something is suitable is to test it".
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1459: X Dec 9, 2018
The letter X is used for many different purposes. It has a long history of use in algebra, as well as for abbreviations for 'christ', talked about more following the link here. There is some discussions as to where X as an abbreviation for kisses came from, but generally it is thought to be from the same root of ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ as the Greek for Christ, which would be written on the end of letters and then kissed to display an oath. The practice has since moved away from its Christian roots, but the letter—and its general symbolism—remains.
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1458: World Record for Vowels Controversy Dec 8, 2018
1457: Cockney Rhyming Slang pt. 2 Dec 7, 2018
Cockney rhyming slang's structure was covered a bit yesterday, but while it might seem pretty silly, this was a widely used system slang for a very long time and into today, and even if you don't use it intentionally, there is a possibility you picked up a few words here and there. For instance, the expression to "blow a raspberry" usually refers to a derisive sound made by vibrating the tongue against the lips, but it comes from the Cockney "raspberry tart" as a slang for "fart". Another example, though a little more regional, is "berk"—also somewhat distasteful— comes from "Berkeley Hunt" which was slang for 'cunt'. Indeed, there are lots of words and phrases that have made their way into common parlance from Cockney that don't necessarily sound so out of place in Standard English or American speech.
Check out the latest video: https://youtu.be/PKXEg15Etk0
1456: Cockney Rhyming Slang pt. 1 Dec 6, 2018
Check out the latest video: https://youtu.be/PKXEg15Etk0
1455: out of sorts Dec 5, 2018
Folk-etymologies often are very convenient logically but cannot be corroborated historically. For instance, the phrase 'out of sorts' is often attributed to typesetting, but this cannot be the case. As the claim goes, the 'sorts' in question relate to individual metal type, called 'sorts', that are then distributed into compartments for each letter. With this then, to be 'out of sorts' was to run out of certain letters, but this doesn't have an immediate connection to emotional states, but more importantly this phrase was found much before printing was around. Instead, many people believe that the phrase comes from the Latin 'sortem' meaning 'condition'.