1693: Paper Making and 'watermarks' Aug 3, 2019

In Western Europe from the 12th-19th centuries (esp. the 14th-18th centuries) so-called 'laid paper' was the dominant form of paper-making. While most paper made today does not have this style, there are subtle traces in the language. Laid paper is made by placing a wired sieve in water mixed with linen-pulp, and then leaving it to dry. This would leave small lines across the paper that were thinner where the pulp fell on the sieve. Paper manufacturers would also put symbols on these sieves as a sort of stamp, and this mark was called a 'watermark' as it was made from the water evaporating off while the paper dried over it. The term is now used for other symbols used for protecting copyrights.

For another example of paper-making's effect on language, click here: 'Stationary' and 'Stationery'

1692: Ruthenian and Rusyn Aug 2, 2019

There were more Ruthenians in Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth than Lithuanians, as mentioned yesterday, but since no one speaks it anymore, it is natural to wonder where they all went. The truth is that they didn't go anywhere, more than normal anyhow, but that the language split into several different ones, namely Belarusian, Ukrainian, and controversially, Rusyn. Rusyn, spoken mostly in Slovakia, Serbia, and Poland is the most similar to Ruthenian (occasionally Rusyn is called 'Ruthene') but while those in places like Slovakia, the US and Hungary etc. tend to consider it its own language, Ukrainians, Poles and Serbs etc. hold that it is actually a dialect of Ukrainian.

https://youtu.be/PKXEg15Etk0

1691: Lithuanian was Unofficial in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth Aug 1, 2019

The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth had at least 5 official languages, but none was Lithuanian. Instead however, two contemporaneously dead languages—Latin and Hebrew—were official, as well as the now-dead Ruthenian, along with German and Polish. This is because those were the languages used for legal purposes, since almost all the nobility were Polish, and some laws and scientific materials were written in Latin. Jews often had their own laws and scholarship, for which they wrote in Hebrew, even though they spoke Yiddish normally. The official recognition of German and Ruthenian was mostly for the sake of foreign relations, though there were more Ruthenian speakers than Lithuanian speakers at some points. In fact, by some standards there was more recognition of Armenian than Lithuanian, despite there being only a small population.

https://youtu.be/E8wxfur1HwI

1690: The 10 Commandments: not all Commandments Jul 31, 2019

The first of the "10 Commandments" for Jews and Catholics is not actually a commandment, per se. To follow-up on the post on the 10 commandments, "I am the L-rd, your G-d" is actually a statement. This is a problem of translation, but what was mistranslated was the notion of 'commandment'. The phrase "10 Commandments" comes from the Hebrew "עשרת הדברים" (aseret ha-d'varim) meaning "the ten words", or "the ten verses". Indeed, the Bible has hundreds of other commandments, so this alternative name is no less specific in some ways.

1689: 10 Commandments: Not Set in Stone Jul 30, 2019

Even without reading the Bible, people often know about the 10 commandments, but if you ask a Catholic, Protestant, Greek Orthodox or Jewish person etc. what they are, you will get different answers. This is because there are actually 12-14 points that make up the the 10 commandments, but some lines are grouped together. Most interpretations keep the 3 lines about not coveting one's neighbor's A) house B) wife and C) ox (and anything else) as a single commandment, but Catholics and Lutherans have them as two. In fact, the 9th commandment for Catholics is drawn from those 3, but the order from how it is written in in the Bible is changed, putting 'wife' as its own commandment before the other two things not to be coveted. Many Christians also do not consider "I am the Lord, your G-d" a commandment, though it's the first for Jews and Catholics. Moreover, Samaritans have the 10th commandment as "You shall set up these stones, which I command you today, on Mount Gerizim", but no other group considers this to be one of the 10 commandments at all.

For more on modern considerations of the Bible, watch this:

https://youtu.be/jTKKSf35LSE

1688: hiphop Jul 29, 2019

Although hip hop as a genre has been around only a few decades, the word has been around since the 17th century. At least by the 1670's as adverbial and described repetitive hopping, but the ablaut reduplication (i.e. doubling a word and changing part) also mirrors other words like 'tip-top'. Even the Rapper's Delight line "hip hop to the hippity hip" uses another version of this that developed in the 19th century, again about a hopping motion, and later certain kinds of dancing, but came to name a genre of music later on.
Get even more out of Word Facts, like this post today, by going to Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/28740866

1687: Naming Planets after Hell Jul 28, 2019

As mentioned in the past, though in regards to fish, it is very common for scientists to name things after Hell. However, in keeping with their traditions of naming things with Greek and Latin, these names often come from Classical mythology. For instance, geologists refer to the earliest period in Earth's history as the 'Hadean eon', a name which is derived from Hades, the Greek god of the underworld. Moreover, the celestial dwarf 'Pluto' comes from the Romanized version of the same god. Both of these names were used to describe the wretched conditions on the planets.

For more words from hellish origins click here.

1686: piglet and pig Jul 27, 2019

The word 'piglet', for a concept so old, is relatively new, the first known use coming from the mid-19th century. Before this there were some earlier words like 'hogling', used in Middle English, or even 'porket', coming from French. What all of these examples, and even others not included here tend to have is a diminutive suffix on another word meaning 'adult pig', but even before 'hogling', there was no need for this. The Old English word for 'piglet' was 'picg' (same as 'pig') but this was not any less precise, because an adult would only be called a 'swine' (sƿín).

Watch more on etymology here: https://youtu.be/AviuxNIvdPM

1685: graz Jul 26, 2019

The Slavic suffix '-grad' meaning 'city' is all over place-names of Eastern Europe, such as 'Belgrade' ('Beograd') in Serbia. However, this does extend elsewhere, sort of. The Austrian city of 'Graz' also comes from this root, but you wouldn't know it looking at the German. Nevertheless, there is a Slavic name for, 'Gradec', in which this can still be seen, in a slightly clearer way.

1684: french toast Jul 25, 2019

In Cantonese, bread coated in egg to be fried is called 'sāidōsí' (西多士) meaning 'western toast'; in the US it is called 'French toast', yet in France it is called 'pain pardu' ('lost bread'). Indeed, it has gone under other names such as 'German bread' or even 'Spanish bread', but the French term may be more accurate, because no one is totally sure where it is from. There are even more names in other languages each pointing to different places or cultures, but in truth the idea of soaking stale bread and frying it until it's edible is goes back so many hundreds of years that it doesn't really matter. What may matter is that even though 'French toast' won out over 'German toast', for a time many in the US wanted to call it 'freedom toast' to distance themselves after the lack of French combatance in the second Gulf War.

If you're interesting in going further with etymologies, watch the video below: https://youtu.be/AviuxNIvdPM

1683: knock up Jul 24, 2019

Although the phrase 'knock up' has been used since the 17th century to mean 'knock on a door', this is not related to the other meaning of 'get pregnant', which originated in American in the 19th century. It's not to say that the words themselves are different, but that 'knock' already had a connotation to copulation (think 'knocking boots') such as in 'knock-shop' meaning 'brothel'. In fact, that phrase is much older than the more literal meaning 'knock up'. In this way, the phrase has gained meanings in cycles. For more about etymologies, and how to discern things for yourselves, see the latest video: https://youtu.be/AviuxNIvdPM

1682: Hymen and hymen Jul 23, 2019

The Greek deity of marriage is referred to as Ὑμήν ('hymen') but this is not the express origin the homophone denoting female anatomy. For one thing, the deity was conceptualized as a man, but more importantly the physiological term comes from the Proto-Indo-European root *syu-men- with *syu- meaning 'sew' or 'bring together ('sew' coming from the same root). To be clear, the name of the Greek mythical is estimated to generally come from the same derivation but in the sense of bringing two people together through a wedding itself.

1681: Macaroni in Yankee Doodle Jul 22, 2019

No one thinks that 'macaroni' in Yankee Doodle line "he put a feather in his hat/and called it macaroni" is about pasta, but it's still quite odd sounding. As it turns out, it was British slang for a dandy, because it was common for well-to-do English gentlemen to take jaunts to continental Europe and come back with new French, or in this case particularly Italian fashions to show off. In reference to these Italian clothes, these people were called 'macaroni'.

Support Word Facts on patreon.com/wordfacts

1680: fawn and fetus Jul 21, 2019

Although ‘deer’ for a long time through history could just denote any animal (like the German ‘Tier’ ('animal')), 'fauna' is not related to 'fawn'. 'Fauna' comes from the name of a rural Roman goddess, while 'fawn', which also comes from Latin, shares a root with the word 'fetus'. The only reason why they are different is because 'fetus' is directly from Latin, and 'fawn' came from Old French.

Get more out of Word Facts here: patreon.com/wordfacts

1679: hickory and pecan Jul 20, 2019

While 'oak' and 'acorn' don't sound terribly similar, they are related etymologically. 'Hickory' and its corresponding nut 'pecan' are not however. This is because 'hickory' is a type of American wood, and the name comes from the Algonquin word 'pawcohiccora'; it was originally called 'pohickery' by the settlers in Virginia. However, the word 'pecan', comes from the Illinois language via French 'pacane'. They are similar words originally, but changed over time when they entered European languages.

Get more from Word Facts at patreon.com/wordfacts

1678: Berkley Censorship Jul 19, 2019

The city of Berkley voted recently to change 40 gendered words from official use. This included some that relate to words for people—who have gender—like 'firemen' to 'fire-fighters' but what garnered the most public outrage was probably 'manhole' to 'maintenance hole' which is clunkier and not as common to find, and 'brother' to 'sibling', which is less specific. One difficulty is, however, is that language does not naturally change in this way, so getting people on board is not easy, nor necessarily beneficial for understanding. You can hear more about the pros and cons of this sort of thing in the Word Facts video on Censorship: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFwACamZhmM

1677: gandhi Jul 18, 2019

As discussed in the previous post, sometimes names of historical figures are changed, but not always by them. This is true of Genghis Khan, and also of Gandhi. His name changed less, since he was really born Gandhi, but his honorific changed. Mohandas Gandhi is often known as 'Mahatma' Gandhi, but this is an honorific given to him later, and even though it is from Sanskrit (meaning 'venerable'), it was not given to him in India, but in South Africa. In India, the honorific he received and reportedly prefered was 'Bapu' ('father').

1676: gengis khan Jul 17, 2019

There are a number of figures through history whose names are not the same as what they are remembered by. One such example is Genghis (or Chenkis) Khan, whose name was Temüjin. No one knows for sure why this is, but some have suggested that the first part of his name comes from the Mongolian for 'strength' ('ching') or from 'tenggis' meaning 'ocean' (i.e. widespread'), along with a few other explanations. What is more certain is that no one would have said 'Genghis' in the way it's pronounced now. As for a Khan, though it happens to share the same title as a priestly title in Judaism and Islam, the Mongolic 'Khan' meant 'ruler' but does not relate to the other cultures. To add more confusion to the mix, even his real name 'Temüjin' comes from a word meaning 'iron' and would imply that he was a smith, but no evidence of this has come out.
Get more from Word Facts at patreon.com/wordfacts

1675: Where 'Saxon' survived in Britain Jul 16, 2019

England is named for the Anglo-Saxons, but it's not called Engl-Saxland. The Saxon name was displaced by natural evolution of language, but there is another place where the name lives on. The inhabitants of Britain before the Anglo-Saxons were Brittons, a broad collection of Celtic speaking peoples, and many of them would have referred to the Germanic peoples as Saxons. This is maintained in the Modern Welsh word 'Saeson' meaning 'English people', and shares commonalities with similar words in Scots Gaelic and Irish.
Watch the latest Word Facts Video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-6K99Jz9hY

1674: Early Anglo-Saxon Naming Trends Jul 15, 2019

Before the Norman colonization of England, most kings' names had begun with either 'Æthel' or 'Ed-'. This is because in this naming culture, compounds were extremely common, but also semantically significant. 'Æthel-' for instance means 'noble' in Old English, so it should not be surprising that so many of the nobility had such an element in their names, though the latter half varied quite a bit, such as the kings 'Æthelbald', 'Æthelbert', 'Æthelstan', and Æthelwolf'. As for 'Ed-' (or 'Ead-') this means 'wealth' so in names like 'Eadweard' (Edward meaning 'wealth guard') this was common, and featured the names of the Anglo-Saxon kings 'Edmund', 'Edred', 'Eadwig' 'Edgar' and 'Edward'. The vast majority of Ango-Saxons kings of England had one of these two elements.
See more on this here: about too many King Edwards