2320: mortar Apr 24, 2021
'Mortar' exists in the context of "mortar and pestle", "brick and mortar", and "mortar cannon" which all have fairly different meanings. This is because of the original French 'mortier' meaning both 'mixed cement/concrete' and 'a bowl to mix cement' which led fairly clearly to two of the senses of this word mentioned above, with a mortar meaning both a bowl for a mixture and then a mixture itself, both for spices and obviously cement. In the case of the explosives, this is from the meaning as a bowl, describing the shape of a cannon barrel, even those these are more cylindrical than some ways, but at least it was to describe shorter cannons and in that way offers some clarity.
2319: Kobon Verbs: Only 120 Apr 23, 2021
Famously, the language of Kobon only has some 90-120 verbs. This is difficult to imagine from an English perspective with 171,476 verbs according to the Oxford English Dictionary 2nd edition. The way this is pulled off is obviously not having anything like English's many synonyms and obscurely used verbs, for instance having only one verb to express observation through any of the senses or emotion, or another verb to describe movement through virtually any means, though there are 3 words for pouring (regarding solids, liquids, or food) and one verb meaning 'to quarter a cassowary'. What Kobon does have, however, is a fairly normal number of nouns, and to get around certain idea phrases which would be periphrastic in other languages are used. Alternatively, verbal ideas are put together to make a compounded meaning.
2318: italy Apr 22, 2021
The Italian nation is a fairly young one by European standards, but its name goes very far back. Originally it was from the Oscan language 𐌅𐌝𐌕𐌄𐌋𐌉𐌞 (víteliú) meaning "land of bulls". Oscan is an extinct language from the Italian peninsula, but this is assumed to be related with the Latin word 'vitulus' meaning 'calf'. This name for Italy is originally just for the southern tip of the peninsulina.
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.
2316: Capuchin Monks, Capuchin Monkeys,and Cappuccino Apr 20 2021
Capuchin monkeys named like the coffee, and the coffee is named after the Franciscan monks. The name for the monks too were from the hooded cloak (or 'cappa' in Late Latin) which was dark on the bottom and white on the top. Likewise, the white foam on dark coffee shared this resemblance and hence 'cappuccino'. Capuchin monkeys and likewise a certain sort of pigeon were named thus for their natural light-head-dark-body coloring, and also having fur and feathers respectively that looks like a hood somewhat.
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.
2314: psycho-: psychotic vs. psychopomp Apr 18, 2021
Words like 'psychopath', or 'psychotic', could give an impression that the combining form 'psycho-' related to problems in mental health, but as can be seen in the word 'psychopomp', this is not the case. A psychopomp is the name for a guide through the underworld, as might be said of Anubis in Egyptian mythology, Mercury in Greek mythology, Valkyries in Norse mythology and even the Grim Reaper. The origin of this word is Greek ψυχοπομπός (psychopompós) with 'psycho (psūkhḗ) meaning 'soul', and 'pompós' here meaning 'sender; conductor'. Thus in its purest sense, 'psycho-' as a combining form means 'soul' or 'mind'.
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.
2313: Star Wars Numeration Apr 16, 2021
Many people have been confused by the fact that the first of the Star Wars released was #4, but this is partly because it's not entirely true. The numeration began in 1981's with the first film's rerelease, and when the next film came out. Granted, that still means that they were called IV and V before there were an episode I or II, riding on the first film's success and quickly planning both sequels and prequels. Thus, Star Wars was only retroactively officially named as Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope.
2312: The Use of the Term 'Byzantine Empire' Apr 15, 2021
The name for the Byzantine Empire as such really only came after the fall of the empire itself for complex religious and political reasons. For its near eleven centuries of existence after the fall of the city of Rome (and with it, the western half of the classical Roman Empire) it was known as the Roman Empire, or in Medieval Greek, Βασιλεία Ῥωμαίων (Basileía Rhōmaíōn). It was only in the Renaissance that Europeans—now with a goal of reviving and adapting many aspects of Classical Greek and Roman culture and thought—wished to draw a distinction between the ancient Latin-speaking, pagan Rome and later Christian, Greek-speaking Roman Empire, that the term Byzantine, from the Ancient Greek 'Byzantion', was renewed. That said, this term actually predates (ancient Roman) Emperor Constantine's move of the capital from Rome, and renaming of the city of Byzantion as Constantinople.
2311: Mozart's Middle Name Apr 14, 2021
Mozart had many middle names, but Amadeus was never one of them. His full baptismal name is Latinized Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart though he went also by other versions of this in his typical German-speaking contexts, reverting 'Wolfgangus' to 'Wolfgang', and Theophilus, which is Greek, he used the translated Gottlieb (lover of G-d). It is from this final name where Amadeus emerges, since this is also the Latin translation but evidence shows that he would have only ever used the Italian 'Amadeo' and French 'Amadè' in those respective contexts; since he used the Greek alongside the other Latinized forms in his names, he would not have actually used Amadeus. It is only in his death records that he is listed as "Wolfgang Amadeus", which variably uses a German and then Latin form.
2310: Beyond MI5 and MI6...Even MI19 Apr 13, 2021
The UK's Directorate of Military Intelligence, beginning in its earliest stages by 1873, the only remnants of which are the MI5 (mostly domestic: counter-terrorism, counter-espionage and military police) and the MI6 (monitoring economic intelligence and arms trafficking). Not only were there at other points MI1-MI4, but all the way up to MI19. Primarily these operated during WWII, and were either completely dissolved (such as MI14 used to monitor Germany through aerial photography and messenger pigeons in WWII), merged into other organizations altogether, or in the case of MI3, MI8, and MI10, merged with MI6 in the 1940's. MI13 was never used.
2309: plato: a nickname Apr 12, 2021
While most people are familiar with the name of Plato and his school of thought Platonism, fewer people would be familiar with Aristocles. This is not only the same person but in fact Plato, or Platon as he called himself comes from πλατύς (platýs), but this is a nickname from the same root as led to the English 'plateau' and 'place' meaning 'broad' relating to having broad shoulders. Aristocles means son of Ariston.
2308: Nuns vs Sisters Apr 11, 2021
Christian nuns and sisters (in the ecclesiastical sense) may have more or less the same roles, they actually are different. Nuns take solemn vows while religious sisters take simple vows, one main difference of which is that sisters can own property and other capital. This means they are free to make endeavors in certain vocational areas like charity, education, and health. Nuns—the term for which comes from the Latin 'nonna': literally (female) monk—tend to live in the enclosure of an order and are not involved in those affairs.
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.
2306: magic & machine Apr 9, 2021
Although magic and science don't have much to do with each other, 'magic' and 'machine' are etymologically related. Indeed, the Proto-Indo-European root includes not only words directly adjacent to those before like 'mage', 'magi' and 'mechanism', but also 'may' and its derivatives, along with 'might' (both senses). The root '*magh-' is estimated to have had the meaning of 'ability' or 'power'. 'Main' is also among these with this common root. The sense of 'magic' in a purely sorcerous sense really comes from the 14th century, though in the sense of being an illusionist by trade without any actual spiritual component, the early 19th century.
2305: mumbo-jumbo Apr 8, 2021
It's not entirely clear how the phrase 'mumbo jumbo' originated, it's most likely from the Mandinka people of West Africa. According to that understanding, it is from the word 'maamajomboo', meaning 'masked dancer', a role used in many for supernatural activities of the native culture who would sing and chant in gibberish. Alternatively, it might just be from English, as a somewhat exaggerated and fanciful pronunciation of 'mumble' plus 'jumble'.
2304: AZERTY & QWERTZ Apr 7, 2021
In addition to the English QWERTY keyboard, there is the French-language AZERTY layout, and the German and Slavic QWERTZ. Granted, many of those have variants to themselves, such as the Swiss keyboard—which is based off the German QWERTZ—but has special keys that either have German diacritics (ÄÖÜ) or French accented letters (ÀÈÉ), but usually for a languages special characters, they will be in the same place, with 2 keys to the right past (P), and 3 past (L).
In the beginning of the 20th century, many alternative keyboards were used but did not catch on in large part because while keyboards were not as widely used as today thanks to computers, the people who used them—mostly secretaries—were trained in QWERTY or AZERTY.
2303: sushi Apr 6, 2021
'Sushi' is the name of a general type of dish usually made with seafood, rice, and seaweed, but only one of these things is the reason for the name. It is actually adopted from the Japanese 寿司すし (sushi) unsurprisingly, but this means specifically "sour rice”, possibly related to 酸すい (sui) meaning “sour; vinegared”. This is because it was originally made by covering fish in fermented rice, which would then just be throw away, but when vinegar was later added to speed up the process, the rice could be edible, and much like pie-crusts, what was once just a gross coating for cooking or storage purposes, it became an integral part of the dish. Seaweed was added only around the 19th century.
2302: Nigromancy: A Deliberate Misspelling of 'Necromancy' Apr 5, 2021
Necromancy, sorcery surrounding interactions with the dead, is definitely a form of black magic, and that shows in the historical spelling of the name. 'Necro-' as a combining form is from Greek νεκρός (nekrós) meaning 'dead' as also found in 'necropolis' for instance. Nevertheless, in Middle English (nigromancy) and Medieval Latin (nigromantia) the spelling was obviously changed, and made to align more with the Latin 'niger' (black) to due a presumed—but etymologically erroneous—association with 'black magic'. The spelling was eventually changed to align with the Greek origin during the renaissance.