2347: philanthropy vs. philandery May 22, 2021

Both 'philanthropy' and 'philandery' are doublets, coming from the very same Greek root of φίλ- (phil-) for 'love (of)' and while the latter halves may differ, the Greek ἄνθρωπος (anthropos) and ἀνήρ (andros) are understood to be variants cases of the word meaning 'man'. These had fairly similar meanings—certainly compared to today—in the past, but starting in the 18th century the term (or really name) was used for a lover in drama, poetry etc. with the word eventually meaning basically 'a flirt'. In the 20th century, the word gained even more serious way denoting a man with more serious romantic involvement with women than just flirting, with ''philanthropy' retaining its sense of 'charity'.

2346: barcelona May 21, 2021

The name of the city 'Barcelona' originally was 'Baŕkeno', as has been attested on ancient coins and found in Ancient Greek and Latin. Where this name comes from however is slightly more contentious. One theory holds that this name comes from the Carthaginian general Hamilcar Barca who lived in Iberia when parts of it were under Carthaginian rule. That said, it's not clear that that area was itself a settlement of the Carthaginians. It is also not clear if its ancient name of Baŕkeno was really related to him, since there are also a number of other cities around the Mediterranean with similar names, like Barca in Libya related to 'Benghazi'.

2345: Digamma: Greek's Ghost Letter May 20, 2021

The letter G effectively replaced the letter Z in the Latin alphabet, but in the Greek alphabet the letter Ζ,ζ was also affected in its order in the alphabeta. The Hebrew and Phoenician letters, zayin, are both 7th and as numerals means (7) as is true in Greek numerals despite it being 6th in order. This is because the letter Ϛ,Ϝ known as Digamma which used to be 6th was used and eventually disfavored, merging with Sigma—namely the Lunate Sigma—creating the only Greek letter with 3 distinct forms (capital, lower case, and word-final). This had originally represented the sound /w/ which no longer exists in Greek.

2344: A History of G and Z May 19, 2021

The letter Z is pretty uncommon in English and at the very end of the alphabet, but this was not always the case. Much like in the Hebrew or Greek writing systems, this letter (or its equivalent) both are numerically 7th though now in Greek it is 6th in order. The elimination of Z was done deliberately by the Roman censor Appius Claudius who saw Z as a foreign letter even though this is only true insofar as Latin doesn't really use it; it was very much present through the creation of the alphabet. This was then replaced with the Roman-invented G now occupying the 7th position, with G being based off of C in form to represent that it is just the vocalized form. The use of the letter G to represent [d͡ʒ] (as in 'giraffe') is from French orthography.

2343: carthage May 18, 2021

Carthage, the capital or the Carthaginian Empire and now the city of Tunis, is known in Arabic as قرطاج (Qarṭāj). The Carthaginians were a Phoenician people who spoke a Semitic language, so it might sound obvious that Arabic would use this, but actually it is a loan word from French replacing an earlier 'Cartagena' which was from Latin. That said, the ancient city was known as qrt-ḥdšt ('new city') in reference to the older 'Tyre'.

2342: guy & gai May 17, 2021

There is a Hebrew name גיא‎ (gai) but this is unrelated to the English name 'Guy'. For one thing, the Hebrew name is not Biblical as one might expect with English names originating in Hebrew, but also they mean totally different things, with גיא‎ meaning 'raven'. 'Guy' is actually from the same root as 'Guido' or the Old German 'Wido' which means 'wood' though others trace this back further to a root meaning 'guide' related to the English 'wit' and 'witness' as it relates to seeing. It is also through this that the saint Saint Vitus is also known as Saint Guy. He was from Sicily, and while Guido is associated with Italians in America, the name and its variations are found throughout Europe.

2341: shavuous May 16, 2021

The holiday of Shavuos (associated in Christian theology as 'Pentecost'), one of the major Jewish holidays, goes by many names in the Bible is first mentioned as חג הקציר (Chag haKatzir) literally 'holiday of the reaping' as it is based around a grain harvest festival followed shortly after with the name used today חג השבועות (Chag haShavuos) meaning "holiday of the weeks" since it is measured by 7 weeks after the second day of Pesach. This term is also used more often in the Bible. Later after that though there is יום הבכורים (Yom haBikkurim) which is often translated as 'First Fruits' but this word is used for any first-born offspring including for sons and doesn't relate to 'fruit' per se. Outside of the 5 Books also, it is referred to as עצרת‎ (Atzeres) meaning 'conclusion' as it is a conclusion of a 50-day counting process and זמן מתן תורתנו (Zman Matan Toraseinu) or 'Time of Giving of Our Torah' as this is the date for the revelation on Mount Sinai.

2340: Nicknames for Queen Elizabeth II May 15, 2021

Queen Elizabeth II goes by many names but within her own family she is known as 'Gary' and 'Cabbage'. Both are variations on other affectionate terms, with the former coming from a childish mispronunciation when a young Prince William had a hard time saying 'granny'. It stuck and now her grandchildren call her Gary affectionately. Her late husband Prince Philip called her Cabbage as a joking overly literal translation of the French phrase 'petit chou' which effectively means 'little darling' but literally means 'little cabbage'.

2339: top-notch May 14, 2021

Origins of phrases are notoriously hard to gauge and are often subject to a number of rival folk-etymologies. The phrase 'top-notch' for instance has been used at least since the mid-19th century but where it comes from is not entirely clear. While the association between 'top' and 'best' is long-established, also seen in 'top-shelf' which may have influenced it, it is not clear what is the notch in question. Some have connected this to mountaineering both in the sense of the mountain itself (more likely) or in the notching to denote the difficulty of the trail (less likely). Others have pointed to phrases like "being knocked down a peg" and other sporting references with the idea that this comes from measuring sticks or even bow-strings, but these have their own problems, especially the archery idea which traced the origin back too far reasonably. While it may have been influenced by lots of factors (probably hiking mostly) phrases and slang is notoriously hard to trace and will be fraught with fiction.

2338: Natural Rights vs. Human Rights May 13, 2021

There has been a decline in the use of the phrase 'natural rights' in favor of the phrase 'human rights'. This switch in preference really only occured around the year 2000 in literature though in common parlance may have been earlier. 'Natural rights' as a concept with slight variance in language occured in Greek and Roman philosophy as something innate and inalienable which all humanity have. This phrasing however has long had a theological understanding with the idea of people having been "endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights" (US Declaration of Independence). This constitutes one way in which the notion of natural- and human rights differ, though some state the difference with natural rights being negatively defined (things not to be infringed upon) and human rights positively (things requisite to be given freely). In common use this positive-negative distinction is not always made however.

2337: get, nascent, and a word family of birth May 12, 2021

The words 'beget' and 'nascent' both relate to birth (as of course do a great many other words) but these can be proven to be related by a common root. The word 'get' is related to a root *ghend- meaning 'to take; to grab; to hold' is also related to *ǵenh₁- and *gene- both meaning 'to give birth' or 'produce' leading to the Latin gnāscor (hence 'nascent') and 'get' along with 'generate' and all its derivatives, also 'gene', 'genealogy', 'pregnant', ‘beget‘, 'kind', 'naive', 'indigenous', 'gonad', and so many more.

2336: Original Description of Double Negatives May 11, 2021

There is a common understanding of double negatives in Standard English resulting in a positive. This is not nearly as simple as the case in reality, but that's because the initial analysis of the phenomenon is often misunderstood. When Bishop Robert Lowth described this in 1762, he was discussing words to convey one's point of view, such as saying

"I don't disagree" to imply either:

• "I certainly agree"

• "I agree"

• "I sort of agree"

• "I don't understand your point of view" / "I have no opinion"

He called these 'weasel words' because one might weasel out of a situation with this linguistic vaguery around a double negative, but he did not mean this as a rule for the whole language.

2335: Adlam May 10, 2021

While most scripts around the world are quite old, from the Dark Ages if not antiquity, a number from Africa developed in the 20th century are gaining some traction. For instance, the Adlam script was used across the Sahel and in particular the country of Nigeria by around 65 million people had previously been written in both the Latin and Arabic script, but both were insufficient for its expression and thus Adlam was developed by 2 teenagers in the 1980's. Both due to its native phonology that doesn't match the other two previously used writing systems, as well as its diacritics for things like consonant gemination, prenasalized consonants, long vowels and modified consonants, it much more accurately and simply represents the functions of the language. It also has its own numerical system which is written right-to-left, unlike in Arabic where the writing is also right-to-left but the numbers are left-to-right.

2334: Holy Grail May 9, 2021

There are lots of words for types of drinking vessels (cup; mug; glass; clalace; goblet; flute, etc.) but 'grail' really only appears in the context of the Holy Grail. The word 'grail' itself does not have any particular religiously significant etymology, coming from the Medieval Latin 'gradalis' meaning 'dish' and possible related to the word 'crater' though this is less certain. In Middle English the phrase 'Holy Grail' was 'seint gral' or 'sangreal' (same root as 'saint' which just means 'holy') and this is often contrasted with 'sang real' meaning 'royal blood'. This phrase definitely isn't the origin, but certainly could have influenced the word.

2333: flange May 8, 2021

A group of monkeys is traditionally called a 'congress' (in more ways than one) but another word has been growing in popularity. In a British comedy sketch with Rowan Atkinson the word 'flange' was used as a term for a group of baboons and since then the word has stuck. The term is now used both informally but even in academic work it has cropped up as a way to describe groups of monkeys.

2332: Double Negatives for A.I. May 7, 2021

The phrase 'double negative' is pretty vague considering how negatives really operate, and this fact might be increasingly used as a test to see what's a human and what's a computer. For instance, "I ain't got no satisfaction" is a perfectly legitimate, albeit informal phrase which contains two negatives with a negative and emphatic meaning. Moreover, "it's not unusual to be loved by anyone" is also a double negative but with a basically neutral connotation because this is not the same meaning as "it is usual". Indeed it was a description of this structure which led to the understanding of a rule of two negatives in English establishing a positive if vaguer meaning. Likewise, it has been observed that phrases like "there isn't no other way" can be interpreted as either positive or negative depending on tone and other context. This is still and likely will always be difficult for a computer to intuit, and may be used as a tool for discerning man or machine.

2331: narwhal May 6, 2021

The word 'narwhal' unsurprisingly has the root of 'whale', but the spelling comes from Old Norse. The name really originates with the Old Norse 'náhvalr' which likely metathesized from 'nár' meaning 'corpse' in reference to its white-gray skin. This root 'nár' is related to the English 'need' which connotes lacking, and historically meant a severe shortage or extreme poverty. This is related to Old English 'ne; neo' and the Old Irish 'naunae' (famine).

2330: prehensile & get (*ghend-) May 5, 2021

The word 'prehensile' is from the Latin 'prehēnsus' (ultimately from prehendō) meaning 'to grab' denotes something with gripping capabilities such as in the phrase 'prehensile tail'. It is also from the same root that we get 'apprehend' and 'apprehensive' the latter of which lost its physical meaning and now is used only in the mental sense. Further back though, the root *ghend- has led to all sorts of words, including but not limited to these just in English: get; guess; depredation; and enterprize. Moreover, some less obvious ones include: comprehensive; comprise; and reprehend.

2329: Née & Né May 4, 2021

Often for biographical information, previous names, especially ones used before marriage, are listed after 'née'. This is a French participle meaning 'born' and as such takes grammatical gender (here, feminine) that it wouldn't if it were acting as a verb. Rarer, there is also therefore a masculine 'né' which can be used in used in cases where men replace their last-names after marriage such as for Jack White (né Gillis) or sometimes for professional reasons such Sting (né Gordon Sumner). The latter might be more common with legal name changes even when professional, like Teller's mononym those this was once his last name.

2328: Fishing in Arabic (Maghrebi Dialect) May 3, 2021

Although in Arabic retains many similarities to Classical Arabic and and its dialects are usually fairly mutually intelligible, but there are of course certain regional differences. Past the larger phonetic and grammatical variations, as well as effects of various environmental factors, there are some amusing differences in vocabulary. For instance the word for 'to fish' in Arabic is صيد السمك (sayd alsamak) actually meaning 'to hunt fish', while in Maghrebi Arabic the word for fish is حوت (hawt). In Standard Arabic this would mean 'whale' and thus the Maghrebi for 'to fish' صيد الحوت (sayd alhut) or literally 'to hunt whale'.