2416: Particles Aug 2, 2021
In grammatical terms, a particle is a function word associated with word without any lexical meaning of its own. These would include terms like 'not', 'oh', and 'to' (as a marker for infinitives) since these are integral for overall meaning and syntactic structure, but cannot be defined independently. In this way they are considered to be in their own lexical class, though in older definitions a particle was just anything that could not be inflected and could be part of other lexical classes like articles, conjunctions, prepositions, and even adverbs. Since particles indicate grammatical relation between words, language with lots of inflection tend to have fewer, and languages with little to no inflection, like Mandarin, will use particles instead of things like affixes to indicate grammatical functions.
2415: Clitics Aug 1, 2021
Contractions of words can occur from a shortening at the beginning, known as an proclitic or at the end of that word, known as an enclitic. These are considered then to join with the following word, such as 'you' shortened to y' in 'y'all' or to the preceding word, such as 'will' to 'll in 'he'll'. Both of these types of elements are produced from a general lack of emphasis and often stress, making them phonetically dependant on the words to which they attach, even if syntactically it is a whole word. This is why in orthography, different languages have many varying ways of treating clitics.
2414: Sun- and Moon-Letters Jul 31, 2021
In Arabic and Maltese grammar, there are letters known as 'sun letters' while the rest are 'moon letters'. This is a direct translation of the Arabic حروف شمسية (churūf shamsiyyah) and حروف قمرية (churūf qamariyyah) respectively. The distinction is that sun letters see the [l] of the definite article الْـ (al-) assimilate with the following letter, such as in 'the sun' which is الشمس (al-shams) but assimilates to (ash-shams) with a geminated consonant, while 'the moon' القمر (al-qamar) remains as such, hence the names. There are equal numbers of overall sun and moon letters in Arabic including ﻝ [l] which means [l] gets assimilated by [l], but Maltese there are more moon letters including L [l].
2413: room Jul 30, 2021
While some of the meanings of the word 'room' have stayed consistent since Old English, but the meaning has also narrowed down. 'Room' is from the Old English 'rum' (space) which like the modern 'space' related to either distance or time. As an adjective the word meant mostly the same as its descendant 'roomy' but as a verb—which is no longer viably found from 'room'—the Old English form meant 'to make room' or in other words 'clear space', as opposed to 'lodging' which is meant with 'to room'.
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'.
2411: Language-Specific Names for Germany Jul 28, 2021
There are a number of etymologically distinct names for Germany around the world—far more than other countries—that are shared by at least a few languages, but others too went another way. Particularly North American native tribes made these names, like Lakota's Iyášiča Makȟóčhe (Bad Speaker Land), Navajo's Béésh Bich’ahii Bikéyah (Metal Cap-wearer Land); Cree has two different names both meaning roughly the same as those. Other languages like Sorbian, Silesian, and Medieval Greek took their names from different Germanic states, not so dissimilar to the practice of ancient languages taking their names from tribes. Kinyarwanda, the language of Rwanda, uses 'Ubudage' or just 'dage' thought to derive from the 'guten Tag' greeting during the days of the German colonial presence. Old Norse used the term 'Suðrvegr' literally 'South Way', which is effectively opposite to 'Norway' (Norþweg). Medieval Hebrew went another way and used the biblical name אשכנז (Ashkenaz), thought to be the ancestor of the Germans.
2410: Standard Etymologies for Germany Around the World Jul 27, 2021
Around the world, there are roughly 7 etymologies for the country of Germany where various languages derive their exonyms, along with a few exceptional cases. Those would be:
•From Latin 'Germania' as seen in English and Russian
•From 'Alamanni' tribe as in French (Allemagne) and Arabic
•From Germanic ‘Diutisc’ as in German (Deutschland) or Chinese
•From the Saxon tribe, as in Finnish (Saksa) and Romani.
•From Slavic němьcь as in Polish (Niemcy) and Hungarian
•From Prussia, as in Tahitian (Purutia) or Silesian
•A root found in Baltic states without clear origin, like Lithuanian (Vokietija) or Latvian (Vācija)
Some of these roots have applied to different Germanic states too, like Austria or the Holy Roman Empire in various languages. Notably this list means the term used in Romantic French and Spanish is Germanic, and the term used in Germanic English is Romance based. More on the exceptional cases next.
2409: Functionality of Ge- in German Jul 26, 2021
The prefix 'ge-' in German has a wide variety of meaningful, grammatical functions, though this is on the decline in some. One use is to form collectives, such as 'Gebirge' (mountain range) from 'Berg' (mountain), 'Gewässer' (body of water) from 'Wasser' (water). It is also used for nouns from verbs to express frequency and repetition, like 'Gerede' (chatter) from 'reden' (talk). It is used quite commonly and fairly ubiquitously for forming past participles from verbs, especially with '-en' or '-et' suffixes, though this last point is contentious about how distinct 'ge-' is if would require these suffixes. Aside from these, it is also used to express the terminitive case in certain regional dialects—e.g. 'geleiten' (escort) from 'leiten' (lead)—along with referential nouns formed from verbs—'Gelege' (clutch of eggs) from 'legen' (lay). Finally, it is used to indicate union, like the Latin-based 'co-and 'com-' do in English and indeed certain German loan-words.
2408: Renminbi Jul 25, 2021
The currency of China is known as the Yuan, a name shared or associated with other currencies of East Asia, but actually this is not its official name. It is actually known as the Renminbi, abbreviated RMB, spelt as 人民币 in simplified Chinese; it means 'people's currency'. As such, a yuan only a basic unit of the renminbi despite that being the basis for the currency as a whole and not actually a subdivision, though it is divided by the fen and jiao. This distinction between the name of the currency and the currency itself is also seen in '(pound) sterling' and 'pound'. with the currency of the UK, though not for the same reason.
2407: Alternative Comparatives & Superlatives Jul 24, 2021
Comparative and superlative adjectives are in some languages are used for purposes outside of comparison. For instance, comparatives are used in English to convey tendency, such as "Bob is the more humorous type" which does not compare between people as might be assumed with this subject, but between his other characteristics. Likewise, superlatives are often used emphatically: "he's the dumbest"; "she's the prettiest" which has the effective meaning of "very dumb/pretty".
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.
2405: Chateau of Versailles... Jul 22, 2021
The Palace of Versailles is huge: 8.2 km². Still, the French name is 'Château de Versailles' (Chateau of Versailles), and not something like 'Palais de Versailles' (Palace...). The difference is fairly minute, but 'Chateau' in this case is not used how it was taken on to mean in English which is usually of a smaller estate especially for wine. Still, the word comes from the Old French 'chastel' which has the same root as 'castle'.
2406: "For To" Infinitives Jul 21, 2021
There is a non-standard infinitive construction—"for to" as opposed to merely "to"—originating in Northern Ireland, which is used interchangeably with a standard infinitive marker but is particularly used to indicate a purpose clause. This made its way over to North America and in particular the American South which was dominantly settled by Irishmen, Scottsmen, and Welshmen. For instance, in the song Oh! Susanna:
"I'm going to Louisiana / My true love for to see."
This is actually even less standard than its normal use which might look more like, "I want for to meet them" since in that way this can be seen as a variant of other purpose clauses in Standard English which might appear like "I want for Bob to meet them". The difference is that the subject of the main clause (preceded by a small clause) takes the preposition 'for' to mark purpose, whereas in the "for to" example, the subject of the main clause and the small clause are the same.
2405: Shell Group Name Jul 20, 2021
The name for the Shell Corporation, officially Royal Dutch Shell Group, does not have so much relation between the products its involved with and the symbol. It was in the 19th century, however, a merger of two companies: Royal Dutch Petroleum and The Shell Transport & Trading Co.. The latter company which dealt with trading goods from East Asia actually did transport shells, among other goods.
2404: @ in Hebrew and German Jul 19, 2021
The modern Hebrew word for the @ symbol is שטרודל (strudel), as in the German dessert. This is coincidental that both the pastry and the symbol are from the same name, but in German, and also Yiddish whence the Hebrew derives, this literally means 'whirlpool' and is supposed to be reminiscent of something twisting and spinning. In German, the word for the @ symbol is 'der Klammeraffe' which means 'spider monkey', though 'Klammer' on its own does not mean 'spider' but rather 'bracket'.
2403: date (palm) Jul 18, 2021
Palm trees are named for palms because of their resemblance to fingers. Less abstractly then, the date fruit may have been named fingers too. The English name is from the Greek δάκτυλος (dáktylos) meaning 'finger' as in 'polydactyl' or 'pterodactyl'. Some say this is from the fruit itself while others say it is also for the palm leaves, like the whole tree itself. Another theory gives this a Semitic root linking it to the same root as the Hebrew דקל (dekel) and that δάκτυλος (dáktylos) was only later associated by folk-etymology.
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).
2401: Russian Continents Jul 16, 2021
It's well known that the Spanish speaking world regard the landmasses of North and South America as one continent, simply the Americas. In this way those people regard the world with 6 continents, but it could go even fewer. The Russians and Japanese distinguish between two Americas, but regard Eurasia as one continent. This makes sense for Russia especially which straddles both with wide margins. That's still just 6, and while some academics discuss the idea of 5 or even only 4—Afro-Eurasia, Americas, Antarctica, Oceania—this is not a major movement.
2400: chattel & cattle Jul 15, 2021
While the word 'chattel' is fairly unremarkable in its etymology, its history is enlightening. Unsurprisingly, it is related to the word 'cattle' and 'capital' in the sense of 'head'. The sense of any property goods, as opposed to real estate, was well established by the Middle Ages, certainly with some association to the meaning of 'cattle'. It was in the mid-17th century took on specific associations with slavery, and many abolitionists took the word with a new political meaning in their writings to emotional impact.
2399: Hebrew's Relationship to Chicken Jul 14, 2021
Technically, Hebrew has a distinct word for 'chicken' which is תרנגולת (tarnigolet) but this really only refers to a live chicken, specifically a hen. The word עוף (óf) is used for when referring to the meat, but this is also another word more generally meaning 'bird'. This is still the generic term for any bird in Modern Hebrew, and itself is related from the לעוף (la'uf) meaning 'to fly' but over time it gained another connotation. As it happens Israel is the number 1 consumer of chicken per capita globally, so perhaps this is not without reason.