2602: Echo Languages Jan 29, 2022
Latin famously doesn't have a word for 'yes', but this is not unique. Other Goidelic languages don’t have words for either 'yes' or 'no', and just repeat the verb of the question back. This would appear like
"Do you run every day"
"I run" [yes]
These are known as "echo languages". Finnish, and Chinese do this as well, as did Latvian until they got 'ja' from the Germans. Likewise, Romanian had this quality until it got the Slavic affirmative ‘da’. In addition to echoes, Latin would also employ lots of adverbs like 'sic', 'certe' (certainly), 'sane' (healthy), planē (plainly), or for negative responses, 'minime' (least).
2601: Patric(k) Jan 28, 2022
Patric(k) is a tradition Celtic & English name, associated especially in Ireland. It is not Celtic in fact but from 'Patricius' from Latin. This is was popularized by the saint, Saint Patrick though leading to its popularity in the British Isles, as opposed to elsewhere. This also led to the word 'patrician', which is true to the original meaning, denoting a noble family.
2600: Sulfur & Sulphur: Why the Difference Jan 27, 2021
British English spelling tends to represent the more traditional version, but not always. The 'PH' in 'sulphur' has no basis in English. Usually, a 'PH' to represent the [f] means that it was spelt with a φ (Phi) in Greek, but 'sulfur' is not from Greek. Moreover, the spelling in Latin or French where English adopted this spelling is also not with a 'PH'. This is where the American English spelling comes from, with the British spelling being a result of a later insert.
2599: cobbler vs cordwainer Jan 26, 2022
Despite the misconception, a cobbler is not the traditional term for a shoe-maker, but a shoe-fixer. The shoe-maker was actually referred to as a 'cordwainer'. Indeed, the fact that the shoes were, as it were, cobbled together, is why this name denotes the repair. This was considered less serious work, and did not only relate to shoes once, but to anything hastily crafted. That said, the origins of 'cobble' itself aren't entirely clear.
2598: Urchin & Hedgehog Jan 25, 2022
Sea urchins use an old word which by itself, would be obsolete. Likely, the word 'urchin' by itself would sooner conjure up images of poor Victorian children before it would a hedgehog, but that is what this once meant. The word is from the Old French dialect form 'irechon' from Latin 'ericius'. This led to Middle English 'yrchoun'. The spikes of a sea urchin give it this name, but hedgehogs have provided the name for military formations involving circles of outward facing spears just as well. It is unclear where the Victorian slang is from.
2597: Denny's Jan 24, 2022
While company names don't always have any particular source in reality, the story of Denny's is more specific. This was previously "Denny's Coffee Shop", that too being a name change as a way to distinguish from "Dan's Coffee Shop" located nearby before it was an international chain. Beforehand it was "Danny's Coffee Shop" but this too wasn't original. The original name was Danny's Donuts, but founded by no one named Danny: rather a Harold Butler & Richard Jezak who just thought the name was catchy.
2596: crab, crib, & carve Jan 23, 2022
The word 'crab' is ultimately traced back to the Proto-Indo-European *gerbʰ- meaning 'to twist; to scratch; to claw', but so are 'carve', 'crib', and 'crèche'. Much of this has to do with leading to varied understanding, such as 'crab' and 'crayfish’ from Proto-Germanic *krabbô (to crawl) as opposed to 'crib' from Proto-Germanic *kribjǭ (wickerwork, basket) from the sense of twisting & weaving material. This led to a sense of 'clump; group' and then 'crèche' was born. 'Carve' is from the sense of this word as scratching, and is related to the Old Prussian gīrbin (number) from the idea of tallying.
2595: crabapple Jan 22, 2022
Though crabapples are indeed a type of apple, they certainly don't have anything to do with crabs. This term never did in fact, and rather is from the Middle English 'crabbe' from an older Germanic root, which simply denoted any wild apple. This term, as mentioned, does now relate to a species in particular, but can still denote any wild or sour apple. Now, crab is applied to certain other names in order to indicate wild varieties of fruits.
2594: cancer & crabs Jan 21, 2022
Cancer is known to be related to crabs because of the zodiac symbol, but the relation is much deeper in fact. The word 'cancer', which now particularly associated with the disease, is because the enlarged veins around cancerous tumors were thought to look like the the legs of crabs. In Latin 'cancer' means 'crab', which itself is from Ancient Greek καρκίνος (karkínos) via metathesis. This is also where the word 'canker' is from, as well as 'chancre', both types of ulcers.
2593: Rochester Jan 20, 2022
A number of places around the world, especially in the Americas and Oceania, are named for other places in other parts of the globe. Rochester is the name of 2 cities in the state of New York and about 17 other places in the USA; there's one in Canada, and another in Australia. The namesake for all of these is, historically anyway, Rochester in Kent, England, but this no longer exists. It was absorbed into the city of Medway, and lost any status is might have had as a recognized town in the 1990's.
2592: Turkey Changes its Name | Jan 19, 2022
The nation of Turkey stated recently that they plan to officially change the name of the country to 'Turkiye' which is how it is written in Turkish, though without the umlaut for 'Türkiye'. This is not even the only country to change its official, English name in the last decade, as seen with Eswatini and Czechia, but it is certainly the biggest and most important. It may take some time to catch on, if ever, but if anything the term 'Persia' is more ingrained in the mind of an English speaker yet the efforts were successful in changing the name to 'Iran', and likewise with Siam to Thailand etc.. Many have questioned the timing as well, given the severity of the economic crisis going on there, as a way to divert media attention. Only time will tell if this will be widely used, but certainly for official purposes there will be a shift.
2593: Ç Jan 18, 2021
The letter Ç, known as C-cedilla, is used among many Turkic language along with some Romance languages like French & Portuguese. It is not, however, used for the language where this symbol originated: Spanish. Moreover, in other languages this represents the [s] sound, but in Old Spanish, this was /t͡s/ before /a/, /o/, and /u/, like a Z in German, but this is not how it was adopted later. Later by Early Modern Spanish, this represented a /θ/ or /s/ before those same letters but fell out of use altogether after. In Turkic languages however, this is usually for /t͡ʃ/ (like CH in English 'chew'), or [s] in French. A number of other languages took it on but usually in line with one of these.
2591: mathematics & wiskunde Jan 17, 2022
Most language's words for mathematics around Europe borrow directly from Ancient Greek μαθηματικός (mathēmatikós), except for Dutch which uses 'wiskunde'. This is not so exceptional as it might look at first glance however, since it is not a totally unique word per se but a calque, insofar as it is just translated literally. Before this 'mathematica' was used in Dutch but this purism was introduced in the 16th century. 'Wiskunde' would mean 'known art' or more to the point "art of what is known", & likewise in Ancient Greek μαθηματικός (mathēmatikós) breaks down to mean 'of knowledge'.
2590: vinyl Jan 16, 2022
The material vinyl doesn't have any grape products in it, but it is named for them. The first half of the word is from the Latin 'vinum' (wine) and the ultimate Greek ending '-yl' for υλος (hylos) meaning 'matter', used now for many groups of chemical compounds. The name in particular is from the association with ethyl alcohol, but does not have any particular relation to wine otherwise.
2589: Genes Named from Hedgehogs Jan 15, 2022
In addition to the sonic hedgehog gene, there are a number of others in the same family with other notable naming references. Before 'sonic hedgehog' was named there were the 'desert hedgehog' and 'Indian hedgehog' genes, named after real species of hedgehog. A variant form in some fish is named 'tiggywinkle hedgehog' from Beatrix Potter's character.
2588: Cyclopamine and Sonic Hedgehog Jan 14, 2022
In 1957 farmers in Idaho reported their lambs were born cycloptic. After over a decade, the chemical found corn lily when ingested by the pregnant ewes was shown to cause this, then named 'cyclopamine'. This chemical compound has many more medical effects than cyclopia, and is indeed significant for many cancer treatments. As humorous as the naming of a chemical compound after a Greek mythical monster, it's function in the body is to stop the sonic hedgehog signal during development. This name, as is perhaps more obvious, was named for the videogame character.
2587: felt, filter, anvil, and felon Jan 13, 2022
Filters can be made out of a plethora of materials and are used in all sorts of situations, but historically this would have been felt. This is why the Latin 'filtrium' and the English 'felt' came to be distantly related, but the material of felt has used to have a more generic meaning. The root *pel- meaning 'to beat' references this process of creating felts by crushing and rolling materials, and it is this same root that is found in 'anvil' and 'to fell' fairly sensibly, and 'felon' perhaps more surprisingly. This last word is from the same root but over time took on meanings of wickedness in certain languages like Latin before coming to English.
2586: tycoon Jan 12, 2022
The word 'tycoon' will for many conjure up images of business magnates or other sort of industrial baron, especially of the 19th century. This is not only a Gilded Age term because that's when it was popular, but reflects a highly specific point in history. The word is from the Japanese 大君 (taikun) meaning 'great lord', which was actually a title for the shogun, a particular type of military dictator. This term was applied by outsiders from 1857 when Japan was opened up and outsiders were allowed to trade merchandise, until 1868 when the shogunate ended.
2585: Rhotacism in Latin 'esse' Jan 11, 2022
Rhotacism in Latin, a process in which [s] and [z] in Archaic Latin would develop into [r] in Classical Latin. This was not universal, and some lingering traces existed because of the oppositional phenomenon of zetacism. This led to the Archaic Latin verb 'esō' ('to be') having the 3rd infinitive form of 'esse' in Classical Latin, but the imperfect and future forms of the word all have a root with 'r', such as 3rd person future 'erit'.
2584: Incongruent Spelling of 'Plait' Jan 10, 2022
Sometimes, spelling that doesn't appear congruent with the standard pronunciation never would have been. Sometimes letters are added for historical reasons, as many writers of Middle English wanted to have stronger ties between French or Latin. In the case of 'plait', pronounced [plæt], there actually was an alternative spelling in Middle English of 'plat' but also 'plait' as rhymes with 'plate' in certain regions. The spelling of 'plait' remain but not with its original pronunciation.