2819: What the ‘El?: Britain is Losing Its L Sep 8, 2024

French is the least conservative when it comes to the original Latin phonology, having lost or changed many of the original features, though not always for the same reasons. L-vocalization refers to the process where the /l/ sound, particularly in syllable-final positions or before consonants, is realized as a vowel, such as [ʊ] or even [o] or semivowel [w]. This led to Modern French beau [bo] from Latin bellu(m) for ‘beautiful’ [masculine], but this process is occurring in some dialects of English, notably Estuary English and Cockney.

In these dialects, words like ‘milk’ [mɪʊk] with the <l> before a consonant, and ‘feel’ like "fiw" [fiːʊ] at the end of a word. In other words, this only occurs with dark-L [ɫ], whereas the light-L [l] is retained, as it only occurs before (and of course between) vowels, so the word ‘mill’ would be pronounced [mɪʊ] or [mɪw] even, but ‘miller’ is /mɪlɚ/. This is in contrast with T-glottalization in these same dialects that can occur at the end of a word like ‘what’ [wɒʔ] or intervocalically like ‘water’ [wɔːʔə].

Of all the sounds children struggle to learn L /l/ (especially dark-L [ɫ]) and R /ɹ/ are often realized as a /w/ since they already have a velarized and vowel-like quality, being reinterpreted as a back vowel or glide. This is the sound shift that occurred in French and is occurring now in some dialects of especially southeastern England.

2818: Stamp Mania! Sep 7, 2024

Nowadays, it would seem preposterous to send a simple letter and make the recipient pay, though this does happen with some international duties. Historically, it was the job of the recipient to pay by default.

Aside from being a bit of trivia, it also helps to explain the origins of numerous stamp-related terminology. For instance, the modern term for stamp-collecting (except for just saying that), is ‘philately’, pronounced /fɪˈlæt.ə.li/, made up by Georges Herpin (as philatélie). Greek does not really have a word for ‘postage stamp’* so he used ἀτέλεια (atéleia) meaning “no tax(-ness)”, in reference to the stamp’s use as a means to show the duty was pre-paid. Another case would be the verb ‘to frank’ as in to stamp a letter as prepaid, from the sense of frank as free. 

*The previous term for stamp collecting was timbromania or variously timbrology, also from Greek via French meaning “stamp mania” but this was from Ancient Greek τύμπανον (túmpanon) meaning ‘drum’—related to ‘timbre,’ ‘tambour’, ‘timpani’, and ‘tympanum’—just as stamp (related to ‘stomp’) has to do with pressing ink onto a surface.

2817: All-Lowercase Typeface Sep 6, 2024

The trend of brands adopting logos in all lowercase fonts began gaining momentum in the late 20th century, as companies sought to present a more approachable, friendly, and modern image. Lowercase logos became especially popular in the tech and startup worlds, signifying a break from tradition, for innovation. A significant early adopter was intel, which unveiled its all-lowercase logo upon founding in 1968. A number of brands in the 2010’s switched from normal capitalization like facebook (2019) and mastercard (2016), but this had been happening here and there continuously since the late 20th century, like with bp (2000).

From a linguistic and psychological standpoint, lowercase logos tap into human perceptions of readability and familiarity. Lowercase letters are generally perceived as more approachable and less aggressive than uppercase ones, which can appear commanding or even shouting when used in excess. 

Some companies, however, have reconsidered their branding strategies over time. For example, Airbnb, initially lowercase, evolved to capitalize the A in its logo to balance approachability with a desire for maturity and authority. Similarly, Spotify switched from an all-lowercase logo to capitalizing the S, signifying its growth from a disruptive startup to an established industry leader.

Ultimately, this is a matter of graphic design, but it plays off a learned authority-casualness dichotomy between types, that fits into a much broader spectrum including colors and letter shape (e.g. serifs, roundness, uniform thickness etc.)

2816: Penthouse Sep 5, 2024

If you have a penthouse now, you likely have a very fancy or expensive home, but that was far from the case historically. The Middle English ‘pentis’, deriving its name from the Old French ‘apentiz’, referred to a shed or a lean-to, i.e. a semi-connected building sharing a wall but with its own roof. This is ultimately from the Latin ‘appendicium’ (appendage) perhaps influenced from apens (fastening) reflecting the way these structures were often attached to larger buildings. A penthouse of old was not a particularly comfortable place, and was not intended for inhabiting. 

Over time, the word evolved in both form and meaning. The modern spelling ‘penthouse’ was influenced by folk etymology, mistakenly associating the word with ‘house’. By the early 20th century, ‘penthouse’ had shifted to refer to units at the top of a set of apartments with a rooftop terrace, and then to the (now luxurious) apartments located there.

2815: Secret Service Sep 4, 2024

When we think of the Secret Service today, images of stern-faced agents in dark suits and earpieces immediately come to mind—always vigilant, always close by the President of the United States. However, the name "Secret Service" originally had a very different connotation. Established in 1865 under the Department of the Treasury, the Secret Service was tasked with operating covertly to combat the rampant counterfeiting of U.S. currency that threatened the post-Civil War economy. The name referred to the agents' undercover work, infiltrating and dismantling counterfeit operations.

Over time, however, the meaning of "Secret Service" evolved significantly. Following the assassinations of Presidents Garfield and McKinley, the agency was assigned the additional role of protecting the President. The "secret" aspect shifted from undercover financial crime-fighting to the discreet and vigilant protection of the nation's leaders. Today, while the Secret Service still handles financial crimes, the public associates its name primarily with its protective mission, showing how its focus has changed from stealth in law enforcement to silent guardianship.

2814: British vs American English: Borrowed Vowels pt. 2 Sep 3, 2024

One area where British English is very clearly wrong is loan words with the letter I, such as Tel Aviv, Pizza, and cliché. Although common in Germanic languages, also seen in German with the /ɪ/ vowel also usual for the letter I, as in Kindergarten and Blitz, most other languages treat the letter I as the /i/ sound; some Turkic languages avoid this problem by having invented a new letter. For clarity, [ɪ] is the vowel of ‘sit’ and [i] is the vowel of ‘seat’. 

Although historically, as in a lot of European transliterations of Native American or Aboriginal Australian words /i/ was written as <ee> (likewise [u] was written as <oo>), in the last century almost every language uses the letters (I and U). Since I is usually either natively used for /i/, or used as such to represent that sound in languages that use a different writing system, the usual British use of /ɪ/ in loanwords here is only understandable given how much more typical it is in English, but could not be said to be an effort for a natural or authentic sound. 

However, there are exceptions to this rule on all sides

•American English does do this with older words that are clearly loans, like ricochet .

•British English pronounces ‘clique’ but American English un-tenses the vowel. 

•The Latin ending I is pronounced /i/ natively but in English becomes [aɪ] as in fungi or alumni, but this is usually only true of loans, not in quotes and phrases like “veni; vidi; vici”

2813: British vs American English: Borrowed Vowels pt. 1 Sep 2, 2024

In American English, the standard way to vocalize the letter A when it is stressed in a foreign word is [ɑ], such as in the pronunciation of pasta, falafel, and ciabatta, while Standard British English, and dialects of southern England in general, would say [æ] there. Ultimately these are simply conventions, but which is more authentic?

Looking at the Italian examples, neither one can really take the title of authentic. Italian is pronounced as /ˈpa.sta/, which as a vowel does not belong to any English words in standard dialects, but it does exist in diphthongs, like /aɪ/ (as in “I”). In dialects from Northern England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland, the pronunciation is /ˈpastə/, so at least here in the Italian words, the stressed vowel is the most authentic out of them, but again only because it happens to be closer to Italian. 

Likewise, in the case of ‘falafel’, which is from Arabic this is the same more or less as the vowel used in American English, but this is not necessarily because American English is copying Arabic so much as this is just the generic way to pronounce a stressed A (here, the second one).

2812: Psychology Sep 1, 2024

The word psychology comes from the Greek root psyche (ψυχή), which originally meant ‘soul’ or ‘breath of life’. In ancient Greek philosophy and literature, psyche referred to the vital force that animated a living being, often associated with the soul's immortality. Early understandings of psychology were heavily influenced by this concept of the soul as something distinct from the body, encompassing both life force and human essence.

Over time, the meaning of psychology evolved to focus more on the human mind and its functions rather than the metaphysical or spiritual concept of the soul. During the Enlightenment and the development of modern science, there was a shift towards empiricism and observable phenomena. This led to psychology being redefined as the scientific study of the mind, behavior, and mental processes. The transformation of psychology from the "study of the soul" to the "study of the mind" reflects broader shifts in intellectual thought, from spiritual and metaphysical interpretations to rational and empirical inquiry.

2811: Substrates Aug 31, 2024

In linguistics, a substrate is the influence of a language that was originally spoken in a region on the language that eventually replaced it. This often happens when a population shifts from their native language (the substrate) to a new, dominant language (the superstrate), but retains certain linguistic features from their original language. These features can include vocabulary, sounds, syntax / grammar and are often a result of conquest or simply regular migration where speakers of the original language adopt the dominant one.

It is typical both on an individual level, and also on a demographic level that even after migration and adoption of a new language, speakers and their descendants will maintain elements of grammar, so something like “long time; no see” and “no can do” are word-for-word translations of the Cantonese (Chinese) equivalents [the substrate here] but not feature commonly in English [the superstrate here]. This is a very small-scale example to illustrate the point, but substrates can affect a language’s whole phonetic inventory, use of vocabulary, or even lead to the loss—or occasionally addition of—morphology.

Determining substrate influences involves looking for features in a language that don’t fit its typical patterns and can’t be explained by contact with related languages. Linguists use historical records, archaeological evidence, and comparisons with reconstructed forms of the original substrate language to identify these influences. By analyzing these patterns, linguists can reveal how languages evolve and how historical shifts in population and power are reflected in modern languages.

2810: Pepper: Black, Chili, & Bell Aug 30, 2024

The word 'pepper' originally referred to the spices derived from the Piper genus, specifically black pepper (Piper nigrum) and long pepper (Piper longum), both native to India. Black pepper, the dried, unripe berries of the Piper nigrum vine, became the most common spice in Europe, while long pepper, which has a similar but hotter flavour, was more popular in ancient times. The word 'pepper' comes from the Latin piper and the Greek péperi, which trace back to the Sanskrit pippalī, referring to 'long pepper'. These spices were central to early trade routes, leading to the widespread use of the word 'pepper' in Europe to refer to pungent, spicy flavors.

When Columbus encountered chili peppers in the Americas, these unrelated fruits from the Capsicum genus were named 'peppers' by analogy due to their similar hot, pungent taste. Despite having no botanical relation to black or long pepper, the name stuck. Later, the milder Capsicum varieties, known as bell peppers, were also called 'peppers' because of their botanical relation to chili peppers, even though they lack the spiciness. Thus, the word 'pepper' evolved from a specific reference to Indian spices to an umbrella term for various spices and vegetables from different parts of the world, connected by their shared pungency or resemblance.

2809: Squirrelly Cognates Aug 29, 2024

Etymologies are not always as obvious as they appear. For instance, the word for ‘squirrel’ is écureuil, pronounced [e.ky.ʁœj], a cognate with English but not a cognate with the far more similar looking Swedish ‘ekorre’ of the same meaning. In order to understand this, it is important to see how French words evolve, phonetically, from their Latin origins. 

The Latin 'sciurus'—from Greek meaning “shadow tail”—or really the Vulgar Latin *scūriolus is where ‘squirrel’ and ‘écureuil’ both originate. In the case of English, the change is pretty clear, changing the spelling slightly, losing the Latin -us suffix and keeping the diminutive -l suffix. In French, the process was also regular, if you know what to look for. Any word that begins S+consonant lost the S and added É, for instance Latin ‘schola’ (school) became école.

Most Germanic languages including Swedish have words like (Norwegian) ekorn, (Icelandic) íkorni and (German) Eichhörnchen which is from a root related to the Old English ‘acol’ meaning ‘freightful’. The German word looks as such because it added a diminutive suffix -chen. 

2808: Slavic -slav Names Aug 28, 2024

In the realm of Slavic names, one of the most striking features is the prevalence of names ending in -sław (-slav) This suffix, found in names like Bogusław, Bolesław, Jarosław, Mirosław, and Stanisław—here written in the Polish style, but found all over Eastern Europe—carries a rich linguistic and cultural heritage that spans centuries. These names belong to a broader category known as dithematic names, which are composed of two elements, each carrying its own meaning, with -sław being certainly the most productive ending.

You might think that it would be odd to name people based on the name of that people group, but they’re actually unrelated. The -sław suffix in these names derives from the Slavic root ‘slava’, meaning ‘glory’ or ‘fame’, not related to the word ‘Slav’. For example, Mirosław means "peace-glory," and Stanisław means "to become glorious".

It is important to note that the “-sław” suffix in these names is not related to the ethnonym “Slav.” Although it might seem intuitive to link these endings with the Slavic peoples as a whole, the suffix actually predates the broader use of "Slav" as an ethnonym. Instead, it belongs to a wider tradition of Slavic name-giving practices, where various suffixes were used to convey different desirable qualities. Other common affixes in Slavic dithematic names include -mir (meaning ‘peace’), as seen in Włodzimierz (Vladimir); -gost meaning ‘guest’ or ‘host’) as in Miłogost; and -bor (war), as in Boris or indeed Borzysław. 

For more Slavic -sław names, here is a list, in Polish orthography to be consistent. Write in if you know more.

Bogusław, Borysław, Gościsław, Jarosław, Kwiatosław, Mirosław, Mścisław, Rastisław, Rościsław, Sława, Sławojlub, Sławobor, Sławomir, Sobiesław, Srbosław, Stanisław, Świętosław, Tomisław, Wierosław, Władysław, Wiesław, Wyczesław.

2807: AI Strawberries: How Many R’s? Aug 27, 2024

While AI language models have made leaps and bounds when it comes to analyzing language and being able to sound functionally like a person even in many tasks, it fundamentally does not process language like a person. One clear example is that many generative programs struggle with a task like defining how many R’s are in ‘strawberry’, often listing 2 instead of the correct 3.

This is so because they are designed to understand and generate language based on context rather than perform literal text analysis. These models are optimized for grasping nuances, syntax, and meaning rather than focusing on specific character-level operations. In particular, they lack explicit programming ability to handle such tasks unless prompted very directly. The reason for this inability is due to something called ‘tokenization’ (not related to of sociology).

AI models process language through tokens—for instance numbering every word in a dictionary as opposed to listing the component parts— breaking text into smaller units for understanding. Depending on the tokenization method, the word "strawberry" may not be parsed in a way that facilitates an accurate count of the letter "R." AI is designed to emulate human-like thought processes and may, in this emulation, overthink a simple question, but has to simply guess based off of what it might expect from any spelling rules programmed in about how many R’s are in ‘strawberry’.

2806: Pen Knife Aug 26, 2024

The pen may be mightier than the sword, but the knife is mightier than the quill.

The term "pen knife" originally referred to a small, thin knife used for sharpening and indeed crafting quills, which is made of the end of large feathers, typically from a goose. With modern tools, it is easier to use separate knives to 1) clean the outside 2) clear the interior 3) form the nib and 4) cut a slit in the nib from these feathers, but when materials were more precious and it wasn’t practical to sharpen them all individually, having one jack-of-all-trades knife was just easier. 

Now, a pen knife is not only a small, handy knife, but also one that folds, sometimes giving the rough appearance of a pen, but this is not why it was named, and in fact ‘pen’ is from the Latin ‘penna’ meaning—and related to— ‘feather’. This is true in many other languages, like the French ‘plume’, related to ‘plumage’ in English, and of course shows up in “nome de plume” Over time, as quills became obsolete and the need for such knives diminished, "pen knife" came to describe any small folding knife, even though its connection to pen-making has faded from common knowledge.

2805: Pink and Pinkie Aug 25, 2024

Out of the names for the five fingers, the fact that two of them have multiple names is quite notable, and historically, there were probably even more variations. For instance, the now-ubiquitous middle finger was once called the long finger. The index finger is still regularly referred to as the pointer finger, forefinger, or occasionally, the first finger. While there are fewer alternatives overall, the little finger is also interchangeably known as the ‘pinkie’ (sometimes spelt ‘pinky’). In truth, these differences aren't so significant. ‘Pinkie’ comes from the Dutch word pinkje/pinkie, which hyper-literally means “little little-finger,” as it includes the diminutive suffix ‘-je’ attached to ‘pink,’ meaning ‘little finger.’

You might think that this Dutch ‘pink’ and ‘finger’ are related; after all, when comparing Romance languages to Germanic languages, [p] often becomes [f] (e.g., English ‘feather’ and Greek φτερόν (pteron)), and [k] is simply the unvoiced version of [g]. However, Dutch isn't a Romance language, and these words aren't related.

What is likely related, somewhat surprisingly based on phonetics despite their lack of semantic similarity, is the word ‘pink.’ It’s possible that the word, which is the name of a type of flower (which is pink in color), is also related to ‘pink’ as a term for a calf or a type of small sailboat. It may likewise be related to the words ‘wink’ and ‘blink.’ Exactly how these connections developed is somewhat unclear, but they probably originated from a broader sense of something small jutting out.

2804: Accolades Aug 24, 2024

The word "accolades" traces its roots back to the Latin word accollare, meaning "to embrace around the neck." This term evolved through Old French into accolade, which referred to the ceremonial act of knighthood, where a sword or an embrace was used to tap or encircle the neck of the newly appointed knight. The neck, being the focal point in this gesture, is directly tied to the word ‘collar’, which stems from the Latin ‘collum’, meaning ‘neck’. Thus, the concept of bestowing honors, or accolades, is etymologically linked to the word "collar."

Over time, ‘accolade’ expanded beyond its medieval origins to denote any form of praise or honor, moving beyond anything related to necks or for that matter anything tangible.

2803: Famous Fractions

All numbers can be made fractional, so three becomes a fifth, twelve to a twelfth. Some numbers though are so apparently natural as to get their own words. Many languages have a distinct words for ‘half’ to the point that, in English, it would not be an option to say ½ as “a second”. Second to having a word for ‘half’ that doesn’t fit the normal pattern is having a word like in English, ‘quarter’, though here to say “a fourth” is perfectly acceptable too. ‘Third’, too, is distinct but this has to do mostly with metathesis from it earlier being a thrid’ from an even earlier thrith (or thrið). For a much longer list of other languages that do this, scroll to the end. 

Elsewhere, English also has numbers for certain lump amounts, but these don’t line up. In units of years, there are the base-10 decade, century, and millennium, but in terms of objects there are dozen, score, and gross (12, 20, & 144 [a dozen dozens] respectively). Because these systems don’t line up neatly they can be combined for more colloquial ways of saying certain other frequently used amounts, like how a half-dozen is 6 and a quarter-century is 25 years.

Back to the phenomenon of half and quarter, and very occasionally third, getting words that don’t fit the normal paradigm, see how it pops up all over the world in languages and cultures that would have had little interaction to prove that it is apparently quite a natural progression. 

French:

Half: Moitié (does not fit the "demi-" pattern used for other fractions)

Quarter: Quart (a distinct word, not a derivative of "fourth")

Other Fractions: Tiers (third), Cinquième (fifth), etc.

Spanish:

Half: Mitad (distinct from "medio")

Quarter: Cuarto (while derived from "cuatro," it is a specific term for one-fourth)

Other Fractions: Tercio (third), Quinto (fifth), etc.

Russian:

Half: Половина (Polovina; doesn't follow the usual ordinal fraction pattern)

Quarter: Четверть (Chetvert'; a special term, not the expected "четвёртая" for fourth)

Other Fractions: Треть (third), Пятая (fifth), etc.

Outside of European languages, this is still common, far and away with the word for ½ as with Japanese, Korean, Finnish and Mandarin, but it is even common to see a quarter have its own word, which appears in Thai, Wolof (in West Africa), Zulu.

2802: What’s the Matter with the Matterhorn? Aug 22, 2024

The famous Swiss mountain, known in English and German as the Matterhorn, is known by a very different looking name in French and Italian, that being Cervin and Cervino respectively. There are numerous reasons how it got to be as famous as it is, one of which being its distinctive shape with a very narrow base and sharp point. 

You might think, especially given this shape, that the horn of Matterhorn and the cervo (‘deer’ in Italian) in Cervino would be relevant, but that’s not exactly true. What is true is that ‘Matterhorn’ is a combination of “matter + horn” meaning “meadow-peak”, but this is not specifically related to a horn like an animal—though this is where the English ‘horn’ came from many centuries prior to this. In the case of Cervin(o), it is even less related, having previously been from the French ‘servin’, from the Latin “(mōns) silvanus” or “wooded (mountain)”. This S was changed to a C by Horace Bénédict deSaussure—not to be confused with the linguist, father of semiotics, Ferdinand de Saussure— who mistook the name to be related to the French ‘cerf’ (deer), and by extension Italian ‘cervo’.

2801: Bro-Noun Aug 21, 2024

The term ‘bro’ has evolved from its traditional role as a vocative expression—typically used to address someone in a familiar or informal way—into basically a pronoun. Historically, ‘bro’ was primarily employed as an exclamation or a term of endearment among friends, akin to saying ‘dude’ or ‘buddy’. Yet, it is now common to hear phrases like, "if bro thinks he can do that, he’s in for a surprise", where ‘bro’ functions as a stand-in for an unspecified person, reflecting a more pronoun-like usage. This may have first began by simply dropping the determiner (e.g. instead of “my bro” or “this bro”) which can also be with ‘dude’ in some cases, so the distinction to look out for in coming years, assuming this persists, is how generally the term ‘bro’ can be applied especially mid sentence. After all, the only syntactic distinction between a noun and a proper noun, which includes pronouns, is whether it is able to take a determiner.

Pronouns are considered a closed lexical class (i.e. part of speech), meaning it is exceedingly rare to see a new word with that type of syntactic function. When it does happen, it is usually from an external need, like the relatively new use of the pronoun “you guys”—and other second person plurals like y’all, yous, and yinz—so in this case perhaps the need in question was for an third person pronoun with an informal register, though it just as well might have been a random occurrence.

2800: ...and I Say Tomato Aug 20, 2024

Continuing the tomato talk from yesterday, perhaps second to ‘tomato’ and its number of cognates, the Polish ‘pomidor’ or Russian помидо́р (same, but in Cyrillic) is found across many languages. Most Slavic languages use a version of this, along with a number of Turkic languages, particularly in the former-Soviet sphere, like Uzbek, Yakut, and Azeri, along with Armenian and Yiddish too, but also a number of others which probably got it from the Persian پامادور (pâmâdor), including dialects of Arabic and Turkish, that would otherwise use a word related to ‘tomato’ where Arabi’s lack of [p] forced this to be بَنَدُورَة (banadūra), and the same in Turkish. One interesting case is that Georgian has two words for tomato, commonly პომიდორი (ṗomidori), but also ოქროვაშლა (okrovašla) which might look totally unrelated, but the latter is a calque. A calque of what?–you might ask.

Given this list, you might this this originated somewhere in the Central Asian world, either from Russian or Persian, but despite their immense levels of influence, this is from an Italian phrase “pomo d’oro” meaning “apple of gold”, mentioned yesterday. While it was unlikely that that phrase led to the phrase “love apple” through a French misinterpretation as “pomme d'amour” (apple of love), it did lead to ‘pomodor(o)’ in Italian. Back to Georgian, this word is made of the elements ოქრო (okro) for ‘gold’ +‎ ვაშლი (vašli), for ‘apple’ +‎ -ა (-a). The reason why the Italian word, ‘pomodoro’, is not as common in Western Europe or among other Romance languages, but is prevalent in this context, has to do in part with 18th-century missionaries and others who first introduced tomatoes to this part of the world. Since tomatoes were still commonly feared as poisonous in the 18th century, this was the only point of contact that introduced the East to them.

A few other notable mentions:

•Romanian uses the name for the color roșie (from roșu: “red”)

•Swahili uses nyanya which also means ‘grandma’ 

•Thai uses a word มะเขือเทศ (makhuthes) being a compound meaning “foreign eggplant”

•Hungarian’s word paradicsom from German Paradiesapfel (paradise apple)