2827: Peace Symbol ☮ Sep 16, 2024
The peace symbol, ☮, known also as the CND symbol, was made for the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, but even its creator did not give a single, clear answer after it was first displayed in 1958 to protest outside of the Nuclear Weapons Research Center in London. While he said that the symbol was supposed to be reminiscent of someone kneeling with his arms outstretched, his original explanation is that it comes from flag semaphore, specifically from the overlap of signals of someone making an N and a D, for “nuclear disarmament”. Ultimately, even if it was abstracted, that would possibly make this one of the last major uses of flag semaphore for any vaguely communicative or at least symbolic purpose in modern life.
2826: Origins of Hanged-Hung Split Sep 15, 2024
Everyone knows that the past tense of ‘hang’ is ‘hung’ except in the context of execution in which case it’s ‘hanged’, but why is that?
As discussed in yesterday’s post, when there is a semantic split between strong and weak forms of a verb, as there is here, the basic sense (as in “he hung a picture”) is strong and the more distant sense, referring to execution, is weak (“they hanged a criminal”). What’s notable about this set up is that ‘hanged’ is the ‘older’ form, and ‘hung’ only started to develop in the late 16th century. While the trend for most verbs is that strong forms are giving way to weak ones (see more on that here), there are a few that have bucked this trend, like ‘hung’ and more recently ‘snuck’. Either direction however, in many cases, the older form clung on in specific contexts, though even that has changed for ‘hanged’, which used to be used in all formal and especially legal contexts, but phrases like a ‘hung jury’ do not use the weak form.
2825: A Strong and Weak Verb Sep 14, 2024
Usually, a verb is either weak, meaning it has an affixed morphological change for (usually) tense, like bike-biked, while strong verbs have an internal vowel change like sing-sang-sung. In German, the verb ‘bewegen’ displays an interesting morphosyntactic divergence: it behaves as a strong verb when used in the sense of “to persuade” (past tense bewog, subjunctive bewöge), but as a weak verb when meaning “to move” (bewegte, bewegt). This split likely reflects a process of semantic differentiation within the language, where older, strong conjugations tend to be preserved in metaphorical or abstract meanings (like “to persuade”), while the more literal usage (like “to move”) has shifted towards a weak pattern. This sort of pattern exists in English, but usually the later-occurring and more metaphoric type meaning is the one to be weak, which is not the case with ‘bewegen’.
2824: The Origins of Ge’ez Sep 13, 2024
Egyptian hieroglyphs eventually led to the modern alphabets that most of the world uses, but that is mostly because of the widespread proliferation of Phoenician writing, which you should read more about here. However, there was another offshoot early on. Before Phoenician writing even existed, there was the Proto-Sinaitic script which is the first alphabetic type writing to emerge from hieroglyphs. This eventually evolved into Phoenician, but it also led to the South Semitic writing system, turning into (among other now-extinct systems) Old South Arabian, used in what is now Yemen. With Old North Arabian scripts dying out by the 4th century AD, the only surviving descendant of what were once many scripts tracing their lineage to South Semitic writing is Ge’ez, used for a number of languages in Ethiopia and Eritrea, notably Tigrinya and Amharic.
This makes Ge’ez, with all of its local variations, possibly the only alphabetic writing system with ancient roots not directly linked with the Phoenicians.
2823: Sturdy: Unsturdy Etymologies Sep 12, 2024
The word sturdy, as most adjectives with a -y ending, would imply that there is a word ‘sturd’, which doesn’t exist, but actually the situation is more complicated; it comes from the Old French word ‘estourdi’ (now ‘etourdi’), which would explain English spelling, except that Middle English had ‘sturdy’ with the -y. The problem with this answer is that the Modern English, Middle English, and Old French words all mean completely different things: firm, powerful - with both valiant and tyrannical connotations, and dazed, respectively.
In the case of Middle English to Modern English, that change of meanings is relatively easy to grasp, especially that it seems to have been influenced by another word ‘stor’ that also meant ‘bold’ or ‘sturdy’, and that the meanings over time merged and narrowed. It is not clear how the Old French origins led to this though. Complicating the origins yet further, ‘estourdi’ would appear to be the result of the natural evolution from the Latin “ex- + turdus” meaning “out of/ through a thrush”, as in the bird. The best explanation, semantically, is that the thrush in some way connoted drunkenness, leading to the sense of ‘dazed’, as in someone who has suffered a strong blow to the head. This sense of strength or firmness may have led to ‘sturdy’ as we have it in English.
It could also be that the original sense in English, including the idea of ‘rough’ or ‘coarse’, came from a connotation of drunkenness, which then evolved to mean “strong/firm.” However, this is not clear, and no one knows exactly how it came to take on an almost opposite meaning from the Old French. Despite a plethora of historical and linguistic explanations, major bodies like the Oxford and Cambridge dictionaries do not consider these theories plausible.
2822: Advice and Trees Sep 11, 2024
In Hebrew, the words for ‘wood’ (etz) עֵץ and ‘advice’ (etzah) עֵצָה are etymologically related, sharing a common root (ע-צ-ה, ʿ-ṣ-h). This root, as it were, connecting these two concepts conveys the sense of firmness or strength. The noun (etz) עֵץ refers to ‘wood’ or also simply ‘tree’, suggesting something solid and enduring. Similarly, (etzah) עֵצָה, meaning ‘advice’ or ‘counsel’, carries the connotation of something firm and reliable—guidance that one can depend upon, much like the sturdiness of wood. This quality of semantic relationship is common in many languages, where words for tangible objects are also reflected in abstract qualities.
2821: Umpteen is from Morse Code Sep 10, 2024
The word umpteen—a playful, indefinite number that suggests a large but unknown quantity—has its origins in the slang of Morse code operators. In the early 20th century, telegraphists often used the word ‘umpty’ or just ‘ump’, probably as a mimic of the sound, for the Morse code signal for a dash (–). Over time, ‘umpty’ began to be used as slang for an unspecified number, either in reference to its technically undefined length, or more likely just slang from its being the longer sound. The word ‘umpteen’ later emerged as a playful extension of "umpty," influenced by the suffix ‘-teen’ to sound like a real number but also that it sounds similar.
This usage was well suited to the period’s evolving English slang, which often drew on technological innovations and military jargon during WWI when we see it emerge, with ‘umpty’ peaking in popularity before 1919, and umpteen, which has only become more popular through to today is first found in 1914 before completely overtaking in well under a decade.
2820: Laconic Sep 9, 2024
The word ‘laconi'c’ describes a style of speaking that is brief and to the point, a trait famously associated with the Spartans of ancient Greece. The term comes from Laconia, the region where Sparta was located. While ‘Sparta’ is the more familiar term today, ‘Laconia’ referred to the entire territory under Spartan control, which included several towns beyond the city itself. The Spartans were known for their terse, direct way of speaking, reflecting their values of discipline and austerity. On the other hand, the term ‘laconicum’ is Latin for what we might call a dry sauna, which isn’t exactly related to savage living.
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.