2881: Coke As Soda: A Slightly Different Eponym Nov 10, 2024

Lots of brands' names take on the generic meaning of their main product, from kleenex to hoover and so on. Plenty of these are basically global and some belong to specific regional dialects. That said, it is a slightly different story with how ‘Coke’ became the generic term for a soda in much of the Southern US. 

While usually a brand becomes eponymic from traditional market dominance, a sort of top-down approach, Coke on the other hand, which eventually developed into the most popular of the sodas, had an early lead, and before there was much centralization or even bottles, soda jerks would make their own syrups and also call them coke. This, later reinforced with market dominance, has helped to maintain the generic use of ‘Coke’ as soda. 

2880: Antic, Antics, & Antique Nov 9, 2024

‘Antic’ and ‘antics’ in practice are very different words, with the former referring to things that are grotesque and offputting, and the other is much softer referring to amusing our even outlandish behavior. Far more different to either of those that diverged in the late 15th or early 16th century, is ‘antique’, from the same root. 

The meaning of ‘antique’ is the original sense of the word, from ‘ante-’ meaning ‘before’ in Latin and specifically ‘antiquus’ (venerable), but in terms of pronunciation and spelling ‘antic’ was the original for English. While the meaning of grotesque [both it and ‘grotesque’ came to have negative connotations from Roman murals] came later and led to the sense of ‘antic’, the spelling was reverted to the French style and pronunciation in the 17th century. 

2879: The Dominance of ‘-ez’ in Spanish Surnames Nov 8, 2024

Out of the top 20 most common Spanish derived surnames, almost every single one ends with ‘-ez’ (or ‘-es’, a regional variant, and ‘-iz’ / ‘-oz’ as a phonotactic variant), like Lopez, Martinez, and Gonzalez, but it’s not entirely clear how the practice became so common. In most cases, the name is patronymic, with names like Hernandez from [child of] Hernando, though many others morphed like Perez from Pedro or Diaz from Diego. Gonzalez is actually from a Germanic, Visigoth origin, from ‘gunþo’ meaning “army / war elf” (see more on elf-based names in Germanic cultures), and related to Gunther and Gunnar. Cortez is not patronymic, and means ‘courteous’.

In general, many of the names that led to these surnames are no longer so popular, but offer a snapshot to a time when they were. The ‘-ez’ suffix possibly developed out of the genitive form in Latin, meaning “of [name]” but this progression is not clear looking at Medieval Spanish. It could be related to an instrumental suffix from Basque, or another pre-Roman language, but this is also difficult to evidence. 

2878: Basque Surnames in Spanish Nov 7, 2024

The Basque language is a mysterious isolate, found between formerly Celtic-, now Spanish- and French-speaking regions, but its impact on them has been significant. Many Spanish words, some of which have even entered English, come from Basque, like ‘avalanche’ and potentially ‘cony’, and ‘silo’, as well as ‘vega’ as in ‘Las Vegas’ (lit. the meadows). 

One of the greatest impacts it has in the modern day is the many surnames that come from Basque. Many of these come from inheriting the names of previous farms when new tenants bought the land. Names like Mendoza (“cold mountain”), Iñigo (with many variations including ‘Iniguez’) for ‘beloved’ or literally “my little” and Garcia come from Basque ‘gartzea’ meaning ‘young'. These are among the most popular of the Basque-originating Spanish names, with Garcia being one of the top 5 most popular Spanish / Hispanic names globally. 

2877: What the H: Jesus H Christ Nov 6, 2024

The phrase Jesus H Christ is a curious one at first glance. First of all, Christ is not a surname but rather a moniker equivalent to Messiah, from Greek, though in a sense many surnames began as titles or descriptions, like Smith or Carpenter. The bigger problem is a matter of what the H would stand for. 

It would be incorrect to assume that this is a middle name, which was not the practice until quite recently anywhere. Rather, it most likely comes from the Latin Jesus Homo Salvator meaning “Jesus, savior of man(kind)”.

2876: A Berry [Confusing] Problem Nov 5, 2024

In Modern Hebrew, תות (tut) means ‘strawberry’, but in Arabic توت (tut) at least colloquially refers to blueberries. In Persian, Georgian, and Aramaic, the word by default from the same root means ‘mulberry’, and indeed most of the languages from the former Russian, Ottoman and Persian empires’ spheres of influence use this root to mean ‘mulberry’ . This would have been the origin of the word, also appearing in numerous Indian languages; given the mulberry’s East Asian origins, that is not by itself surprising. What is more interesting is the fact that modern Semitic languages used the term to generically refer to berries, and then eventually that coalesced around one or another different type. In Arabic in particular, the word is used in combination to just mean ‘-berry’ such as توت العُليق (tut aleulyq) for raspberry/blackberry or توت أرضي  (tut ardeiyy) for ‘strawberry’, literally “(mul)berry of the ground”.

2875: Gopher (Animal), Nov 2024

Last week, ‘gopher’ as a type of wood was explored, but not the type of animal, more specifically the pocket gopher. This word is definitely unrelated, but it’s not clear exactly where it comes from. One leading theory is that it is related to ‘waffle’. The ways in which the sound changes from ‘gopher’, or really from French ‘gaufre’ can be explored more here, but the name refers to the holes they dig, like the shape of a waffle or literally (originally anyway)  a honeycomb. It may also be a native word from a Muskogean language.

2874: Turnpike: More like Turn-spike Nov 3, 2024

The term "turnpike" originally referred to a spiked barrier or gate designed to control access to roads. A ‘turnpike’ was a pivoted barrier, bristling with spikes—or rather, pikes—that rotated to allow or block passage, commonly used to prevent unauthorized travel or enforce tolls. In England, turnpikes were often found on toll roads, where travelers had to pay a fee to bypass these barriers. Over time, the name of the barrier itself became synonymous with the roads they guarded, eventually leading to the modern meaning of "turnpike" as a toll road, especially in the United States.

2783: Handsome – Gender Connotations Nov 2, 2024

Although the disparity has grown over time—especially in the last half-century or so—never has “handsome woman” been more common than “handsome man” etc. even going back to the 18th century. Comparatively, other words for beauty, like ‘beautiful’, ‘attractive’ and ‘cute’ (which used to be somewhat of an insult) have always been used more for women.

Usually, reasons of why are rarely fruitful in the humanities, but in this case the reason is because of the changing meaning of ‘handsome’. Before it gained connotations of looks, it had the same meaning as ‘handy’ today, in the sense of skillful. Eventually this took on more the sense of desirable and from there, attractive, but since it had originally referred to handiness and workmanship, it has always been a dominantly masculine word.

2872: Panzer – Older Than You Think Nov 1, 2024

One of the most famous words to have entered English from Axis languages, along with ‘blitz’ and ‘honcho’ is ‘panzer’ referring to the German tanks. While some tank names are new, or named after other people, like the Abrams, named after General Creighton Williams Abrams, Jr., but ‘panzer’ is also found around medieval texts. There, the term referred to chainmail, or other sorts of overlapping armor. That itself comes from Latin ‘pantex’ ultimately referring to a paunch.

2871: Mason Oct 31, 2024

If you hear the word ‘mason’ now, this is going to specifically relate to someone who works with stone, but there’s also the word ‘stonemason’ which would be redundant if that were completely true, as for instance no one refers to ‘wood carpenters’. You might think this is to distinguish from a bricklayer, who is also a mason, but deals not with stone, bricks being baked clay. Rather, it’s due to the word’s semantic narrowing over many centuries, having once denoted anyone involved in building a house, including carpenters. Just take a look at the surname of zoologist, James Wood-Mason. 

‘Mason’ is not related to the French ‘maison’ meaning ‘house’ nor of course by extension the English word ‘mansion’, the middle-N of which is actually more authentic to the original Latin ‘mānsiōnem’ (dwelling). It is, however, distantly related to the word ‘make’; the word came to English through Norman French via Latin 'maciō (“carpenter, bricklayer”), hence why the C→ Ç→S, but that is from a Germanic origin related to ‘make’.

2870: Slush Fund Oct 30, 2024

A slush fund is any store of money which is used for illegal or otherwise immoral things, but while it comes up now in the world of politics, big business, and accounting, it had far more humble origins. It began as nautical slang, referring to leftover grease and fat from cooking or other uses of reducing scraps. This was expected to be discarded, but could be sold for various purposes like making tallow or presumably soaps and candles.

While this wasn’t on the scale of slush funds that come up in the news today, it was an under-the-table means of small added profit on top of everything else. It was used in the 19th century but rapidly took off in popularity since the beginning of the 20th.

2869: Blueberries aren’t Blue* Oct 29, 2024

Blueberries are of course named for the color despite the strong reddish undertone—from the same natural chemicals that give red onions and red cabbage their purple color. Of course, there are also ‘blackberries’ and potentially ‘raspberries’ (see more on what color that is) also with color-based names, but naming precision aside, not everyone around the world agrees on blueberries. 

The Modern Hebrew word for them is אוכמנית (uchmanit) from an Aramaic word אוכמא (ukama) meaning ‘black’. Likewise, the Finnish ‘mustikka’ comes from ‘musta’ (black) , Russian черника (chernika) from чёрный (chornyj) also for ‘black’. Georgian’s word, მოცვი (mocvi) does sort of mean “blue+berry” but it has 3 different word for blue, and this is the lightest, more like a cyan or turquois.

2868: Henna & Heresy (Gopher pt. 3) Oct 28, 2024

The mysterious gopher wood may be cypress, related to Cyprus and copper, but it also has another place that it pops up. As with the Hebrew כופר (cofer) the Greek κύπρος (kupros) means ‘henna’ which English got from Arabic, along with ‘tachina’ (a.k.a. tahini) meaning ‘to grind; smear’. While the Greek and Hebrew words—Greek adopted its root from a semitic source—relates to both the plant and the body-paint byproduct, Hebrew כופר also means ‘heretic’*. The sense was extended from smearing to blotting out, and then somewhat metaphorically to blotting out someone’s name. 

The root letters can also mean ‘atonement’ or ‘village’ but all 3 of these roots are not clearly related.

2867: Cyprus and Cypress pt. 2 Oct 26, 2024

The Greek word kύπρος (kúpros) is not by itself a confusing term, but it pops up in lots of interesting places. Κύπρος is the Greek name for the island of Cyprus, which is the same name as its had since antiquity. Famous for its being the largest copper producer in the Mediterranean during the Bronze Age, this is the source of the metal’s name in Greek and eventually in English. Of course, it is also the name for the cypress tree, differentiated in spelling in English from the Island for clarity, but pronounced the same. 

Over the years, some have tried to connect the name to different religious practices of the Phoenicians or others, but even if this is true, this is not the source of the name of the island.

2866: Gopher Wood: An Etymological Mystery pt. 1 Oct 25, 2024

There are numerous untranslated—potentially untranslatable—words from Biblical Hebrew, typically in the realm of natural items like plants, animals, and minerals. One such example is גפר, the type of wood used for Noah’s Ark. The sentence structure itself is somewhat notable insofar as עשה לך תבת עצי־גפר (Make for yourself a box of woods/trees of gopher) is plural—atypical for mass nouns— but it is definitely a tree type. 

The main candidate for what this would have been is, in English, the cypress. The name of this tree, specifically the Mediterranean cypress, is traceable to Ancient Greek κύπρος but that itself appears to be of semitic origin, potentially related to the Akkadian kupru, denoting a type of aromatic tree sap, and would be related to the root גפר.

This is part one. There will be more on this root tomorrow.   

2865: A Non-Standard Unit? Oct 24, 2024

Those partial to the metric system may mock imperial or US customary units for their lack of consistent increments, but the top contender may be the penny, abbreviated: d, historically the abbreviation for pence. It is used for nails, especially those not measurable with wire gauges, but what makes them non-standard is their lack of internal consistency. For instance, while at first they seem to increase by one penny per ¼-inch, this does not hold up.

2d = 1 in., 4d = 1½ in. and 10 = 3in. in length, but that’s when the logical increments stop. Meanwhile 20d = 4in., (not 5 ½”) and 60d is only 6in. and not the staggering 15½ inches one would expect having looked at the beginning of the scale.

This is because, even though nails are still sold in this way (only) as a system of dimensional measurement, the name is a reflection of how much 100 (or 120) nails of such a size cost in 15th century England. That is to say, 2 pennies got a hundred 1-inch nails, but 6 pennies only got a hundred 6-inch nails.

2864: Oldest "New" City Oct 23, 2024

These days, cities or other regions being named for another place is pretty common. Just looking in America, 4 of 50 states—New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York—are named as ‘New …’, not to mention countless cities, both with the epithet or not (e.g. Cairo, Illinois or St. Petersburg, Florida). It may be surprising, but the ancient world had some ‘New …’ cities as well.

The oldest contender, and is probably Carthage, now Tunis. In Phoenician it was Qart Hadasht just meaning ‘new city’ named when the Phoenicians a.k.a. Canaanites moved their seat of power to there from Tyre, Lebanon sometime in the 9th century BC. That might not count since it is not named for another place. What definitely was is New Carthage, known now as the Spanish city of Cartagena, from Latin Carthago Nova or in Phoenician as Qart Hadasht just, again meaning ‘new city’ but in Latin it was directly named for the city of Carthage as they did not understand the name meaningfully. This New New City, as it were, was founded or at least rededicated shortly after the First Punic War. 

Elsewhere, the city of Naples comes from the Greek Νεάπολις (Neápolis) also meaning ‘new city’, after having expanded the port city of Παρθενόπη (Parthenope) meaning "Pure Eyes". Again, this is not exactly naming after another place, but to consider a “new city” in the 7th century BC is notable. 

Otherwise, the practice of naming a city or region wholesale after another place only became commonly in the Age of Exploration, but was common for all nations involved, including by the Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch, French, and English alike. This also came at a time when the frequency of naming cities was maybe at its height. 

2863: Numerals for Letters Oct 22, 2024

In languages that use alphabetic writing systems originally developed for other languages, or even just earlier versions of the given language, there are usually two ways of representing sounds outside of that alphabet. The first is the use of diacritic marks on the letters, and the second is by using digraphs and so on, which can be different letters like the English <th> or the same letter like the Spanish <ll> or <rr>.

One less common but equally effective way is to simply make up a new letter. Often this is a modification on an existing letter, like the Turkish İ, i obviously modeled after the lower case Latin I,i, but some languages have also borrowed from numbers. For instance, the Squamish name for its people is Sḵwx̱wú7mesh where its notable 7 is seen representing the glottal stop, quite similar to the IPA symbol for one, which is ⟨ʔ⟩, but is more available to print and type. In some Mesoamerican languages, namely Yucatec, historically <ꜭ> and <ꜫ> were used for the ejectives /k’/ and /q’/ respectively. These letters are respectively called Cuatrillo and Tresillo meaning ‘little 4 / 3’ in Spanish. While no longer in use, replaced by both diacritics and digraphs, they were some of the earliest attempts to transcribe these sounds unfamiliar to the Spanish. It was easier back then when it was not a concern to have to contend with the limitations of the printing press, nor certainly keyboards.

2862: Cedilla Ç: Why? Oct 22, 2024

The letter Ç, known as a cedille (from French) or a cedilla (from Spanish) is used in Turkic languages, along with a few Romance languages. The origins have been discussed here before including how it originated to represent the /t͡ʃ/ (like CH in English 'chew'), but still begs the question of why specifically the letter C was chosen to be modified, and about its strange name.

The name ‘cedilla’ means ‘little Z’ in Spanish, and likewise with its name in Portuguese and French. This is because is not a C with a comma underneath, c̦,  like in some Eastern European languages (also, those have a space in between), but originated as a combination of the letter C and Z: ꝣ—but in a cursive form like ʒ, similar to the German ß. In both the original /t͡ʃ/ pronunciation, or in the modern French / Portuguese pronunciation which is like /s/, this makes some sense, but why C?

This is because in Romance languages especially, the letter C has a tendency to vary widely depending on the linguistic environment, namely based on which vowel follows. Consider the most, or maybe only, widely used Ç in an English word: façade. In Latin faciēs (meaning, and related to ‘face’) was pronounced with a /k/ sound, which became Italian ‘facciata’ with a /t͡ʃ/ sound, which was then loaned into French with the /s/ sound. Of course, it could have been written with an <s>; it also keeps some remnant of the etymology but also indicates it is not pronounced like /k/—which it normally would be before <a>—the letter Ç is used. 

None of this is true in Turkic languages regarding etymologies, but that the typeface is convenient to have a distinct letter for /t͡ʃ/.