There seems to be no end to the elaborate ways in which words flit from language to language, work their way into our daily speech, and become so comfortable and familiar as to overshadow their surprising etymologies. Below are three more examples of just such unexpected word origins to amuse any lover of language. Jealousy […]
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To mark tonight’s full moon, let’s take a linguistic look at the features and phases of our planet’s familiar satellite. Gibbous Just on either side of a full moon, between 51 and 99 percent of the moon’s surface is visible during the gibbous phase. It derives its name from the Latin gibbus, meaning “hump” or
Oftentimes, the most ubiquitous and innocuous of everyday words have the richest stories to tell. This is the case with the word “radical.” In common usage today, it has a colloquial history that reaches back into the 14th century, and a ramified journey that dates back to ancient Rome. The origins of this word are grounded
Interesting Etymologies: Radical, Dude! Read More »
Text and cartoons by Linda Thompson The Philogelos, typically translated as “the joker” or “the one who loves laughter”, is an ancient Greek collection of approximately 265 jokes. Dating to the 4th or 5th century CE, it typically bears the title of the world’s oldest surviving collection of jokes. After reading Dan Crompton’s translation of
The Philogelos: Joke #99 Read More »
Interview conducted by Greg Nedved, Secretary of the National Museum of Language. Several CONLANGS have visible symbols such as flags, e.g., Esperanto, Volapük. What, if any, positive role can flags or symbols play in developing CONLANGS? Is there any value to creating flags or symbols for natural languages, e.g., English, German, French? They probably play
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We are pleased to introduce you to our newest Board of Trustees member, Leslie Grahn. Leslie is the Coordinator of World Languages for the Howard County Public Schools in Maryland. She has twenty-seven years of language teaching experience at the middle and high school levels. She has been on the Board of Directors of the Maryland
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Some of the most familiar words in the English language had dramatically different meanings when they first started their journeys. Here we share a few professions and their unexpected etymological roots. Doctor: from the Latin docere, meaning “to teach, to show”. Until the 1700s, being a doctor typically entailed providing religious advice or scholarly teachings.
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The Linguistic Society of America held its annual conference in Washington DC this week. It was the site of votes on the names of the year and words of the year. Linguists looked at the names and words that were in the news and decided which ones will be used and remembered beyond 2015. Article
American Linguists Get the Last Word – of the Year Read More »
Text and cartoons by Linda Thompson The Philogelos, typically translated as “the joker” or “the one who loves laughter”, is an ancient Greek collection of approximately 265 jokes. Dating to the 4th or 5th century CE, it typically bears the title of the world’s oldest surviving collection of jokes. After reading Dan Crompton’s translation of
The Philogelos: Joke #188 Read More »
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