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Monica, Erica, Rita, Tina: Why do so many women’s names end in A?

There’s a certain air of femininity around the letter A. For one reason, it brings a great number of modern female first names to a close. A sample of famous names, especially if skewed towards the West, will typically include a fair few examples. Among the female winners of a Nobel Prize, we find Claudia, Bertha,Continue reading “Monica, Erica, Rita, Tina: Why do so many women’s names end in A?”

A Love that Lasts Six Thousand Years

“… Love is not love Which alters when it alteration finds, Or bends with the remover to remove. O no! it is an ever-fixed mark That looks on tempests and is never shaken.” (William Shakespeare, Sonnet 116) February 14th has come round again, and love is in the air! ‘It was different in my day,’Continue reading “A Love that Lasts Six Thousand Years”

An Unexpected ‘Indian’ Language in the Middle East

Delighted and motivated by the positive response to my recent article, Greek, the Asian and African Language, my mind has been occupied by an eagerness to share another example of historical languages turning up where we don’t expect them to be. That post and this one are united by an appreciation of how interconnected the ancientContinue reading “An Unexpected ‘Indian’ Language in the Middle East”

Greek, the Asian and African Language

Just as the borders of Europe are geographically, politically and socially fuzzy, so too are its linguistic edges. Whatever lines of demarcation we care to draw, the many flavours of speech to be heard in Europe flow over those lines like the air of which they’re made. Consequently, a label like ‘a European language’ isContinue reading “Greek, the Asian and African Language”

Cool Etymology: Chilled Jelly and Cold Gelato

In previous years, I’ve seized on the annual holiday of Christmas as inspiration for a December article. For this year, though, I fancy a foray into the weather conditions associated with that holiday: that is, the cold. Christmas imagery is inseparable from low temperatures, what with all its snow, reindeer, and jolly gentlemen in fur-linedContinue reading “Cool Etymology: Chilled Jelly and Cold Gelato”

A Voice for the Voiceless: English’s Lost Consonants

In September this year, Catherine Clarke, professor at the Institute of Historical Research, published A History of England in 25 Poems. This chronological hike through England’s history via verses that its people have left behind was released to great acclaim – and no wonder, when the book manages to be comfortable and accessible, yet alsoContinue reading “A Voice for the Voiceless: English’s Lost Consonants”

Sázava and the Consolidation of the West

Central-Bohemian towns with 4,000 inhabitants rarely star as the headline destinations of travel vloggers and guidebooks to the Czech Republic. Prague, Brno, Karlovy Vary, Plzeň, Olomouc, Český Krumlov – these are where I’d personally send a first-time tourist. The town of Sázava, meanwhile, lying twenty miles southeast of Prague, I would reserve for the history-desperateContinue reading “Sázava and the Consolidation of the West”

The Silence of the Letters

This post was inspired by communication between me and James McConnachie, who recently and kindly reviewed my book, Why Q Needs U, for the most recent edition of The Sunday Times. The review, which can be found online here, was joyous in its wide selection of facts and features of spelling that James enjoyed. It concludes with aContinue reading “The Silence of the Letters”

‘Why Q Needs U’ – Out Today!

The long-awaited day (awaited by me at least) is here, as October 2nd is the publication day of my new book Why Q Needs U: A history of our letters and how we use them! Find it here: https://geni.us/WhyQNeedsU Published in the UK by Blink/Bonnier, it’s now available to find in British bookshops – asContinue reading “‘Why Q Needs U’ – Out Today!”

Reflections of Trieste

Like an insufferable fin-de-siècle socialite, I’m writing this on my honeymoon, a three-stop holiday that naturally never once ventures outside the old borders of the Austrian Empire.¹ As any self-respecting new husband should, it’s giving me the time to reflect on the two dearest things in life: a beautiful wife, and language history. No otherContinue reading “Reflections of Trieste”