At last, the cat has been let out of the bag: my first book, entitled Why Q Needs U, is due for publication at the start of October this year! The announcement appeared in The Bookseller yesterday, which shared a few details about the book and its bewildered author, and started the marketing countdown toContinue reading “‘Why Q Needs U’: New book due for release in October!”
Author Archives: dannylbate
Introducing: My Czech Word of the Week!
Another linguistic newsflash from me – yes, I know, two newsflashes in two days, but I have been keeping busy. As a reward for good behaviour in my current job at Radio Prague International, I have been allowed my own mini series all about etymology. Entitled Word of the Week, each instalment takes a lookContinue reading “Introducing: My Czech Word of the Week!”
‘A Language I Love Is…’ returns for Series 3!
A linguistic newsflash from me: My podcast, A Language I Love Is…, has started its third series! This is the podcast that’s all about languages, linguistics and love, which allows me to spend time chatting to linguistic experts and discussing particular languages in great depth. The episodes are freely available on major podcast platforms, suchContinue reading “‘A Language I Love Is…’ returns for Series 3!”
PIE was not SOV
Reading time: quite a while Having dedicated over four years of my life to the subject, I have one or two thoughts about the word order of Proto-Indo-European. Somebody somewhere had to have them. This reconstructed language – the ‘lost’ common ancestor proposed to explain the countless similarities across the Indo-European languages – has nowadaysContinue reading “PIE was not SOV”
New Article: ‘Wackernagel’s Law in Vedic and Old Irish’
By a happy twist of fate, January 2025, just like January 2024, has allowed me to announce a new academic publication! This time, it’s Wackernagel’s Law in Vedic and Old Irish, a paper co-authored with my brilliant colleague and dear friend Krishnan Ram-Prasad. The paper has been included among the proceedings for the thirty-fourth annualContinue reading “New Article: ‘Wackernagel’s Law in Vedic and Old Irish’”
A CHRISTMAS Full of Etymology
Reading time: 5 minutes It’s December now, the month when the calendar helpfully provides me with a topic for the monthly article. So, here’s a short and sweet linguistic post with a festive theme: nine Christmas-related words that I think have interesting etymologies, one for each of the nine letters of the word Christmas. IContinue reading “A CHRISTMAS Full of Etymology”
Oneteen, twoteen? The origins of ‘eleven’ and ‘twelve’
Reading time: 5 minutes November, at time of writing, is ticking out its final few hours, and with them, the eleventh month of 2024 is giving way to the twelfth. Aside from the awkward mismatch in the months’ etymology (November and December were originally the ninth and tenth months in the Roman calendar), the numbersContinue reading “Oneteen, twoteen? The origins of ‘eleven’ and ‘twelve’”
Relics in Roman Writing
Reading time: 5 minutes When we look at impressive Latin inscriptions from the days of Rome, there is something very fixed and familiar about the look of the letters. We recognise the roughly square-shaped capital letters like A, B and C as our own, and they more or less serve the same functions now asContinue reading “Relics in Roman Writing”
All We Hear is Radio Praha (Unexpected Part 2)
A personal update from me: September has brought it a change in occupation for me. This change has been a long time coming, and was a milestone on the road of life that seemed very distant when I was (totally unexpectedly) recommended for the job back in March. Now September is here, and that meansContinue reading “All We Hear is Radio Praha (Unexpected Part 2)”
Verba Bohemica: The Oldest Latin Words in Czech
Reading time: 5-10 minutes For this month, I’d like to revisit two languages very close to my heart: Latin and Czech. Besides English, they’re the two languages I tend to spend the most time with. Specifically, this is a simple post about how the former has historically affected the latter. As a European language, it’sContinue reading “Verba Bohemica: The Oldest Latin Words in Czech”
Danny L. Bate 