Reading time: 10 minutes (Note: as usual, letters between /slashes/ refer to sounds, following the IPA, while an *asterisk denotes a reconstructed, prehistoric word.) English and Ancient Greek are distantly related languages that descend from a common ancestor – consequently, if you’re trying to learn one and already know the other, you can use theseContinue reading “From English to Greek in Two Rules”
Category Archives: Etymology
The Un-mouthing of Sounds
This post is a brief introduction to the process of debuccalization, a sound change with the power to dispel confusion in various languages of Europe and beyond. With the help of some concrete examples taken from three languages, this is a concept that I believe might come in rather handy for language learners. As isContinue reading “The Un-mouthing of Sounds”
Walloons, Wales and Cornish Walnuts
The Wonderful World of *walha– Reading time: 10-15 minutes This article is an adaptation of one first written for the brilliant interdisciplinary magazine Porridge, which you can find out more about at porridgemagazine.com. Note that an asterisk * is used for historically undocumented and therefore hypothetical words. I’d like to tell you the tale ofContinue reading “Walloons, Wales and Cornish Walnuts”
The Economic Sandwiches of York
The Adventures of Proto-Indo-European *weiḱ- What links sandwiches to Vikings, and York to Czech villages? Why, etymology of course! One reconstructed Proto-Indo-European word has enjoyed enormous success in its subsequent, post-PIE life, in part thanks to its useful meaning, in part to the prestige of the languages that inherited it. This word is *weiḱ– andContinue reading “The Economic Sandwiches of York”
Danny L. Bate 