Indo-European
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Did the Philistines Speak Greek?
It’s often nice to spot familiar faces where you don’t expect them, like an unforeseen run-in with a friend while on holiday. Joy in unexpected encounters is possible in the intellectual realm too; during my wanderings through the linguistic past, I’ve delighted in meeting languages and their humans whom I already know from elsewhere. One… Continue reading
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Ex- a Weird Old Word Order -ploring
Once, in my halcyon days of doctoral studies, I gave an informal presentation that ended not with the typical slide “any questions?”, but rather “any answers?”. The talk’s topic fitted into my overall research into the word order of ancient Indo-European languages. My task was to acquire, present, evaluate and compare the available evidence, upon… Continue reading
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The Etymological Problem with Apples
I remain resolute in the belief that ordinary, ten-a-penny words are far more interesting than the rare jewels and prized flowers of any language’s lexicon. Miss me with your petrichor and antidisestablishmentarianism; I’d much rather tell you about apple. This isn’t my contrarian streak speaking. I take genuine joy in the fact that tracing the etymology of… Continue reading
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The Armenian Who Learned Greek in Ancient Egypt
Or: Why my (probably) favourite historical document is a unique Armenian text without a word of Armenian. Centuries before the translation apps and pocketable phrasebooks of today, people who found themselves far from home made do with ink and papyrus. For reasons of pure linguistico-historical nerdery and joy, I’d like to introduce you to a… Continue reading
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Vltava, Sázava, Mumlava: A Mumble of Voices Almost Lost
Local rivers, specifically just one bit of them, have had me reflecting on lost language and the flow of time again. No one will be surprised by this. I recently descended from the heights of an enjoyable weekend in Krkonoše, a very hilly national park in the Czech Republic. Tucked up between two angles of… Continue reading
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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
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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
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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 ancient… Continue reading
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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’ is… Continue reading
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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-lined… Continue reading