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 ofContinue reading “Vltava, Sázava, Mumlava: A Mumble of Voices Almost Lost”
Tag Archives: Germanic
The Liquid of the Elbe
High up in the Giant Mountains (Krkonoše), in the north of the Czech Republic, one of Europe’s mightiest rivers bubbles into life as a bit of soggy bog. This river is the Elbe, which rises on the southern slopes of Mount Violík, and soon picks up speed by crashing over and down the Elbe Falls,Continue reading “The Liquid of the Elbe”
Is This [Is] An English Question?
Reading time: 10 minutes For this November’s post, I’d like to shine a syntactic spotlight on an unusual feature of English word order. While you might not know it from my online offerings, I am first and foremost a syntactician: words are fascinating, but it’s how we arrange them together that interests me most. TheContinue reading “Is This [Is] An English Question?”
Walloons, Wales and Cornish Walnuts: The Wonderful Word World of *walha-
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 of a headlong tumble down a rabbit hole of etymologyContinue reading “Walloons, Wales and Cornish Walnuts: The Wonderful Word World of *walha-“
Danny L. Bate 