Reading time: 10 minutes Now, I must confess, I have been somewhat preoccupied for the past two months, and so haven’t dedicated time to this site. The jump into the world of podcasting has taken a lot of effort, and yet the website hasn’t been far from my thoughts. So, for this October, I’m gettingContinue reading “The Reichenau Glossary and the Birth of French”
Tag Archives: historical linguistics
Five Antiquities of English
Reading time: 10-15 minutes To listen along in an audio format, just click here: IT’S WELL KNOWN that English has undergone many significant changes down the centuries. Events like the Norman Conquest have drastically altered the shape of the language, influencing words and sounds so much that a new kind of English was born. YetContinue reading “Five Antiquities of English”
What did British Latin sound like?
The transition from Roman Britain to Medieval Britain is a fascinating historical, archaeological and linguistic puzzle. The fifth, sixth and seventh centuries AD in Britain are like a black box, into which we put a well-integrated region of the Roman Empire, and out of which emerges a patchwork of new kingdoms, cultures and languages. ExplainingContinue reading “What did British Latin sound like?”
Why does Czech sound like that?
Reading time: 10-15 minutes To listen to this piece and my mixed success at pronouncing both modern-day Czech and ancient Slavic, click here: To hear the sounds denoted between /slashes/, click here for an interactive IPA. The Czech language has, among language learners and lovers, a fairly fierce reputation. Over the intricacies of its grammarContinue reading “Why does Czech sound like that?”
Behind the Scenes of Etymology with YouTube’s Jackson Crawford
Just another personal bit of news from me: my appearance as a virtual guest and interviewee of Dr Jackson Crawford is now up on YouTube! Dr Crawford is one of the biggest linguistics YouTubers active at the moment, and it was a real thrill to be invited for one of his Patreon interviews. You canContinue reading “Behind the Scenes of Etymology with YouTube’s Jackson Crawford”
(Hopefully) Halfway to Doctorhood
Reading time: 15-20 minutes Passing a milestone on a long journey, be it a metaphorical or a literal one, is always a moment for reflection. Recently, after fifteen months, I crawled over the finish line of a large part of my PhD project, and promptly ran off to the pub. The morning after, I awokeContinue reading “(Hopefully) Halfway to Doctorhood”
The Almost Romance Languages
If you like languages, you’ve probably heard the terms Romance and the Romance family. Although it started life as a name for the language of medieval France, Romance has come to be the umbrella term for a big group of modern tongues, including French, Spanish, Portuguese, Catalan, Italian and Romanian. The key criterion behind thisContinue reading “The Almost Romance Languages”
Journeying into gender with Words for Granted!
Hot on the heels on my previous podcast appearance, I joined Ray from the popular and long-running etymology podcast Words for Granted to talk about grammatical gender – what it is, why it exists, where it comes from and how English managed to completely lose it! You can listen to the episode in full here:Continue reading “Journeying into gender with Words for Granted!”
Getting to Grips with Greek: Achieving the Alphabet
Reading time: 10 minutes Since antiquity, the Ancient Greek language has held a certain prestige that extends far beyond its autochthonous corner of the Mediterranean. Its influence has been multi-faceted; Greek vocabulary today turns up in so many different spheres of so many different languages, such as in terminology for medicine, for chemistry, for engineering,Continue reading “Getting to Grips with Greek: Achieving the Alphabet”
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 