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’ isContinue reading “Greek, the Asian and African Language”
Tag Archives: history
Sázava and the Consolidation of the West
Central-Bohemian towns with 4,000 inhabitants rarely star as the headline destinations of travel vloggers and guidebooks to the Czech Republic. Prague, Brno, Karlovy Vary, Plzeň, Olomouc, Český Krumlov – these are where I’d personally send a first-time tourist. The town of Sázava, meanwhile, lying twenty miles southeast of Prague, I would reserve for the history-desperateContinue reading “Sázava and the Consolidation of the West”
‘Why Q Needs U’ cover reveal!
Friends, linguists, beloved subscribers, lend me your eyes! My new book Why Q Needs U has a cover. Now, you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but you can judge a cover, and this one is looking good. This reveal also comes with a limited-time discount… A lot of thought and emails have goneContinue reading “‘Why Q Needs U’ cover reveal!”
The Most Serene Etymology: English’s Venetian Vocabulary
Freshly disembarked from lagoon-voyaging vaporettos, I now find myself left with only fond memories of two recent days in Venice and on its nearby islands. Venice is a city to which the description of ‘unique’ at last seems fair, and somewhere that is easy to become obsessed with. Its amphibious lifestyle, where waves, not pavements,Continue reading “The Most Serene Etymology: English’s Venetian Vocabulary”
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”
Danny L. Bate 