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-linedContinue reading “Cool Etymology: Chilled Jelly and Cold Gelato”
Tag Archives: Indo-European
Reflections of Trieste
Like an insufferable fin-de-siècle socialite, I’m writing this on my honeymoon, a three-stop holiday that naturally never once ventures outside the old borders of the Austrian Empire.¹ As any self-respecting new husband should, it’s giving me the time to reflect on the two dearest things in life: a beautiful wife, and language history. No otherContinue reading “Reflections of Trieste”
You Know More Finnish Than You Think
Linguistics illuminates the linguistically obscure – or so I’ve always thought. It’s a common theme of my online output that a little bit of historical linguistics goes a long way, making helpful connections and breaking down psychological barriers. This theme was present in two old posts of mine that used etymology to elucidate two OldContinue reading “You Know More Finnish Than You Think”
PIE was not SOV
Reading time: quite a while Having dedicated over four years of my life to the subject, I have one or two thoughts about the word order of Proto-Indo-European. Somebody somewhere had to have them. This reconstructed language – the ‘lost’ common ancestor proposed to explain the countless similarities across the Indo-European languages – has nowadaysContinue reading “PIE was not SOV”
New Article: ‘Wackernagel’s Law in Vedic and Old Irish’
By a happy twist of fate, January 2025, just like January 2024, has allowed me to announce a new academic publication! This time, it’s Wackernagel’s Law in Vedic and Old Irish, a paper co-authored with my brilliant colleague and dear friend Krishnan Ram-Prasad. The paper has been included among the proceedings for the thirty-fourth annualContinue reading “New Article: ‘Wackernagel’s Law in Vedic and Old Irish’”
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”
The Path of ‘Path’
Reading time: 5-10 minutes For this month, I’d like to shine an etymological spotlight on a humble bit of English vocabulary, which, at first glance, you wouldn’t give a second thought. As this post’s title implies, the everyday word in question is path. What, I hear you cry, is so special about path? It’s aContinue reading “The Path of ‘Path’”
Prehistoric Syntax and Public Linguistics with Jackson Crawford
A personal bit of news: a return to rambling enthusiastically on YouTube! I’ve another rare appearance in visual format, as I was delighted to be invited back by Dr Jackson Crawford for a second interview with him and his Patreon supporters. Last time, it was all about etymology; this time, I got to talk veryContinue reading “Prehistoric Syntax and Public Linguistics with Jackson Crawford”
The Fates of the Dual
The Story of Indo-European‘s (Mostly) Lost Number Reading time: 10 minutes Introduction One book, many books. One cat, many cats. One woman, many women. One sheep, many… well, also sheep. In Modern English, the grammatical options for nouns are limted to two. A given noun can be singular, referring to one individual thing, or plural,Continue reading “The Fates of the Dual”
Christmas Trees and Etymologies
Reading time: 5 minutes As an etymological Christmas gift from me for 2023, here’s a quick dive into the story and connections of one festive word: the humble Christmas tree. Now, Modern English tree goes back to Old English trēow, which could mean a specific tree or the substance of wood. … Ġeseah iċ wuldres trēow,wǣdum ġeweorðode, wynnum sċīnan,ġeġyred mid golde; ġimmas hæfdonbewriġene weorðlīċeContinue reading “Christmas Trees and Etymologies”
Danny L. Bate 