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Adventures in Etymology – Odd Umpires
In this Adventure in Etymology we discover the odd roots of the word umpire.
An umpire [ˈʌm.paɪə(ɹ) / ˈʌm.paɪɹ] is an official who presides over a sports match, or a person who arbitrates between contending parties. To umpire means to act as an umpire in a game, or to decide as an umpire.
It comes from Middle English noumper (arbitrator, umpire), which was rebracketed as an oumper, and come from Old French nonper (odd number, not even [as a tie-breaking arbitrator]), from non (not) and per (equal) [source].
The Old French per (equal), comes from Latin par (even, equal, like, suitable), from Proto-Italic *par- (even, equal, matching), possibly from PIE *perh₂- (to sell).
Words from the same roots may include pair, peer, compare in English, paar (pair, couple) in Dutch, пара (para – pair, couple) in Russian, par (even, pair, couple) in Spanish, and cymar (peer, fellow, spouse, partner, companion) in Welsh [source].
Another word for an official who makes sure the rules are followed during a game is referee, which comes from Old French referer (to tell, talk about), from Latin referō (to bear, bring, return), from re- (back, again) and ferō (to bear, carry, support) [source].
Related words include refer and relate in English, référer (to refer) in French, riferire (to report, tell, relate, attribute) in Italian, and possibly rrëfej (to tell) in Albanian [source].
If you would like to support this podcast, you can make a donation via PayPal or Patreon, or contribute to Omniglot in other ways.
Radio Omniglot podcasts are brought to you in association with Blubrry Podcast Hosting, a great place to host your podcasts. Get your first month free with the promo code omniglot.
I also write about words, etymology and other language-related topics on the Omniglot Blog, and I explore etymological connections between Celtic languages on the Celtiadur blog.
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By Simon Ager
4.7
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In this Adventure in Etymology we discover the odd roots of the word umpire.
An umpire [ˈʌm.paɪə(ɹ) / ˈʌm.paɪɹ] is an official who presides over a sports match, or a person who arbitrates between contending parties. To umpire means to act as an umpire in a game, or to decide as an umpire.
It comes from Middle English noumper (arbitrator, umpire), which was rebracketed as an oumper, and come from Old French nonper (odd number, not even [as a tie-breaking arbitrator]), from non (not) and per (equal) [source].
The Old French per (equal), comes from Latin par (even, equal, like, suitable), from Proto-Italic *par- (even, equal, matching), possibly from PIE *perh₂- (to sell).
Words from the same roots may include pair, peer, compare in English, paar (pair, couple) in Dutch, пара (para – pair, couple) in Russian, par (even, pair, couple) in Spanish, and cymar (peer, fellow, spouse, partner, companion) in Welsh [source].
Another word for an official who makes sure the rules are followed during a game is referee, which comes from Old French referer (to tell, talk about), from Latin referō (to bear, bring, return), from re- (back, again) and ferō (to bear, carry, support) [source].
Related words include refer and relate in English, référer (to refer) in French, riferire (to report, tell, relate, attribute) in Italian, and possibly rrëfej (to tell) in Albanian [source].
If you would like to support this podcast, you can make a donation via PayPal or Patreon, or contribute to Omniglot in other ways.
Radio Omniglot podcasts are brought to you in association with Blubrry Podcast Hosting, a great place to host your podcasts. Get your first month free with the promo code omniglot.
I also write about words, etymology and other language-related topics on the Omniglot Blog, and I explore etymological connections between Celtic languages on the Celtiadur blog.