Sign up to save your podcasts
Or
Share Adventures in Etymology – Strong Comfort
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Or
Adventures in Etymology – Strong Comfort
In this Adventure in Etymology we get comfortable and investigate the word comfort.
As a noun, comfort [ˈkʌm.fət / ˈkʌm.fɚt] can mean:
As a verb, to comfort can mean:
Comfort is also a surname and a female given name, and the name of places in Minnesota, North Carolina, Texas, West Virginia and Wisconsin in the USA [source].
It comes from Middle English comforten [kumˈfɔrtən] (to comfort), from Old French conforter (to reassure, comfort), from Latin cōnfortō (to make stronger, strengthen, give courage), from con- (with) and fortis (strong, powerful, resolute, brave) [source].
Words from the same roots include confortare (to comfort, console) in Italian, confortar (to comfort) in Portuguese, confort (comfort) and conforter (to strengthen, reinforce, confirm) in French, konfor (comfort) in Turkish (borrowed from French), and confort (cosiness) in Romanian (borrowed from French) [source].
The Spanish word confort also comes from the same roots. It means comfort or ease, and in the colloquial Spanish of Chile, it can refer to toilet paper – the name comes from a brand of toilet paper [source].
In Old English, one word for comfort or consolation was frōfor [ˈfroː.for], which became frovre / frother in Middle English, and survives in some English dialects as frover / frother (to comfort, solace) [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.
View all episodes
By Simon Ager
4.7
99 ratings
In this Adventure in Etymology we get comfortable and investigate the word comfort.
As a noun, comfort [ˈkʌm.fət / ˈkʌm.fɚt] can mean:
As a verb, to comfort can mean:
Comfort is also a surname and a female given name, and the name of places in Minnesota, North Carolina, Texas, West Virginia and Wisconsin in the USA [source].
It comes from Middle English comforten [kumˈfɔrtən] (to comfort), from Old French conforter (to reassure, comfort), from Latin cōnfortō (to make stronger, strengthen, give courage), from con- (with) and fortis (strong, powerful, resolute, brave) [source].
Words from the same roots include confortare (to comfort, console) in Italian, confortar (to comfort) in Portuguese, confort (comfort) and conforter (to strengthen, reinforce, confirm) in French, konfor (comfort) in Turkish (borrowed from French), and confort (cosiness) in Romanian (borrowed from French) [source].
The Spanish word confort also comes from the same roots. It means comfort or ease, and in the colloquial Spanish of Chile, it can refer to toilet paper – the name comes from a brand of toilet paper [source].
In Old English, one word for comfort or consolation was frōfor [ˈfroː.for], which became frovre / frother in Middle English, and survives in some English dialects as frover / frother (to comfort, solace) [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.