Dead Air

Red headed, Irish folklore enthusiast Claire Alcock explores the various passage tombs and burial mounds of Mountain Knocknarea, who is buried there and why? A story of love, bravery and cheese.

"Hello again Word Lovers!" in this episode we are going to look at words in English that have come from Spanish!

escaramuza - A smaller fight within a battle, skirmish

emboscada - in the woods or bush, ambush

escorbuto - scurvy

Jerez - Sherry

Armada - The Spanish fleet that attempted to invade England in 1588. A very specific term in English that in Spanish refers to the Armed Forces.

Armado + diminutive suffix = armadillo (the armoured animal)

Multiple place names in USA derive from Spanish: Colorado, Florida, Montana, Nevada, Las Vegas and the world famous El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles de Porciúncula.

Corral, cañón and sierra all find their way into English via American use.

Cockroach is from the Spanish cucaracha. Mosquito meaning small fly comes from Spanish too.

Alligator comes from the Spanish meaning The Lizard.

"Hello again Word Lovers!" on this outing we are going to step out of the history of words and take a look at the symbols of mathematics!

( The round brackets)

Apparently invented by Erasmus, replacing the more square shaped example used until then

= Equals

Invented by Robert Recorde in 1557. The Welsh physician and mathematician is also credited with introducing the pre existing + sign to English speakers in the same year. His life is one of meteoric rise and stunning decline. Being appointed royal physician and then controller of the Royal Mint before then being sued for defamation and dying in debtors prison.

@ - The at symbol is far older than anyone could imagine, being noted in texts as early as 1536.

π - The Pie symbol, from the Greek letter π was first devised by another Welshman, mathematician William Jones in 1706, although he wrote that his equations came from the "ready pen of the truly ingenious Mr. John Machin" leading to speculation that he may have put it to use before Jones. The idea was not immediately adopted by others, who continued to use fractions to represent the figure beyond 1760.

+ & - were put to use in the late 15th century by German mathematicians. Prior to their implementation, P or M or PP and MM were used.

X for multiplication was originally a simply dot or point. The x can be traced to English mathematician William Oughtred in 1618 although there are examples of earlier use but they are hotly debated in symbol etymology chasing circles.

∞ for infinity was first used by John Wallis, English mathematician, in the mid 1650s.

Leonhard Euler, the Swiss mathematician was rather prolific in the line of symbol invention but there is some dispute about his complete list.

We investigated the numbers 1 to 10 in episode 10 "Pie Again" but the number zero was not covered. It is, without surprise, a complicated story. It seems the earliest use of the symbol can be traced to 220AD. The word zero, first used around 1598, comes to English from French, which in turn is believed to have emerged from Venice (We recently covered a series of words that came from Venice in episode 18) via Arabic. Zero - Zafiro - Safir or Sifr (Cipher) meaning empty. The Arabic word was itself a translation of a Sanskrit word.

Going from zero and emptiness to "nothing" is a little Charly bonus to listen out for at the end of this episode.

As well as being the host of our Interesting Etymologies series, Charly Taylor is a stand up comedian and author. His latest offering is available now:

SkipDeLirio's Worst Ever Gig : A novel by Charly Taylor

Caesar’s army has returned from the long campaign in Gaul and the enemy has been all but defeated. Some of Pompey’s army, however, remains in Africa. Together with straggling Roman rebels and the local king Juba, they are gathering forces to prepare one last attack on what is now Caesar’s Rome. But there is one problem – a descendant of Scipio Africanus is fighting on the side of the Africans. And without a Scipio of their own, the superstitious Romans refuse to go to Africa to fight.

So Caesar sends out soldiers to find himself a Scipio. Luckily, there is a man of such name right there in Rome – a local drunkard and tavern entertainer distantly descended from the legendary warrior. Kidnapped solely on account of his ‘heritage’, the lowly clown is forced to lead out the troops in the battle of Thapsus. There, ‘history’ tells us, Scipio ‘disappears from the historical record’.

Until now.

This is the story of how ‘Nobody’ Skip DeLirio, with the cards finally all dealt in his favour, still managed to fuck it up. History will only take you so far. The rest is make-believe.

Order your copy here: https://www.austinmacauley.com/book/skip-delirios-worst-ever-gig

More folklore, mythology and magic in 'Tales from the Other Side.' Red headed, Irish enthusiast, Claire Alcock explores the rituals and customs surrounding May Day, when our world and the spirit world collide.

A fascinating story of art, mystery, deception, love, modern folklore and the spawning of a new age...the armchair treasure hunt...

"Hello again Word Lovers!" on this outing into the world of words we head into the world of music, with the words that come to us from the age of Jazz, the roaring 1920s!

Jazz: Creole patois "jass" meaning "strenuous activity", widely considered a reference to sexual activity, as is "Rock and Roll". Noted to perhaps be related to "jasm" (1860) of African origin in relation to congo dances to mean "energy" or "drive". If you look up the word "jism" it will say "see Jazz". It is argued that "Jazz" snuck into polite society without people really understanding what it meant (Ed: wink wink, nudge, nudge)

Ragtime: A clear relation to period/menstruation but could also be a ragged beat.

Blues: A term for feeling down. First use appeared in a song "Dallas Blues" by Heart Wand in 1912 although a musical theatre show back in 1798 was named "Blue Devils".

Rock'n'Roll: First use was on radio in 1951, the Moon Dog Rock and Roll house party. There is an interesting potential link to the formation of "reggae" touched upon too.

Funk: A bad smell or to smoke in dialectic French?

Boogie Woogie: Originally the name given to a rent party. A house party to celebrate paying the rent.

Hot Dogs: This snack appeared in the 1920s. The meat was reputed, jokingly or not, to be from dogs due to the poor quality.

Gig, Cool, hip and far out all emerge in this period too.

Jam: For musicians to play together. Seems to emerge from the idea of being in a fix, or a sticky situation and having to improvise.

Schmaltz: From being mad fatty in Yiddish

Busk/Busking: Actually of older heritage, from 1857 "to offer goods for sale only in bars and tap rooms". Busking in nautical language meant to cruise as a Pirate.

Scat Singing: In 1926 Louis Armstrong dropped the word sheet whilst recording "The Heebie Jeebies" and improvised.

This era produces a host of modern words including cocktails, sweatshirts, T-shirts, carparks, fridges, zip, robot sc-fi, microclimate and many more.

In British folklore, there are wraiths, ghosts, demons and damnation. For a coin and some bread, the Sin-Eater will absolve all...

In the British edition we visit the forgotten folklore of the British Isles, it's place names, spirits, tales, supernatural entities, superstitions and bizarre rituals....This episode wrestles with the ominous and foreboding Black Dog.

"Hello again Word Lovers!" In this episode we are going to explore the etymological treasures of a rather special city, the city of Venice.

Arsenal : The shipyards of the city of Venice, from the Arabic Darassina, which is a factory. It came to mean a site to store munitions in English and is now more widely known as the name of the second best football team in North London. The best team is of course Tottenham Hotspur, which causes all sorts of pronunciation problems for foreigners. That name has a far more domestic heritage and is believed to have come from the name of a farmer, Tota, who had a hamlet in the area as registered in the Doomsday book of William the Conqueror. Tota's Hamlet - Tottenham (pronounced tot·nuhm) The Hotspur part of the name comes from late Middle English: literally ‘a person whose spur is hot from rash or constant riding’. It was used to describe someone who was rash, bold and flamboyant and was the nickname for Sir Henry Percy given to him by the Scots as a tribute to his speed in advance and readiness to attack. His desire to attack was to cost him his life in a rebellion against his king, but, that, as they say, is another story. Ballot: A voting paper in English. The Balota (small ball) was what you put into the voting box to cast your vote in Venice, it could be a white ball or a black ball for yes or no. This seems to be the source of the phrase 'to blackball someone' which means to reject someone's application. (The etymology of bal was explored in this episode https://www.bulldogz.org/post/interesting-etymologies-9-2-cricket-football )

Ghetto: The first use of this word is registered in 1516 when the Jews in Venice were forced to live in the old iron foundry complex. Charly explores four alternative etymologies for this word, check out which you think is most likely.

Sequin: A small shiny disc sewn on to clothing for decoration. Zequin is a gold coin in Venetian and zecca was the mint. From the Arabic sikkah.

Lido: An outdoor swimming pool, often on the coast. From the Latin "litera" which means shore.

Marionette, Embroil, Gazette and Pants are then covered and the etymological theories regarding Gazette and Pants are well worth a listen and Charly even demonstrates that the adjective Zany also heralds from the city state of Venice. As well as being the host of our Interesting Etymologies series, Charly Taylor is a stand up comedian and author. His latest offering is available now:

SkipDeLirio's Worst Ever Gig : A novel by Charly Taylor. Caesar’s army has returned from the long campaign in Gaul and the enemy has been all but defeated. Some of Pompey’s army, however, remains in Africa. Together with straggling Roman rebels and the local king Juba, they are gathering forces to prepare one last attack on what is now Caesar’s Rome. But there is one problem – a descendant of Scipio Africanus is fighting on the side of the Africans. And without a Scipio of their own, the superstitious Romans refuse to go to Africa to fight. So Caesar sends out soldiers to find himself a Scipio. Luckily, there is a man of such name right there in Rome – a local drunkard and tavern entertainer distantly descended from the legendary warrior. Kidnapped solely on account of his ‘heritage’, the lowly clown is forced to lead out the troops in the battle of Thapsus. There, ‘history’ tells us, Scipio ‘disappears from the historical record’.

Until now. This is the story of how ‘Nobody’ Skip DeLirio, with the cards finally all dealt in his favour, still managed to fuck it up. History will only take you so far. The rest is make-believe. Order your copy here https://www.austinmacauley.com/book/skip-delirios-worst-ever-gig

More folklore, mythology and magic in 'Tales from the Other Side.' Red headed, Irish enthusiast, Claire Alcock explores the origin story of the Little Fawn, also known as Oisín. A story of strange supernatural lands, spells, common Irish folklore characters and a guest appearance from the man himself, St Patrick. For the article see here https://www.bulldogz.org/post/tales-from-the-other-side-little-fawn-ois%C3%ADn And for a review of the White Hag Brewery's Session IPA inspired by the story and named 'Little Fawn' see here https://youtu.be/xcqwhcnf8oc