Dead Air

"Hello again Word Lovers!"

Crimson:

Red was covered in the PIE again episode but we can take a look at Crimson to start here. Carmesí in modern Spanish, from Cremesinus in Latin,- inus is an indicator that it was adapted by the Romans, originally from an Arabic word Quirmiz. This translates into Slavonic as červená and would therefore explain why the football team Red Star Belgrade is now known as Fudbalski klub Crvena zvezda.

Yellow:

Can be traced back to PIE roots meaning to shine, glow or gleam -ghlei, ghlo or ghel.

Blue:

Often defined as the colour of the clear sky. In Homer's works the sea is often described as "wine dark" and the sky as the colour of bronze so even using "sky coloured" as a definition of blue is fraught with difficulty.

Frankish blao or other Germanic source from Proto-Germanic blaewaz and the Old English blaw. French and Italian have the word as we can recognise it although Italian also has "azzuri" to mean dark blue and of course blue is "azul" in Spanish. Russian does not have a word for blue (a lot of grey skies in Mother Russia - Ed), they have a word for dark blue "sinii" and sky blue "goluboi". Japanese traffic lights are blue not green due to the distinctions they make regarding colours. Find out more about Japanese words in the previous episode

There can be some cross over between blue and grey and green as well.

Green:

In Old English and Middle English from Germanic gronja, Old Norse graenn and unsurprisingly connected to he word for grass and grow, a PIE root in fact with ghre.

Latin had Viridis which leads to verde, Primavera, Vivere (to grow) Vert, Verdant, Verdure etc.

Black:

blakaz in Proto Germanic to mean burned/burnt or dark in general. Old Norse blakkr

"Hello again Word Lovers!"

Or should we say "Konichiwa" as today we are looking at Japanese. Charly doesn't know if you speak Japanese, but actually he does know, as there are many Japanese words that have found their way into other languages.

Just some examples to begin with:

Typhoon, tsunami, karaoke, manga, anime, origami, bonsai, samurai, ninja, yakuza and so on...

Haiku, Futon and Koi

Food words: Sake, Ramen, Tempura, Sushi (Which actually means "sour rice" or "rice in vinegar" not raw fish! Wasabi, Teriyaki.

Suicide : Seppuku/Hara Kiri (ceremonial suicide by falling on your sword - Setsu - to cut Fuku - abdomen), Kamikaze (Divine Wind - From two great storms that saved Japan from the impending invasion of the Mongol fleet of Kublai Kahn)

Geisha (Gei - performing arts Sha - person) originally any artist

Types of theatre : Noh, Nong and Kabuki

Words of Etymological interest:

Japanese have incorporated words from English:

Sony: combining Latin Sonus: sound with Sunny.

Purraibashi transliteration of privacy

Sarariman transliteration of Salary Man, man with a job.

This demonstrates a feature of Japanese, when words are taken from other languages they obey Japanese spelling rules. One such rule is that two consonants cannot feature together. (Ed - What about PuRRa?)

Privacy : Pri becomes Purrai and vacy becomes bashi

Another rule is that words must end in a vowel with exception to "n" (Nippon)

Chris becomes Kurisu

Compound words:

Fujiyama : Fuji - Fire, luck or happiness. Yama - Mountain

Honda : Rice Paddy (Was the surname of the founder)

Mitsubishi : Literally Three Diamonds, which is the logo of the company

Some words to translate back to English:

Now we know we can see many words come from English into Japanese and we can see some of the spelling rules that are obeyed, here are some words that you might be able to identify (Watch the video or listen to he podcast to find the answers)

Miruku :

Fokusuturotu:

Maiku:

Irasuto:

Meeku:

Daiya:

Further examples can be found on the pod., including Aisukuriimu which is ice cream

Verb formation:

Adding "suru" after the word forms a verb in Japanese.

Doraibu suru -- to drive

Kisu suru --- to kiss

Nokku suru -- to knock

Taipu suru -- to type

This curious cross pollination of Japanese and European languages mean that we probably know a lot more Japanese than we first thought!

"Hello again Word Lovers!"

"Are you an idiot, by any chance? Are you naughty or are you nice? Or are you silly?" This episode starts in a rather aggressive tone as Charly sets out to explore the original meanings of some rather negative words.

Idiot : In the time of ancient Greece, an idiot was someone who was concerned with private ideas. "idios" meant private or one's own. In Latin the word originally meant "ordinary person" or "layman" but by late Latin the word had become "uneducated or ignorant person" (Ed - Which maybe betrays some of the more superior attitudes of the elites of Roman society toward the common man does it not?)

Naughty : Has its roots in Proto-Indo-European "ne" meaning "not" and "wiht" meaning "creature". Some one who has naught or nothing is often liable to be a "bad" person, they might steal or society might see poor people as lacking in moral fibre.

Nice : the opposite of nice in modern use comes from "nescius" in Latin meaning "ignorant", itself from nescire (to not know) and also provides the root for the word "science". Somehow this mutated to "being able to discriminate", a nice distinction is something you must seek, a distinction that is not obvious. This mutated to someone who can distinguish things, likes the finer things, the "nicer" things.

Silly : The word aelig in old English meaning "blessed" or "touched by God" from Germanic "salig" meaning "extremely overjoyed". This "touched by God" theme developed to mean a pious or devout person, a "sylyman" was a man of God. Perhaps the aspect of innocence in the personality of monks or isolated people of faith added to the definition leading to the stupid plus innocent combination we know today.

Cloud: Was a mountain so cloud literally means "mountains in the sky"

Awful: Was something which inspired awe

Dinner : Apparently derives from breakfast

Surly : Believed to be a development from adapting the idea of "sir" to be a greeting of respect to a show of disdain.

Travel : Derives from Travail to mean hard work or labour. This actually comes from Trepalium in Latin which was a three staked instrument of torture. (Ed - Sounds like riding a bus in the morning to be honest)

"Hello again Word Lovers!"

In this episode we take a look at the etymology of the names of places.

Like so many of the topics explored in this programme, the field of interest is virtually infinite (Ed - Well, Global Charly) so Charly is going to isolate some examples and dig down.

Personal Names

Charly starts by reminding us that our names have meanings, and many people do not know what their name means. Philip for example means "lover of horses", Christopher is someone who carries Christ, Charles just means a man or husband, Sara (Sarah) comes from a word for Princess, Elizabeth from Hebrew means "My God is in abundance" and Merrick means "biggest knuckle in the fist" or "longest finger in the hand!"

Common English suffixes

Charly first explores the meaning of Oxford, which unsurprisingly means the place where the oxen (cattle) crossed the river. Ox being cattle and Ford being a river crossing. Ford, Castle and Church are all very common suffixes in English place names that have obvious meaning, -ton is also very common, a contracted form of "town". Although, this is not always the case. Buxton is formed from Buck Stones.

We discover how Charly's passion for etymology began in this episode as he recounts his teacher explaining that Hoar frost meant grey frost and the district he lived in was called Harwood derived from Hoar.

Cester/Chester

Another common suffix is Cester/Chester which indicates a Roman army camp site. Manchester derives from an army camp of an Anglo Saxon named Mamm. The original word meaning "breast" or "breast like hill" but the modern word derives from the Latinisation (Mamucium or Mancunio) of the original name. We see how the word camp becomes "field" in French and forms the root of our word "Champion". We go into even further depth on the word "Welsh" and "Wales" in the associated article on our website www.bulldogz.org/post/interesting-etymologies-11-place-names

Slav

Slav is from "slovo" and literally means "people of the word" but via the Romans who got their slaves from the region, we get the word "slave". Slav and Slave are similar in almost every European language (not to be confused with Polish "unwilling" or Russian "work").

Spain

The Spanish like to claim the name comes from the Romans christening the land "Hispania" but the Carthaginians had named the region Ispania or I-Shaphan which meant Land or Coast of the Hyraxes. This is an animal that is common in the middle east and it is believed the Carthaginians, being unfamiliar with rabbits as a species, used the word Hyrax instead.

Iberia is believed to come from the name of the river Ebro which flows through Zaragoza, which itself has an interesting etymology. The original settlement was called Salduie before Caesar Augusto, the Roman Emperor founded a Roman settlement on the site. The Romans referred to the city as Caesaraugusta and this transmuted to Saraqusṭa during the Arabic period of rule, showing the path to the current name.

Bahamas - Bajas Mares (Spanish for Low Seas)

Honduras - From Spanish Hondos - depths. There are a wealth of place and country names that are named after the person who founded or discovered them and some have a murky or disputed heritage. But that is for another episode!

"Hello again Word Lovers!"

This week Charly digs into the mysterious world of PIE (Proto Indo European) language.

To understand a little better how murky the waters of the etymological past can be we look at some of his "favourite" words (Ed : I am saying nothing!)

Medina : Of Arabic origin, thought to be of PIE root but when investigated further Charly discovers that it is a word of multiple origins.

Cannabis : Related to canvas (made of Hemp). Greeks used the word Cannabis and traced to Sanskrit. Yet an alternative suggests it cam through Arabic and Hebrew from Sanskrit again.

This then opens up the understanding of consonant clusters to form words. For example modern Arabic does not write the short vowels but does have long vowels written.

Charly demonstrates some potential references to cannabis in the Bible only to then inform us it is disputed etymology.

We then look at the common word groups, as follows:

Kinship, (People, Pronouns) Numbers, Bodyparts, Animals, Agriculture, Bodily functions and states, Mental functions and states, Natural features, Directions, Basic adjectives, Construction, Object motion, Self motion, Rest and Time.

Charly focuses on numbers this time, looking at 1 to 10 in Hindi, Spanish and Russian, also seeing the similarity with Scandinavian tongue and Welsh.

Of the basic adjectives, Charly zeroes in on the etymology of red, considering it the oldest colour word in literature. The etymology of black and white will be attacked another day.

"Hello again Word Lovers!"

This week we focus on the etymology of two very English pasttimes, cricket and football

Cricket

Charly investigates to competing etymologies for the word cricket, either derived from old French "cricke" to mean a stick or from Dutch "krickstoel".

Football

The etymology of Football is apparent to everyone but Charly is determined to uncover the roots of both "foot" and "ball" before sigining off on the topic.

Foot is traced through German and Gothic to the PIE root of Ped but it is ball that catches the imagination! It can be traced through Old Norse and Proto-Germanic to a PIE root of "bhel" meaning to blow or swell. There are an extraordinary number of words that reach us from this root, such as beluga, black, blank, bleak, blind....

Charly then takes us down an extraordinary rabbit hole of the separation of the PIE root. We dare not spoil the fun of what he uncovers in this mere five minutes of etymological discovery, but needless to say only Charly could take us from football to phallus before arriving at Cauliflower!

This week we dive into words that we have come to us through games!

Chess & Draughts

An obvious starting point is a game previously mentioned in Interesting Etymologies - Chess. Charly is keen to point out that it is commonly believed Chess comes from Arabic but actually has roots in Persian and Sanskrit. The word "Check" has an unsurprising connection and "Checkmate" is traced through French to Arabic and Persian to mean....."the King is dead".

Darts

Requiring a little more physical exertion is Darts, from Darsus in Latin but the game and the word is believed to have been adopted by the Romans from the Gauls.

Badminton & Rugby

Two quintessentially English past times both named after the place where the game was invented. Charly quickly assures us the origin story of Rugby is a myth as well as looking at the origin of both Rugby and Badminton and their meanings.

Tennis & Squash

Tennis, as widely understood, comes from French but Squash is named because of the squishy quality of the ball. Charly refuses to take that as a final answer and digs into the etymology of the words "Squash" and "Crush" to satisfy his etymological interest.

Billiards/Snooker/Pool

We disentangle the confusion between the three distinct games and the different etymological heritage of the words and cultural heritage of the sports which leads to an exploration of Croquet, Polo and Hockey. The hitty sticky game turns out to be ridiculously ancient.

Tune in for more fun and games next week when we delve into the etymology of the greatest sports, football and cricket.

This programme is also available on our podcast channel Bulldogz Dead Air Our podcast is available on all major platforms, find more information at Anchor FM

https://anchor.fm/bulldog-z

Explore the full Interesting Etymologies series archive here

https://www.bulldogz.org/ie

Hello again Word Lovers!

Charly has returned, wearing a red tunic and a fake beard, smothered in mince pie crumbs as he tells us about the etymology of words connected to Christmas.

It should come as no surprise that the first word he investigates is Christmas and then a look at the roots of the word Christ and Messiah.

Yule is then explored as the early English word from Old Norse. The roots of the word "Eve" is uncovered as another of old English heritage, the night before a feast. We touch upon "Holy" but that is left for a more detailed investigation in a future episode.

We uncover the archaic uses of "Xmas", not as modern as first considered and even the word "Happy" gets a consideration.

"Bethlehem" is broken down and then we look at the words of the classic Nativity scene. A manger, Angels and tidings.

At breakneck speed we continue to the history of "Carols" and "Father Christmas" and the proto German descent of "Elf". As Santa Claus does his work he comes down the "Chimney" and in some houses he may consume "Egg Nog" or "Pease Pudding" and post food people may go "Wassaling" which turns out to be far more interesting than you might expect.

After Christmas, the twenty sixth of December in England is known as Boxing Day which we briefly explore too.

Our history of Father Christmas/Saint Nicholas can be read here

An article on the history of mince pies can be read here

The history of traditional English Christmas dinner and how to make it, find out more here

The Master wordsmith Charles Dickens has been given the Bulldogz audio drama treatment, listen to The Signalman

Interesting Etymologies will return after Christmas with a regular slot every Wednesday. You can find a guide to all the episodes here Father Christmas Saint Nicholas: https://www.bulldogz.org/post/2019/12/06/need-to-know-saint-nicholas Mince Pies : https://www.bulldogz.org/post/history-of-the-mince-pie-a-holiday-dessert-with-a-meaty-past Christmas Dinner : https://www.bulldogz.org/post/2019/12/21/a-christmas-feast-how-to-make-a-traditional-british-christmas-dinnerthe-easy-way Charles Dickens : https://www.bulldogz.org/post/charles-dickens-father-of-christmas The Signal Man : https://www.bulldogz.org/post/classic-christmas-horror-therapy-the-signalman-by-charles-dickens Interesting Etymologies archive : https://www.bulldogz.org/ie

The local and national authorities have confirmed the Christmas restrictions so we run through what you need to know for the coming festive season

Changes to curfew, access to bars, revised limits for gatherings.

Full details on restrictions in Aragón and what is required for travelling to UK and returning to Spain can be found on our website:

https://www.bulldogz.org/post/inside-arag%C3%B3n-christmas-restrictions