Here’s the latest news from the world of Omniglot.

New language pages:

New constructed script: Neo Alfabet, a phonetic script created by François Toulot to write almost any language.

New numbers pages:

New family words pages:

This week on the Omniglot blog we find out when a forest is not a forest in a post called Sylvan Forests, and there’s the usual Language Quiz. See if you can guess what language this is:

Here’s a clue: this language is spoken in southern Cameroon.

The mystery language in last week’s language quiz was Yerakula (ஏறுகள), a Dravidian language spoken in Andhra Pradesh, in the southeast of India.

In this week’s Adventure in Etymology we search the ether for the elemental origins of the word Quintessence.

It’s also available on Instagram and TikTok.

On the Celtiadur blog there’s a new post entitled Pithy Marrow about words for (bone) marrow, pith and related things in Celtic languages.

For more Omniglot News, see:

You can also listen to this podcast on: Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, TuneIn and Podchaser.

If you would like to support this podcast, you can make a donation via PayPal or Patreon, or contribute to Omniglot in other ways.

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In this Adventure in Etymology we search for the elemental origins of the word quintessence.

Quintessence [kwɪnˈtɛs.əns] is:

It comes from Middle English quint-essence (quintessence, the fifth essence or element), from Old French quinte essence (quintessence), from Medieval Latin quinta essentia (fifth essence, aether), from Latin quīntus (fifth) and essentia (the being or essence of a thing) [source].

Words from the same roots include quintillion (a billion billion, a million quadrillion, or an unspecified very large number), quintuplex (a collection of 5 things, a building divided in 5 residences or businesses) and quintet (a group of 5 musicians, or any group with 5 members) in English, cinque (5) in Italian, cinco (5) in Spanish, cinc (5) in French [source], and also essence and essential in English, esence (essence, extract) in Czech, essence (petrol, gasoline, essence, essential oil) in French, and ésser (to be, exist, be real) in Catalan [source].

Incidentally, I was inspired to investigate the word quintessence after learning the Welsh word mêr, which means marrow, the best or essential part, quintessence, essence, soul, heart, centre, middle, depth, and (source of) strength.

It’s related to the Irish word smior (marrow, pith, essential part, quintessence), to the English word smear, and to the Swedish word smör (butter – as in smörgåsbord) [more details].

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.

Here’s the latest news from the world of Omniglot.

New writing script:

New constructed script: Evolved Alphabet, an experimental alphabet for a future form of English created by TheDankBoi69.

New language pages:

New numbers pages:

On the Omniglot blog there’s a new post entitled String Phones in which we find links between the Swahili word simu (phone) with words for string, semaphore and related things, and there’s the usual Language Quiz. See if you can guess what language this is:

Here’s a clue: this language is spoken in Andhra Pradesh in India.

The mystery language in last week’s language quiz was Babine-Witsuwitʼen, a Northern Athabaskan language spoken in parts of British Columbia in Canada.

In this week’s Adventure in Etymology, Fact & Fiction, we’re uncovering some facts about the words fact and fiction.

It’s also available on Instagram and TikTok.

On the Celtiadur blog there’s a new post entitled Hairy Manes about words for mane, hair and related things in Celtic languages.

I forgot to mention in the recording, but I wrote a new song this week called When The Cat’s Away based on the saying ‘when the cat’s away, the mice will play’, and similar sayings in other languages.

For more Omniglot News, see:

You can also listen to this podcast on: Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, TuneIn and Podchaser.

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.

In this Adventure in Etymology we’re uncovering some facts about the words fact and fiction.

Meanings of fact [fækt] include:

It comes from Old French fact, from Latin factum (fact, deed, act), from faciō (to do, make, construct), from Proto-Italic *fakjō (to make), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰh₁k-yé-ti (to put, place), from *dʰeh₁- (to do, put, place) [source].

Words from the same roots include affair, benefit, credit, deed, factory, family, perfect, thesis and tick in English, fare (to do, make, create) in Italian, hacer (to do, make) in Spanish, Ort (place, location, town) in German, дело (delo – affair, work, deed) in Russian, dáil (betrothal, legislature, Irish parliament) in Irish, and dadl (argument, debate, controversy) in Welsh [source].

Meanings of fiction [ˈfɪk.ʃən] include:

It comes from Middle English ficcioun [ˈfiksjun] (an invention or fabrication), Old French ficcion (dissimulation, ruse, invention), from Latin fictiō (fashioning, forming, fiction), from fingō [ˈfɪŋ.ɡoː] (to shape, fashion, form), from Proto-Italic *fingō / θingō (to knead, form), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰi-né-ǵʰ-ti, from *dʰeyǵʰ- (to knead, form, shape) [source].

Words from the same roots include dough, feign, feint, figment, figure and lady in English, Teig (dough, paste, pastry, batter) in German, देह (deh – body, person) in Hindi, and fingere (to pretend, feign, dissemble) in Italian [source].

Incidentally, in Old English one word for fiction, and also false news or a made-up story, was lēasspell [ˈlæ͜ɑːsˌspeɫ], which comes from lēas (false, vain, worthless, a lie, mistake) and spell (story, news, argument) [source].

Lēas lives on in the English dialect word lease (to tell lies, slander) [source], and spell in gospel and (to) spell [source].

The opposite was sōþspell [ˈsoːθˌspeɫ] (a true story, nonfiction, history), which comes from sōþ (true, real, truth) and spell (story, news, argument) [source].

The English word sooth (truth, augury, blandishment, reality, fact), as in soothsayer (one who attempts to predict the future using magic, intuition or intelligence) and forsooth (indeed, really, truthfully) comes from the same roots, as does sand (truth) in Danish, and sannur (true, authentic, real, genuine) in Icelandic [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.

Here’s the latest news from the world of Omniglot.

New language pages:

New numbers pages:

New idiom: When the Cat’s Away (the mice will play)

New constructed script: Atʼákaz bee yádeiiltiʼí, an alternative script for Navajo invented by Nicholas Fox.

On the Omniglot blog there’s a new post entitled Gluten Glue in which we find links between the words glue, gluten and clay, and there’s the usual Language Quiz. See if you can guess what language this is:

Here’s a clue: this language is spoken in British Colombia in Canada.

The mystery language in last week’s language quiz was Dhao, a Sumba-Flores language spoken on Ndao, one of the Lesser Sunda Islands in East Nusa Tenggara Province in Indonesia.

Unfortunately I couldn’t find any words of Celtic origin in non-Celtic languages for this week’s Celtic Pathways podcast, so after 94 episodes, I’ve decided to take a break. I’ll be back with more Adventures in Etymology next week.

On the Celtiadur blog there’s a new post about words for Awls & Bodkins in Celtic languages.

Improved pages: Phoenician numbers and Khowar language pages

In other news, my Duolingo streak reached 3,000 days this week (3,004 at the time of writing). Or in other words, for the past 8 years or so, I’ve studied languages every single day. At the moment I’m learning Swahili, and maintaining my other languages, particularly Japanese, Spanish and Italian.

For more Omniglot News, see:

You can also listen to this podcast on: Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, TuneIn and Podchaser.

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.

Here’s the latest news from the world of Omniglot.

New language pages:

New numbers pages:

New adapted script: Cyrilice (Цырилице), a way to write Czech with the Cyrillic script devised by Marc Mundet.

On the Omniglot blog there a new post entitled Shearing Scissors in which we find out why word scissors have a silent c in it, and whether it’s related to the word shears, and there’s the usual Language Quiz. See if you can guess what language this is:

Here’s a clue: this language is spoken in the Lesser Sunda Islands in Indonesia.

The mystery language in last week’s language quiz was Gottscheerish (Göttscheabarisch), a West Germanic language spoken mainly in southern Slovenia, and in New York in the USA.

In this week’s Adventure in Etymology, Fishing for Fish, we’re fishing for the origins of the word fish and related words.

It’s also available on Instagram and TikTok.

On the Celtiadur blog there’s a new post entitled Sticky Glue about words for glue, to stick and related things in the Celtic languages.

For more Omniglot News, see:

You can also listen to this podcast on: Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, TuneIn and Podchaser.

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.

In this Adventure in Etymology we fish for the origins of the word fish.

Fish [fɪʃ] can refer to:

Other meanings are available, and some would say there’s no such thing as a fish.

It comes from Middle English fisch [fiʃ] (fish, and other animals that live in water), from Old English fisċ / fix / ᚠᛁᛋᚳ [fiʃ / fisk] (fish), from Proto-West Germanic *fisk, from Proto-Germanic *fiskaz [ˈɸis.kɑz] (fish), from Proto-Indo-European *peysk- (fish) [source].

Words from the same PIE root include vis (fish) in Dutch, fisk (fish, Pisces) in Swedish, peixe (fish) in Portuguese, pez (fish, idiot) in Spanish, pêcher (to fish) in French, pysgodyn (fish) in Welsh, iasc (fish) in Irish, and piscine (fishy, pertaining to fish) and piscatorial (pertaining to fish, fishing or fishermen) in English [source].

The Proto-Indo-European *peysk- (fish) only has descendents in the Germanic, Romance and Celtic languages. Another PIE root for fish is *dʰǵʰúHs, which became ձուկ (juk – fish, calf muscle) in Armenian, zivs (fish) in Latvian, žuvis (fish) in Lithuanian, and ιχθύς (ichthýs – fish) in Greek – (archaic) appears mainly in compounds such as χθυοπώλης (ichthyopólis – fishmonger) [source].

Some fish-related words in English also come from the same roots, via Ancient Greek ἰχθύς [ixˈθis] (ikhthús, fish, stupid person). These include: ichthyology (fish science), ichthyosaur (any fishlike marine reptiles of the extinct order Ichthyosauria), ichthyolatry (the worship of fish or fish-shaped idols), and ichthyophobia (fear of fish) [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.

Here’s the latest news from the world of Omniglot.

New language pages:

New numbers pages:

New constructed script: Latillawa, an alternative way to write Hindi inspired by the Pallawa script devised by Ezekiel-James.

New adapted script: Cirth for Hungarian, a way to write Hungarian using Tolkien’s Cirth alphabet devised by Murray Callahan.

On the Omniglot blog there a new post entitled Select Choices in which we look at some Swahili words for selection, choice, listening and related things, and there’s the usual Language Quiz. See if you can guess what language this is:

Here’s a clue: this language is spoken mainly in New York in the USA.

The mystery language in last week’s language quiz was Awa Pit (Cuaiquer), a Barbacoan language spoken in southern Colombia and northern Ecuador.

In this week’s Celtic Pathways podcast, Rich Kingdoms, we discover the Celtic roots of words for kingdom, rich and related things in Germanic, Romance and other languages.

It’s also available on Instagram and TikTok.

On the Celtiadur blog there’s a new post entitled Crested Combs about words for comb, crest and related things in the Celtic languages.

For more Omniglot News, see:

You can also listen to this podcast on: Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, TuneIn and Podchaser.

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.

In this episode we discover the Celtic roots of words for kingdom, rich and related things in Germanic, Romance and other languages.

The Proto-Celtic word *rīgyom means kingdom, and comes from Proto-Indo-European *h₃rḗǵs (king). Related words in Proto-Celtic include *rīxs (king) and *rīganī (queen) [source]

Related in the modern Celtic languages include:

More details of words for king, queen and related things in Celtic languages can be found in the Celtiadur post Kings and Queens.

The Proto-Celtic word *rīgyom (kingdom) was borrowed into Proto-Germanic as *rīkiją (rulership, goverment, authority, realm, kingdom), and is the root of such words as rijk (realm, kingdom, empire, state) in Dutch, Reich (empire, state, realm) in German, říše (realm, empire, kingdom) in Czech, and rike (realm, kingdom, empire, nation) in Swedish [source].

The Proto-Celtic word *rīxs (king) was borrowed into Proto-Germanic as *rīkijaz (kingly, royal, noble, mighty, powerful, rich), which became rich in English, ryk (rich, wealthy) in Afrikaans, ricco (rich, wealthy, affluent) in Italian, and rikas (rich, wealthy, opulent, plentiful) in Finnish [source].

The Proto-Celtic word *rīxs (king) also found its way into names such as Friedrich and Heinrich in German, Henrik in Dutch (and other languages), and Roderick, Frederick, Henry and Richard in English [source].

Other words from PIE root *h₃rḗǵs (king) include rey (king) and reina (queen) in Spanish, रानी (rānī – queen, princess) in Hindi, and royal, regal, viceroy and maybe realm in English [source].

Incidentally, the continents of America (initially it referred just to South America, then to North America as well) were named after the Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci, and the name Amerigo comes ultimately from the Proto-Germanic name Amalarīks, from amalą (hard work, stuggle) and *rīks (king, ruler), from Proto-Celtic *rīxs (king) [source].

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.

Here’s the latest news from the world of Omniglot.

New language pages:

New numbers pages:

New adapted script: Angerthas Rossiya (Ангертас Россия), a way to write Russian with Tolkien’s Cirth alphabet devised by Murray Callahan.

New adapted script: Modern Arabic Latin Script (Al-Ƹarabijà al-Latinijjà al-moƹaṣir), a way to write Arabic with the Latin script devised by Sheth Al-Ghamidi.

On the Omniglot blog there a new post entitled Good Intentions we look into the origins of the expression the road to hell is paved with good intentions, and there’s the usual Language Quiz. See if you can guess what language this is:

Here’s a clue: this language is spoken mainly in Colombia.

The mystery language in last week’s language quiz was Liangmai (Lianglad), a Kuki-Chin-Naga language spoken in Nagaland and Manipur in the northeast of India.

In this week’s Adventure in Etymology, Rest Awhile, we take awhile to unravel the roots of the word while, and discover what it has to do with resting.

It’s also available on Instagram and TikTok.

On the Celtiadur blog there’s a new post entitled Whey about words for whey and related things in Celtic languages

Improved pages: Cirth script and Garhwali phrases

For more Omniglot News, see:

You can also listen to this podcast on: Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, TuneIn and Podchaser.

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.