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

New language pages:

New constructed script: Vsrc, an alternative way to write English inspired by the Arabic script created by Juan Euskalduna.

New numbers page Quiripi, an Eastern Algonquian language that was spoken in Connecticut and Long Island in the USA.

This week on the Omniglot blog there’s a new post entitled Yexing, about the word yex, which means a hiccough / hiccup, burp or belch, and there’s the usual language quiz. See if you guess what language this is:

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

The mystery language in last week’s language quiz was Patamona, a dialect of Kapóng, a Cariban language spoken in Guyana.

On the Celtiadur blog this week there’s a new post about words for Roses and related things in Celtic languages.

Incidentally, if you’re wondering why there’s less new material on Omniglot this week, it’s because some friends came to visit me, and I didn’t have as much time to work on Omniglot. With one friend from the Netherlands I spoke a mixture of English, Dutch, Welsh, French and Scottish Gaelic, and with another friend I spoke Welsh and English. We also sang songs in Welsh, English, German, Dutch and Scottish Gaelic. So it was a linguistically rich week.

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 constructed script: Pallawa Hasti, an alternative way to write Indonesian, Malay and other languages created by Reza Sumanda, and based on the Pallawa script.

New numbers pages:

New phrases page: Liangmai (Lianglad).

New family words page: Liangmai (Lianglad).

New Tower of Babel translation: Mbe (M̀bè).

This week on the Omniglot blog there’s a new post entitled Bread Vans, in which we investigate the Chinese word 面包车 (van, minibus – lit. ‘bread cart / vehicle’), and related words in Chinese and other languages, and there’s the usual language quiz. See if you guess what language this is:

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

The mystery language in last week’s language quiz was Caijia (Menni), a Sino-Tibetan language spoken in Guizhou province in southern China.

Incidentally, Thursday of this week (26th March) marks the 20th anniversary of the Omniglot blog. I started the blog on 26th March 2006 with three separate posts, a welcome to the blog post, a post about language and memory and a post about the Spanish word ringorrango, which means a flourish or frill. At first, I tried to post as often as possible, but soon settled to a couple of posts per week, which I’ve continued with ever since. There are currently 3,964 posts on the Omniglot blog (and 567 on the Radio Omniglot blog).

In celebration of the 20th anniversary / blogiversary of the Omniglot blog, this week’s Adventure in Etymology is all about Bloggery and other blog-related words.

It’s also available on Instagram and TikTok.

On the Celtiadur blog this week there’s a new post entitled Swallowing about words for to swallow 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.

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 looking into bloggery and other blog-related words.

As this week marks the 20th anniversary, or blogiversary of the Omniglot Blog, which I started on 26th March 2006, I thought I’d explore some blog-related words.

Bloggery is the act or practice of writing a blog, or blogging

The word blog [blɒɡ / blɔɡ / blɑɡ] comes from weblog, and was coined by Peter Merholz in 1999 on his blog Peterme.com, on which he used the phrase we blog. Not long after, others starting used blog as a noun and a verb.

The word blogger was coined in 1999 by Evan Williams of Pyra Labs, who produced a online content management system called Blogger to help people create blogs.

The word weblog was coined on 17th December 1997 by Jorn Barger, an American blogger, and combines web, as in wordwide web and log, as in a ship’s log (a written record of a ship’s navigation and speed) [source].

The world of blogs is apparently known as the blogoverse, the blogosphere, the blogdom or blogland.

Within the blogoverse there are many types of blog, including the blahgs (dull or uninteresting blogs), splogs (fake blogs full of link spam), a.k.a. flogs or spam blogs, and even metablogs (blogs about blogs) [source].

Blog-related words are collectively known as blogspeak or blargon (jargon of the blogosphere), and ever since I started this blog, I’ve kept my eyes and ears open for bloggable words and expressions to blog and/or blogcast about.

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 adapted script: Asirilik (Асирилик), a way to write Tamazight with the Cyrillic alphabet devised by Xavier Merica

New adapted script: Chukchi Latin Alphabet (Lyghorawetlhen Latinlhen Alfavit) – a way to write Chukchi with the Latin alphabet created by Dijacz.

New language pages:

New numbers pages:

New family words page: Lingua Franca Nova

This week on the Omniglot blog there’s a new post entitled Mouchard, in which we investigate the French word mouchard (grass, snitch, informant), and related things, and there’s the usual language quiz. See if you guess what language this is:

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

The mystery language in last week’s language quiz was Daasanach (Af Daasanach), a Lowland East Cushitic language spoken in Ethiopia, Kenya and South Sudan.

The recording comes from: YouTube

In this week’s Adventure in Etymology we’re Holding It Together as we uncover the origins of the words content and content.

It’s also available on Instagram and TikTok.

On the Celtiadur blog this week there’s a new post entitled Rushy Sedges about words for sedge, rushes 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.

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 holding it together as we uncover the origins of the words content and content.

As an adjective, content [kənˈtɛnt] means satisfied, pleased or contented, and as a noun, it can mean satisfaction, contentment or pleasure, or that which contents or satisfies. As a verb, to content means to give contentment or satisfaction to, to satisfy, or to make happy.

It comes from Middle English contenten [kɔnˈtɛntən] (to satisfy), from Old French contenter (to content, satisfy), from Latin contentus (contained, satisfied, enclosed), from contineō [kɔnˈtɪ.ne.oː] (to hold, keep, connect, contain), from con- (together) and teneō (to hold) [source].

A related word is content [ˈkɒn.tɛnt], which means that which is contained, subject matter, semantic information, or one or more creative works. This comes from the same roots as content, via Middle English content (things contained, contents), from Latin contentus etc [source].

Related words include contain, continent, continuous and countenance in English, contenir (to contain, hold) in French, contente (happy, content, satisfied) in Portuguese and continencia (continence, self-control) in Spanish [source].

Incidentally, the word contend [kənˈtɛnd] (to contest, dispute, quarrel) is not related to content or content even though it sounds similar. Instead, it comes from Middle English contenden (to engage in rivalry, compete), from Old French contendre, from Latin contendēre (to stretch out, strive after, contend), from con- (together) and tendere (to stretch) [source].

Related words include contention and contentious in English, contesa (quarrel, argument, dispute) in Italian, and cynnen (contention, discord) in Welsh [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 writing system: Quốc âm tân tự (國音新字), a syllabic script for Vietnamese based on strokes from chữ Hán and chữ Nôm characters devised during the 19th century.

New language pages:

New numbers pages:

New phrases page: Idaʼan, a North Bornean language spoken in Sabah in Malaysia.

This week on the Omniglot blog there’s a new post entitled Pouring Rain, in which we look into the saying it never rains but it pours, and related sayings in English and other languages, and there’s the usual language quiz.

See if you guess what language this is:

Here’s a clue: this language belongs to the Cushitic language family.

The mystery language in last week’s language quiz was Pacoh (Pacóuh), a Katuic language spoken in central Vietnam and southern Laos.

Recording from: YouTube

In this week’s Adventure in Etymology, entitled Flowing Floods, we find out what the word flood has to do with rivers, flowing and high tides.

It’s also available on Instagram and TikTok.

There’s also a new post on the Celtiadur blog this week entitled Nits about words for nit and related things in Celtic languages.

Improved pages: Emilian and Romagnol language pages.

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.

What links the word flood with words for flow, river and high tide? Let’s find out in this Adventure in Etymology.

Meanings of flood [flʌd] include:

It comes from Middle English flod [floːd] (river, lake, ocean, flood), from Old English flōd / ᚠᛚᚩᛞᚢ [floːd] (flowing of the tide, river, stream, flood), from Proto-West Germanic *flōdu (river, flood), from Proto-Germanic *flōduz (river, flood), from PIE *plóh₃tus (overflow, deluge), from *pleh₃(w)- (to swim, to flow) [source].

Words from the same roots possibly include flow in English, flod [fluːd] (river, flood, high tide) in Swedish, vloeien [ˈvlui̯ə(n)] (to flow) in Dutch, плувам [ˈpɫuvɐm] (to swim, to float) in Bulgarian, and plauti [ˈpɫɐ̂ʊtʲɪ] (to wash, rinse) in Lithuanian [source].

In Old English, another word for river (and stream) was ēa [æɑː], which comes from Proto-West Germanic *ahu (river), from Proto-Germanic *ahwō (stream, river, water), from PIE *h₂ekʷeh₂ ([flowing] water) [source].

Words from the same roots include eddy and ewer in English, å [oː] (river, creek, big stream) in Swedish, ø [øˀ] (island) in Danish, á [auː] (river) in Icelandic, and agua [ˈa.ɣ̞wa] (water) in Spanish [source].

There was a lot of rain in the UK this week, and plenty of large puddles on the roads, but I didn’t see any major floods. I hope things were okay where you are.

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 Tower of Babel translation: Rabha (ৰাভা).

This week on the Omniglot blog there’s a new post entitled Bons Mots, in which we look into the meanings and origins of the term bon mot, and there’s the usual language quiz.

See if you guess what language this is:

Here’s a clue: this language is spoken in Vietnam and Laos.

The mystery language in last week’s language quiz was Dena’ina (Denaʼina Qenaga / Denaʼinaqʼ) -, a Northern Athabaskan language spoken on the Kenai Peninsula in southern Alaska in the USA.

In this week’s Adventure in Etymology, entitled Harmonious Reason, we find out whether the words harmony and reason are connected.

It’s also available on Instagram and TikTok.

There’s also a new post on the Celtiadur blog this week entitled Melting about words for to melt, to disolve and related things in Celtic languages.

In other news, I went to see Laufey [ˈlœyːvei] in Manchester this week. She’s an Icelandic / Chinese singer song-writer based in LA who sings what she calls Jazz Pop (in English). She was supported by Alice Phoebe Lou, a South African singer song-writer based in Berlin. It was a wonderful concert, and I heard people around me speaking Cantonese, Swedish and English. So quite an international event.

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.

Are the words harmony and reason connected? Let’s find out in this Adventure in Etymology.

Meanings of harmony [ˈhɑː.mə.ni] include:

It comes from Middle English armonie (harmonious sounds, song, music, harmony), from Old French (h)armonie (harmony, musical instrument), from Latin harmonia (harmony, music, peace), from Ancient Greek ἁρμονία (harmonía – joint, union, agreement, concord of sounds), from or related to ἁρμόζω (harmózō – I fit together), from PIE *h₂er- (to join, fit, fix together) [source].

Meanings of reason [ˈɹiː.zən] include:

It comes from Middle English reso(u)n (reason), from Anglo-Norman raisun (logic, logical reasoning), from Latin ratiō (reason, calculation, procedure), from reor (to reckon, calculate, think), from Proto-Italic rēōr (to reckon, calculate, think), from PIE *h₂reh₁- (to think, reason, arrange), from *h₂er- (to join, fit, fix together) [source].

Other words from the same roots possibly include arachnid, art, ordinary, ornament, ratio and read in English, Rede (stream, current, flow) in German, araña (spider, chandelier) in Spanish, arment (herd of cattle or horses) in Catalan, гармония [ɡɐrˈmonʲɪjə] (harmony) in Russian [source].

One word for harmony (and melody) in Old English was swinsung, which came from swinsian (to sing) from Proto-West Germanic *swinisōn, from Proto-Germanic *swinisōną, from Proto-Germanic *swin- (to sound), from PIE *swenh₂- (to sound) [source].

Words from the same roots include assonance, sonata, sonnet, sound and swan in English, seinn (to play [an instrument], sing, warble, chatter) in Irish, honni (to claim, assert) in Welsh, and dzon (bell) in Polish [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 adapated script: Coptic for Esperanto, a way to write Esperanto with the Coptic script devised by Ethon Musk.

New numbers pages:

New phrases page: Tombonuwo (Tambonuo), a North Bornean language spoken in Sabah in East Malaysia.

This week on the Omniglot blog there’s a new post entitled Silly Madness, in which we investigate the word mishegoss, and related words in English and other languages, and there’s the usual language quiz.

See if you guess what language this is:

Here’s a clue: this language is spoken in Alaska in the USA.

The mystery language in last week’s language quiz was Rabha (Rabha khurang), a member of the Sal branch of the Tibeto-Burman language family spoken in Assam, West Bengal & Maghalaya in northeastern India.

In this week’s Adventure in Etymology, entitled Flowing Rhythms, we find out what the word rhythm has to do with flowing.

It’s also available on Instagram and TikTok.

There’s also a new post on the Celtiadur blog this week entitled Childish Infants about words for baby, child 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.

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.