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

New alphabet; Vellara alphabet, an alternative alphabet for Albanian created during the 19th century.

New alphabet: Veso Bey alphabet, an alphabet that was used to write Albanian in southern Albania in the 19th century.

New language pages:

New numbers pages:

New Tower of Babel translation: Bekwarra (Ebekwara), a Bendi language spoken in Cross River State in southeastern Nigeria.

On the Omniglot blog this week there’s a new post entitled Little Friends about mistranslation and words for child in Chinese and French, and there’s the usual language quiz.

See if you guess what language this is:

Here’s a clue: this language is spoken in Tanzania and Malawi.

The mystery language in last week’s language quiz was Negidal (Неғида хэсэнин), a Northern Tungusic language spoken in Khabarovskij Kraj in the Russian Far East.

In this week’s Adventure in Etymology, entitled Doomed Pride, we find out what links the word doom with words for judgement, courts and pride.

It’s also available on Instagram and TikTok.

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

Improved page: Todhri alphabet

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 find out what links the word doom with words for judgement, courts and pride.

As a noun, doom [duːm] can mean:

As a verb, to doom can mean:

It comes from Middle English doom [doːm] (a judgement, [legal] decision, justice, authority), from Proto-West Germanic *dōm (judgement), from Proto-Germanic *dōmaz (judgement, fame, repute), from PIE *dʰóh₁mos (that which is put), from *dʰeh₁- (to do, put, place) [source].

English words from the same roots include deed, deem, defect and wisdom and other words ending in -dom [source].

Words in other languages from the same roots include doem (doom, condemnation, verdict, judgement) in Dutch, domare (judge, referee, umpire) in Swedish, domhus (courthouse) in Danish, дума (thought, meditation, duma [Russian legislature]) in Russian, duma (pride) in Polish, and dáil (tryst, betrothal, legislature) in Irish [source].

Incidentally, one word for court in Old English was dōmhūs (“judgement house”). It’s cognate with Danish domhus, and became dome-howse (a judgement hall) in Middle English [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 phrases pages:

New family words page: Bonggi.

On the Omniglot blog this week there’s a new post entitled Ideophones about ideophonic words in Bebe (Naami), Japanese, Korea, Tamil and Zulu, and there’s a new language quiz. Can you guess what language this is?

Here’s a clue: this language is spoken in the Russian Far East region.

The mystery language in last week’s language quiz was Ajië (Waawilûû), a New Caledonian language spoken on the east coast of New Caledonia.

In this week’s Adventure in Etymology, Strong Comfort, we get comfortable and investigate the word comfort and related things.

It’s also available on Instagram and TikTok.

There’s also a new post on the Celtiadur blog this week entitled Separation about words for to separate, to split 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 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.

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

New language pages:

New numbers pages:

On the Omniglot blog this week there’s a new post entitled Immersion about my adventures in China and my thoughts on language immersion, and there’s a new language quiz. Can you guess what language this is?

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

The mystery language in last week’s language quiz was Gumuz (ŋgiša baha), a Nilo-Saharan language spoken in the northwest of Ethiopia andthe southeast of Sudan.

This week’s Adventure in Etymology, Wholesome Health, examines the origins of the word health and related things.

It’s also available on Instagram and TikTok.

There’s also a new post on the Celtiadur blog this week entitled Change about words for change 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 examine the origins of the word health and related things.

Meanings of health [hɛlθ] include:

It comes from Middle English helthe [ˈhɛlθ(ə)] (soundness, health, recovery, remedy), from Old English hǣlþ [xæːlθ] (health, healing, cure), from Proto-Germanic *hailiþō [ˈxɑi̯.li.θɔː] (wholeness, health), from *hailaz [ˈxɑi̯.lɑz] (whole, intact, entire, healthy), from PIE *kéh₂ilos (healthy, whole) [source].

Words from the same roots include heal, whole, wholesome, holy and hale in English, heel [ɦeːl] (complete, full, whole, very) in Dutch, hele (to heal) in Danish, целя [tsɛˈlʲa̟] (to heal, cure) in Bulgarian, cały [ˈtsa.wɘ] (whole, complete, entire) in Polish [source].

Health should not be confused with health, an obsolete English word meaning a warrior, hero or man, which comes from Proto-Germanic *haliþaz [ˈxɑ.li.θɑz] (hero), and is related to words such as Held [hɛlt] (hero, protagonist) in German, held [ɦɛlt] (hero) in Dutch, and hjälte [ˈjɛlˌtɛ] (hero, main male protagonist in a work of fiction) in Swedish [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 adapted script: Slovarabik (سلوڤارابيك), a way to write Slovak with the Arabic script devised by Martin Varga.

On the Omniglot blog this week there’s a new post entitled Outside Aliens about word for foreigner / outsider in Chinese and Japanese. There is also a new language quiz. Can you guess what language this is?

Here’s a clue: this language is spoken in Ethiopia and Sudan.

The mystery language in last week’s language quiz was Yaqui (Yoem Noki), an Uto-Aztecan language spoken in Sonora and Sinaloa in Mexico & in Arizona in the USA.

There’s also a new post Celtiadur post this week entitled Smoothly Slippery about words for smooth, slippery and related things in Celtic languages.

In other news, this week I’ve mainly been in Hong Kong. It’s changed a lot since I was last here 1990s, and I’ve visited some familar places and some new ones. There seems to be a lot more of everythings here – people, buildings, traffic etc, and it’s quite a constrast to Zhaoqing, which seemed quieter and more relaxed in comparison.

You can see some photos on Flickr.

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 constructed script: Velikirillitsa (Великириллица), an alternative way to write English, Russian and Hungarian created by Murray Callahan,

On the Omniglot blog this week there’s a new post entitled One Another about the Chinese word 彼此 (bǐcǐ) and related words in Japanese, and there’s a new language quiz. See if you guess what language this is:

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

The mystery language in last week’s language quiz was Mnong (Bu Nong / ឞូន៝ង), a Southern Bahnaric language spoken in Vietnam & Cambodia.

There’s a new Adventure in Etymology entitled Perilous Experiences, in which we find out what the word experience has to do with fear, peril and pirates.

There’s a new post on the Celtiadur blog this week entitled Glowing Stars about words for star, coal and other glowing things in Celtic languages.

In other news, I’ll be leaving Zhaoqing tomorrow (12th Janaury) and headed to Hong Kong. I’ll spend a week there, then fly back to UK. It’s been nearly 30 years since I was last in Hong Kong, and I’m looking forward to seeing it again.

Here are a few more photos of Zhaoqing showing parts of the city tourists might not necessarily visit.

By the way, this happens to be the 5,000th post I’ve published on my blogs, and the 223rd episode of the Omniglot News. The majority of posts (3,942) are on the Omniglot blog (started in March 2006), and there are 546 on this blog (started in June 2018), and another 512 on the Celtiadur blog (started in September 2018). I think I’m starting to get the hang of this blogging lark.

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 find what the word experience has to do with fear, peril and pirates.

Meanings of experience [/ɪkˈspɪə.ɹɪəns] include:

It comes from Middle English expērience (observation; an event which has affected one; to test, try, learn), from Old French esperience (experiment, proof, experience), from Latin experientia (a trial, proof, experiment, experience), from experīrī (to try, put to the test, undertake, undergo), from ex- (out) and perīrī (to go through), from PIE *per- (to attempt, try, risk) [source].

Words from the same roots include expert, experiment, peril and fear in English, Gefahr (danger, risk, threat) in German, pericolo (peril, danger) in Italian, perygl (danger, peril, risk) in Welsh, experimentar (to experience, feel, experiment) in Spanish [source].

The English word pirate also comes from the same roots, via Old French pirate, Latin pīrāta (sailor, sea robber), and Ancient Greek πειρατής (peiratēs – pirate, “one who attacks (ships)”), from πεῖρα (peira – trial, attempt, plot) [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:

On the Omniglot blog this week there’s a new post entitled Quick Brown Foxes about pangrams, sentences that contain all the letters of a particular language, and there’s a new language quiz. See if you guess what language this is:

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

Usually I find recordings for language quizzes on YouTube, but since coming to China at the end of November last year, I haven’t been able to access YouTube due to the Great Firewall of China, and haven’t found any good alternative sources of recordings. So, I haven’t been posting any quizzes. However, during the past week or so, YouTube has been accessible some of the time, and I managed to find a suitable recording for this week’s quiz.

There’s a new Adventure in Etymology entitled Code Trees, in which we find out what the word code has to do with books and trees.

There’s a new post on the Celtiadur blog this week entitled Pressing Squeezes about words for press, squeeze 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.