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

New writing system: Thirke Script, which was used in the 14th century in Kodagu in Karnataka, India.

New language pages:

New numbers pages:

New Tower of Babel translation: Kalabari

On the Omniglot blog we find connections between the Italian word palco (stage) and English words such as balcony, plank and block in a post entitled Stages & Balconies, and there’s also the usual Language Quiz. See if you can guess what language this is:

Here’s a clue: this language is spoken in Siberia in the far north of the Russian Federation.

The mystery language in last week’s language quiz was: Rongmei (Ruanglat / ꯔꯣꯡꯃꯩ), a Kuki-Chin-Naga language spoken in Assam, Manipur and Nagaland in the northeast of India.

In this week’s Adventure in Etymology, Jots & Tittles, we jot down a jot or two about jots (and tittles).

It’s also available on Instagram and TikTok.

On the Celtiadur blog there’s a new post entitled Credible Belief about words for belief, faith, credit and related things.

Improved pages: Murui Huitoto language page.

In other news, I started learning Swahili on Duolingo this week after finishing the other language courses I’ve been working on, apart from Italian. I haven’t studied a Bantu language before, or indeed a language from Africa, and am curious to see what it’s like and how it’s structured. So far I can’t say much, apart from “Habari, jina langu ni Simon. Mimi ni Muingereza.” (Hello, my name is Simon. I’m British).

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In this Adventure in Etymology we jot down a jot or two about jots (and tittles).

A jot [ʤɒt / ʤɑt] is:

And to jot (down) means:

It comes from Middle English jote (jot, tittle, whit), from Latin iōta (iota – a Greek letter), from Ancient Greek ἰῶτα (iôta – the 9th letter of the Ancient Greek alphabet (Ιι), a very small part of writing, a jot), from Phoenician 𐤉 (yodh / y‬ – the 10th letter of the Phoenician abjad), ultimately from the Ancient Egytian hieroglyph 𓂝 (arm) [source].

Related words include jotter (a memordandum book, exercise book, someone who jots), jotting (a brief note or sketch), and jotty (written as, or like, a brief informal sketch) [source].

The expression (every) jot and tittle means a small detail, or the smallest details [source].

A tittle is any small dot, stroke, or diacritical mark, especially if part of a letter, or if a letter-like abbreviation; in particular, the dots over the Latin letters i and j. A small, insignificant amount (of something); a modicum or speck. [source].

Related words include tittle-tattle(r) (an idle gossip, a trifling talker, to engage in/spread gossip), tittle-tattling (idle gossip) title, and tilde (e.g. ~, as used on ã, ñ, õ, etc.).

You can also listen to this podcast on: Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Podchaser, Podbay or Podtail and other pod places.

The theme tune for this podcast is The Unexpected Badger / Y Mochyn Daear Annisgwyl, a piece I wrote and recorded in 2017.

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: Guro, a Mande language spoken in central Ivory Coast.

On the Omniglot blog we find connections between names such as Cathal, Ronald, Valerie and Walter in a post entitled Strong Names, and there’s also the usual Language Quiz. See if you can guess what language this is:

Here’s a clue: this language is spoken in the northeast of India.

The mystery language in last week’s language quiz was: Wik-Mungkan, a Pama-Nyungan language spoken on the Cape York Peninsula in northern Queensland in the northeast of Australia.

In this week’s Celtic Pathways podcast, Celtic Carpenters, we drill down to the Celtic roots of words for carpenter and related things in English and other languages.

It’s also available on Instagram and TikTok.

On the Celtiadur blog there’s a Particularly Special new post about words for special, particular, different and related things.

For more Omniglot News, see:

You can also listen to this podcast on: Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Stitcher, TuneIn, Podchaser, PlayerFM or podtail.

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 drill down to the Celtic roots of words for carpenter in English and other languages.

The Proto-Celtic word *karbantos means (war) chariot or wagon and is possibly related to the Proto-Celtic word *korbos (wagon, basket). Beyond that, its origins are not known [source].

Descendants in the modern Celtic languages include:

More details about words for Wagons & Carts in Celtic languages on Celtiadur.

The Gaulish word carbantos (chariot, wagon) comes from the same Proto-Celtic root, and was borrowed into Latin as carpentum (carriage, wagon, cart), from which we get the Latin word carpentārius (coachman, cartwright, carpenter) [source].

Words from the same Latin and Gaulish roots include charpente (framework, build, structure) and charpentier (carpenter) in French, carpentiere (carpenter) in Italian, carpintero (carpenter, woodpecker) in Spanish, and carpenter in English [source].

Incidentally, in Old English one word for carpenter, and woodworker, was trēowwyrhta, or literally “tree worker”. This later became treewright, an old word for a carpenter, joiner or other worker of wood [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 constructed script: Ilo Reverse Abugida, an alternative writing system for Hawaiian invented by TheDankBoi69 and based on the Maldivian Thaana script.

New adapted script: Sawi Toki Pona, a way to write Toki Pona with the Shavian script devised by Aahan Kotian.

New article: Decoding Meanings in Spanish Color Expressions

On the Omniglot blog we find out when a tomato is not a tomato in a post entitled Foreign Eggplants, and there’s also the usual Language Quiz. See if you can guess what language this is:

Here’s a clue: this language is spoken in northern Queenland in Australia.

The mystery language in last week’s language quiz was: Musey (Museyna), a Chadic language spoken in southern Chad.

In this week’s Adventure in Etymology, Luxurious Locks, we unlock connections between the words luxury and lock.

It’s also available on Instagram and TikTok.

On the Celtiadur blog there’s a new post entitled Captive Hostages about words for hostage, captive, pledge and related things in Celtic languages, and I made improvements to the Soft and Tender post.

In other news, I went to see Babymetal at the O2 Arena in London this week. It was a fantastic show that I thoroughly enjoyed. Their songs are almost all in Japanese and I’ve heard most of them many times, so I can sort of sing along, and while I can understand Japanese to some extent, and have everyday conversations, understanding songs is on a different level. I might understand some words and phrases, but the overall meaning usually escapes me.

At the concert, and on my way to and from it, I heard people speaking a variety of languages. The ones I recognised included Spanish, German, Dutch, Czech, Russian, Arabic and Welsh.

For more Omniglot News, see:

You can also listen to this podcast on: Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Stitcher, TuneIn, Podchaser, PlayerFM or podtail.

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 unlock connections between the words luxury and lock.

As a adjective luxury [ˈlʌk.ʃə.ɹi / ˈlʌɡʒəɹi] can mean:

As a noun luxury can mean:

It comes from Middle English luxurie [ˈluksjuri(ə)] (lustfulness; sexual desire or attraction; copulation), from Old French luxur(i)e (lust), from Latin lūxuria (luxury, extravangance, lust), from lūxus (a dislocation, extravagance, luxury, excess, debauchery, pomp, splendor), from Proto-Italic *luksos, from Proto-Indo-European *lewg- (to bend, twist) [source].

Words from the same roots include lock, locket and reluctant in English, lok (lock of hair) in Dutch, Loch (hole, perforation, pit, gap, cavity, dungeon) in German, lujuria (lust, excess) and luchar (to fight, battle, struggle, strive) in Spanish, and gollwng (to releasse, drop, leak) in Welsh [source].

Incidentally, one word for luxury in Old English was firenlust / fyrnlust [ˈfi.renˌlust] which also means sinful lust, sinful pleasure, or extravagance, and comes from firen (crime, sin, torment, suffering) and lust (desire, pleasure, appetite, lust) [source].

You can also listen to this podcast on: Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Podchaser, Podbay or Podtail and other pod places.

The theme tune for this podcast is The Unexpected Badger / Y Mochyn Daear Annisgwyl, a piece I wrote and recorded in 2017.

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: Sadalian (新德書), a phonetic script for Cantonese created by Wong “Sadale” Cho Ching.

On the Omniglot blog we discover whether the words host and hostage are related in post entitled Hosting Hostages, and there’s also the usual Language Quiz. See if you can guess what language this is:

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

The mystery language in last week’s language quiz was: Wapishana (Wapixana), a Northern Arawakan language spoken in Guyana and Brazil.

This week’s episode of Celtic Pathways, entitled Cheesy Hills, uncovers the possible Celtic roots of words for hillsides and rough scrub land in Romance languages, and also of the French cheese brie.

It’s also available on Instagram and TikTok.

On the Celtiadur blog there’s a new post entitled Spring Fountains about words for spring, fountain, well and related things in Celtic languages.

For more Omniglot News, see:

You can also listen to this podcast on: Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Stitcher, TuneIn, Podchaser, PlayerFM or podtail.

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 uncover the possible Celtic roots of words for hillsides and rough scrub land in Romance languages.

The Proto-Celtic words *brigā (hill, fortress) and *brixs (hill), both come from Proto-Indo-European *bʰérǵʰ-s (something high up, fortified) [source].

Related words in the modern Celtic languages include:

For more details of related words in the Celtic languages, see the Celtiadur post Hills.

Words from the same Proto-Celtic root, via Gaulish *brigā (hill, fortress) and Latin *brigna (rocky terrain), possibly include bricco (hill, crag, ridgeside) in Italian, breña (scrub, brush, rough ground) in Spanish and Galician, and brenha (scrub, complication, confusion) in Portuguese [source].

Words from the same PIE roots include burrow and borough, (and place names ending in burg(h), boro(ugh), bury, etc.) in English, Burg (castle) in German, burcht (citadel, castle, borough, burrow) in Dutch, and bourg (market town, village) in French – also found in place names, such as Strasbourg and Luxembourg [source].

Incidentally, the French cheese brie comes from and is named after the historic region of Brie in northern France, which gets its name from Gaulish *brigā (hill, fortress), from Proto-Celtic *brigā (hill, fortress) [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 phrases pages:

On the Omniglot blog there’s a new post entitled Rustling Frou-frous – a frou-frou little post I rustled up about ways to say rustle in French, and there’s also the usual Language Quiz. See if you can guess what language this is:

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

The mystery language in last week’s language quiz was: Batak Mandailing (Saro Mandailing), a Southern Batak language spoken mainly in North Sumatra Province in Indonesia.

This week’s Adventure in Etymology is an assembly of words about the word thing, or something like that.

It’s also available on Instagram and TikTok.

On the Celtiadur blog there’s a new post entitled Buckets & Pails about words for bucket, pail and related things in Celtic languages.

In other news, I finally finished the Spanish course on Duolingo this week, or all the lessons I hadn’t got to yet disappeared. This has happened before for other languages, including Japanese, Irish and Scottish Gaelic. Sometimes lessons mysteriously disappear, and other times new ones appear. I’d previously finished all the Spanish lessons, for example, then a whole load more showed up.

I’m currently concentrating on Italian and Mandarin Chinese, and keeping my Japanese ticking over. I’m thinking about either trying a completely new language to me, or brushing up one of the ones I’ve already studied. My streak is currently at 2,857 days – that’s over 8 years (and 14 languages), and I don’t want to lose it. I’ve got into the habit of studying every day and would miss it, even if some days I’m mainly doing it to maintain my streak and my position in the diamond league.

For more Omniglot News, see:

You can also listen to this podcast on: Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Stitcher, TuneIn, Podchaser, PlayerFM or podtail.

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.

This Adventure in Etymology is an assembly of words about the word thing, or something like that.

Meanings of thing [θɪŋ] include:

It comes from Middle English thing (thing, substance, object), from Old English þing (thing, matter, concern, event, meeting, court, case, reason, means), from Proto-West Germanic *þing (court, session, lawsuit, affair, matter, thing, object) from Proto-Germanic *þingą (time, date, meeting, assembly, council, case, matter, issue), from Proto-Indo-European *tenk-ó-, from *tenk- (to be suitable) [source].

So, its meaning changed from being suitable, to a suitable or scheduled time, to an assembly, to a specific issue discussed at an assembly, to issues, objects or things in general. Which is quite something.

There are related words in other Germanic languages that also mean thing, and other things. For example, ding (matter, thing) in Dutch [source] (and Afrikaans), Ding (thing, girl, boy) in German [source], and Déngen (thing, object) in Luxembourgish [source].

However, in Norwegian, ting can mean thing, court or assembly [source], ting means thing, assembly or parliament in Danish [source], and þing means assembly, meeting, council or parliament in Icelandic, and the parliament of Iceland is called the Alþingi – see above [source].

Other words from the same roots include tinka (quarrel, disagreement, shortage, lack, tight situation) in Finnish, tinge (to bargin, haggle) in Danish, þinga (to hold a meeting) in Icelandic, dungi (to employ) in Esperanto, and gedeihen (to thrive, flourish, prosper) in German [source].

You can also listen to this podcast on: Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Podchaser, Podbay or Podtail and other pod places.

The theme tune for this podcast is The Unexpected Badger / Y Mochyn Daear Annisgwyl, a piece I wrote and recorded in 2017.

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.