The History of the English Language Podcast

From a humble Old English ‘plum-tree farm’ in Devon to the heart of early American colonization, this episode traces Plymouth’s migration across the Atlantic. We examine how settlers used familiar place names as anchors, how legal and cultural meanings evolved, and what that tells us about naming, identity, and linguistic diffusion.

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Etymology, borrowing, and cultural diffusion are on full display as we trace the evolution of the suffix ‘‑aholic’, the Indian‑derived fabric term ‘dungaree’, and the Sanskrit‑rooted word ‘bandana’. From medieval slang to modern fashion, these examples illuminate how English absorbs foreign terms, repurposes them, and spreads them worldwide.

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Explore how Old English ‘cunnan’—to know or possess skill—evolved into today’s modal auxiliary ‘can’. From preterite‑present verbs and French influence after 1066, through printing and dictionary codification, we uncover why this small helper still defies regular conjugation.

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Explore how early scribal marks turned into modern punctuation—from medieval ‘distinctiones’ to Gutenberg’s printing press, Aldus Manutius’s semicolons, and today's digital shorthand. The episode maps key figures, technological shifts, and cultural forces that shaped how we pause, emphasize, and connect in English.

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In this episode we trace how the French word entrepreneur entered English in the early 19th century, broke into a productive suffix ‑preneur, and spread globally across industries and cultures. We look at its etymological roots, morphological innovation, and the social forces that turned it into a cultural marker of entrepreneurship.

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In this episode we follow how a Greek construction birthed the word ‘microscope’ and sparked a cascade of scientific terms; we examine how a 14th‑century maritime practice gave us the everyday noun and adjective ‘average’; and we uncover why Southern speakers still say ‘might could’. From Johannes van der Meer to William Labov, we see how law, science, and regional speech shape English.

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In this episode we explore how folk etymology—our instinctive reshaping of foreign words—has left a lasting mark on English vocabulary. From sparrowgrass and crayfish to the everyday reimagining of Wi‑Fi, we trace the linguistic journey and cultural forces that drive these playful transformations.

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Explore how modern speech‑recognition technology is nudging speakers toward machine‑friendly phonetics, echoing past efforts to standardize RP for broadcast audiences. The episode traces the historical lineage from BBC pronunciation guides to today’s AI‑driven accent coaching and examines the cultural, social, and linguistic implications of this shift.

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Explore how King Alfred of Wessex turned Latin texts into vernacular Old English, establishing a written standard that would echo through centuries. From schoolhouses to the Anglo‑Saxon Chronicle, discover how his linguistic reforms set the stage for modern Standard English.

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This episode traces the story of Welsh English—from medieval bilingual manuscripts to modern policy and digital expression. It examines how Welsh speakers blended English with their native tongue, shaping a unique accent, vocabulary, and legal status that continues to thrive in Wales today.

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