I am a linguist, web developer and musician. I live in Bangor in Wales and run Omniglot - the online encyclopedia of writing systems and languages, as well as making the Radio Omniglot Podcast.
In this Adventure we’re unbottling the origins of the word butler.
A butler [ˈbʌt.lə(ɹ)/ˈbʌt.lɚ] is:
A manservant having charge of wines and liquors.
The chief male servant of a household who has charge of other employees, receives guests, directs the serving of meals, and performs various personal services.
It comes from Middle English boteler (the chief servant in charge of wine or other drink, the cupbearer of a king or nobleman), from Old French boteiller (one who takes care of the bottles), from boteille (bottle), possibly from Vulgar Latin *buticla (bottle), from Late Latin butticula (bottle), from buttis (cask, barrel) [source].
Words from the same roots include bottle, butt (large cask), and possibly boot in English, and bouteille (bottle, cylinder) and maybe botte (boot, bundle, bunch) in French.
Incidentally, another person involved with bottles and wine is a sommelier (a wine steward, waiter or server). It comes from French sommelier (originally, a person in charge of the beasts of burden carrying wine), from somme (pack), from Latin sagma (packsaddle) [source].
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.
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.
There’s a new Omniglot blog post about the French word Chez, as in chez moi and chez nous, and one about the phrase Teaching School, which sounds a bit strange to me, but apparently it’s normal in American English, and the usual Language Quiz. See if you can guess what language this is:
Here’s a clue: this language is spoken in Micronesia.
The mystery language in last week’s language quiz was: Shawnee (Sawanwa), a Central Algonquian language spoken in Oklahoma in the USA.
There’s a new Celtic Pathways podcast called Top Tips which looks into words for top, tip and related things in Celtic and other languages.
On the Celtiadur blog there’s a new post entitled A Pair of Twos about words for two and related things in Celtic languages.
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.
baare = apex, cap, climax, end, point, summit, tip, top, crest (of a wave), etc n in Manx
bar [bar] = head, top, summit, crest, bush, tuft or branch in Welsh
barr = summit in Cornish
barr = summit, surface, access or paroxysm in Breton [source]
Words from the same Proto-Celtic roots, via Gaulish and Latin, include baràz (bramble) in Romansh, and barra (garret, loft, upper platform) in Galician [source].
Words from the same PIE roots include barley in English, farine (flour) in French, bara (bread) in Welsh, Cornish and Breton, bairín (loaf) in Irish, and related words in Celtic languages [source].
Incidentally, the unrelated Galician word barra (sandbank, bar, rod) possibly comes from a Gaulish word, via the Vulgar Latin barra [source].
You can find more details of these words on the Celtiadur blog. I also write about words, etymology and other language-related topics on the Omniglot Blog.
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.
There’s a new phrases page in: Romanian Tatar (Tatarșa), a Kipchak Turkic language spoken in Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey, and some new phrases in Shawnee (Sawanwa), an Algonquian language spoken in Oklahoma in the USA.
There’s a new Omniglot blog post entitled Beautifully Red, in which we find out what links the Finnish word kaunis (beautiful) with words like sheen in English and schoon (clean) in Dutch, and the usual Language Quiz. See if you can guess what language this is:
Here’s a clue: this language is spoken in Oklahoma in the USA.
The mystery language in last week’s language quiz was Achomi (اچُمی), a Southwestern Iranian language spoken mainly in southwestern Iran, and also in Kuwait, Bahrain, Iraq, Qatar and the UAE.
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 we’re telling tales about the origins of the word story.
A story [ˈstɔː.ɹi] is:
An account of real or fictional events.
A lie, fiction.
History (obsolete).
It comes from Middle English storie (story, history, quip), from Old French estoire (history, story, tale), from Latin historia [isˈtoɾja] (history, account, story), from Ancient Greek ἱστορία (historía – learning through research, narration of what is learned), from ἱστορέω (historéō – to learn through research, to inquire), from ἵστωρ (hístōr – the one who knows, the expert, the judge), from PIE *wéydtōr (knowner, wise person), from *weyd- (to see) [source].
English words from the same roots include guide, history, idea, idol, idyll, video, vision, visit, wise, wit and wizard [source].
In Old English the word for story was talu, which also meant tale, talk or account. It comes from Proto-West Germanic *talu (narration, report), from Proto-Germanic *talō (narration, report), from PIE *del- (to reckon, calculate) [source].
Words from the same roots include tale, talk and tell in English, taal (language) in Dutch, Zahl (number, numeral, figure) in German, and tala (to speak, tell, talk) in Swedish [source].
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.
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. This is in fact the news for the past two weeks as I was away at The Language Event in Edinburgh last weekend and didn’t have time to record a newscast. More on that later.
There are new language pages about:
Romanian Tatar (Tatarșa), a variety of Crimean Tatar spoken mainly in the Dobrogea region in eastern Romania.
Namakura (Namakir) a Southern Oceanic language spoken in the Shepherd Islands in Shefa Province of Vanuatu.
Tirax (Resan Tirax), a Southern Oceanic language spoken in the north east of Malakula Island in Vanuatu.
Lewo, a Southern Oceanic language spoken on Epi Island in Shefa Province of Vanuatu.
Tarama (たらまふとぅ), a Southern Ryukyuan language spoken on Tarama and Minna, two of Miyako islands in Okinawa Prefecture in southern Japan
In other news, last weekend I had a good time at The Language Event in Edinburgh. There were some interesting talks about all sorts of language-related topics, I met old friends and made some new ones, and got to speak a variety of languages, including Welsh, Scottish Gaelic, Danish, Japanese, German and Spanish.
A reporter from BBC Alba (the Scottish Gaelic TV channel) was at the Event and filmed parts of it, including a short interview with me in Scottish Gaelic:
I forgot to mention in the recording, but I wrote a new song in Scottish Gaelic called Thoir An Aire! (Watch Out!), which was inpsired by my Gaelic lessons on Duolingo, and visits to Scotland. It goes something like this:
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.
The Brythonic words come from the Latin asina from asinus (donkey, ass), which is of unknown origin [source]. The Goidelic words come from the same root via the Latin asellus (young ass, donkey) [source].
The English word ass (donkey) was borrowed from an old Brythonic language, via the Middle English asse (ass, donkey) and the Old English assa and assen (she-ass) [source].
Other words from the same Latin roots include asinine (foolish, obstinate, donkeyish), asinicide (the killing of an idiot) in English [source], osel (donkey, ass, stupid person) in Czech, and osioł (male donkey) in Polish [source].
Incidentally, another word for donkey in Old English was esol [ˈe.zol], which came from Proto-West Germanic *asil (donkey), from Latin asellus (young ass, donkey) [source]. Related words in other Germanic languages include ezel (donkey, ass, fool, idiot, easel) in Dutch, Esel (ass, donkey, a stupid/stubborn person) in German, and æsel (ass, donkey) in Danish [source].
The English word easel also comes from the same roots, via Dutch ezel and Proto-West Germanic *asil [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.
You can find more details of these words on the Celtiadur blog. I also write about words, etymology and other language-related topics on the Omniglot Blog.
On the Omniglot blog there’s a new post about my trip to the Isle of Skye and my Holidays, and the usual Language Quiz. See if you can guess what language this is:
Here’s a clue: this language is spoken in northern France, but isn’t French.
The mystery language in last week’s language quiz was Carijona (Tsahá), a Cariban language spoken in southeastern Colombia.
There are no new Celtic Pathways podcasts – I didn’t have time to make them while I was away, and have decided to make one every other week. So this week we have a new Adventure in Etymology, and next week I’ll make a Celtic Pathways podcast, and videos to go with it.
In other news, I wrote a new song in Scottish Gaelic this week inspired by my Scottish Gaelic lessons on Duolingo, and my trip to Scotland, during which I learnt lots of Scottish Gaelic songs, and had a wonderful time. It goes something like this:
Here are the words and a translation:
Thoir An Aire (Watch Out) Seist (Chorus)
Thoir an aire, thoir an aire (Watch out, watch out)
Thoir an aire, tha Iain a’ tighinn (Watch out, Iain is coming)
Thoir an aire, thoir an aire (Watch out, watch out)
Tha Iain rùisgte is tha e a’ tighinn (Iain is naked and he’s coming)
Ghoid Màiri a drathais (Mairi stole his underpants)
Ghoid Màiri a briogais (Mairi stole his trousers)
Ghoid Màiri a geansaidh gorm is geal (Mairi stole his blue and white jersey)
Ghoid Màiri a lèine (Mairi stole his shirt)
Ghoid Màiri a brògan (Mairi stole his shoes)
Ghoid Màiri aodach Iain gu lèir (Mairi stole all his clothes)
Ruith air falbh, ruith air falbh (Run away, run away)
Ruith air falbh tha Iain a’ tighinn (Run away, Iain is coming)
Ruith air falbh, ruith air falbh (Run away, run away)
Tha guga aige is tha e a’ tighinn (He has salted gannet and he’s coming)
Càit bheil Calum? (Where is Calum?)
Càit a bheil Coinneach? (Where is Kenneth?)
Càit a bheil Ceiteag? (Where is Katie?)
Am faca tu iad? (Have you seen them?)
Càit a bheil Mairead? (Where is Margaret?)
Càit a bheil Mòrag? (Where is Morag?)
Ruith iad air falbh (They ran away)
oir tha Iain a’ tighinn (because Iain is coming)
In this Adventure we’re uncovering the origins of the word ship.
A ship [ʃɪp] is:
A water-borne vessel generally larger than a boat.
A vessel which travels through any medium other than across land, such as an airship or spaceship.
A sailing vessel with three or more square-rigged masts. (archaic, nautical, formal)
It comes from Middle English s(c)hip [ʃip] (ship, boat), from Old English scip [ʃip] (ship), from Proto-West-Germanic *skip (ship), from Proto-Germanic *skipą (ship), possibly from PIE *skey- (to split, dissect) which originally meant a hollowed tree [source].
Words from the same roots include skipper in English, Schipp (ship) and Schiff (ship, nave, vessel, boiler) in German, schip (ship, nave) in Dutch, skepp (ship, nave) in Swedish, and sgioba (crew, team) in Scottish Gaelic [source].
The English word skiff (a small flat-bottomed open boat) also comes from the same roots, via Middle French esquif (skiff), Old Italian schifo (small boat, dingy), and Lombardic skif (ship, boat) [source].
Incidentally, the Scots word skiff (a light, fleeting shower of rain or snow; a gust of wind; to move in a light airy manner, barely touching the ground) does not come from the same roots. Instead, it probably has onomatopoeic origins. The English word skiffle (a type of folk music made using homemade or improvised instruments) was possibly borrowed from this Scots word [source].
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.
Here’s the latest news from the world of Omniglot.
New writing system: Koch Script, which was developed by Day Chand Rangag in 2021 as a way to write Koch, a Sal language spoken in mainly northeastern India, and also in Bangladesh.
New constructed script: Qutdoiya Amexf Hazara, which was created by Emhahayef to write Maxyef Pas, a conlang he is also developing.
New English spelling system: SoundSpel, which was devised and advocated particularly by Edward “Ed” Rondthaler in the 1980s.
There are new language pages about:
North Efate, a Southern Oceanic language spoken in the north of Efate island in central Vanuatu.
Nafsan, a Southern Oceanic language spoken in the south of Efate island in central Vanuatu.
Koch, a Sal language spoken mainly in northeastern India, and also in Bangladesh.
New phraes page in Mini: The Minimal Language, an attempt to create the simplest naturalistic language for human communication conceived by S.C. Gruget in 2020.
There are new numbers pages in:
Jakaltek (Jab’xub’al / Popti’), a Mayan language spoken in western Guatemala and southern Mexico.
North Efate, a Southern Oceanic language spoken in the north of Efate island in central Vanuatu.
Nafsan, a Southern Oceanic language spoken in the south of Efate island in central Vanuatu.
Carrier / Dakelh (Dakeł / ᑕᗸᒡ), an Athabascan language spoken in central British Columbia in Canada.
On the Omniglot blog there’s a post called Rumbling Carts about some interesting Japanese and Chinese characters, and the usual Language Quiz. See if you can guess what language this is:
Here’s a clue: this language is spoken in northern Peru.
The mystery language in last week’s language quiz was Meänkieli, a Finnic language spoken along the valley of the Torne River in northern Sweden, and also in neighbouring parts of Finland.
In this week’s Adventure in Etymology we’re unrolling the origins of the word wheel, and finding out how its linked to such words as pole, telephone, cult, collar and cycle.
On the Celtiadur blog we find out how words for Sweet and Gentle and related things in Celtic languages are linked to the name Kevin.
On the Celtic Pathways podcast we discover links between words for Surface and Skin and related things in Celtic languages and words like tonne/ton (weight) and tun (a kind of cask) in English, and words for tonne, barrel and cask in Catalan, Galician, French, Spanish and other languages.
