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 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.
A wheel [wiːl/ʍiːl/wil] is:
A circular device capable of rotating on its axis, facilitating movement or transportation or performing labour in machines.
It comes from Middle English whele [ʍeːl] (wheel), from Old English hwēol [xwe͜oːl] (wheel), from Proto-Germanic *hwehwlą [ˈxʷe.xʷlɑ̃] (wheel), from PIE *kʷékʷlom (wheel) from *kʷel- (to turn) [source].
Words from the same roots include pole, telephone, chakra, cult, collar and cycle in English, kolo (bicycle, wheel) in Czech, kakls (neck, throat) in Latvian, and चाक (cāk – wheel) and चक्र (cakra – circle, ring, wheel, cycle) in Hindi [source].
Incidentally, words for chariot or wheel in Sumerian (𒄑𒇀), Aramaic and Hebrew (גַּלְגַּל) and Chinese (軲轆) possibly come from the same PIE roots [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.
In this episode we’re looking into words for surface, skin and related things in Celtic languages.
The Proto-Celtic *tondā means surface or skin and comes from the Proto-Indo-European *tend- (to cut off) [source].
Descendents in the modern Celtic language include:
tonn [t̪ˠɑun̪ˠ] = surface or skin in Irish.
tonn [tɔun̪ˠ] = skin or hide in Scottish Gaelic
ton [tɔn] = rind, crust, peel, turf, unploughed land or lawn in Welsh
ton = grass in Cornish
ton [tɔn] = rind or surface in Breton
There doesn’t appear to be a cognate in Manx.
The English word tonne/ton comes from the same Proto-Celtic root, via French, Latin and Gaulish [source]. Other words from the same Proto-Celtic root include tonne (tonne/ton) in French, tona (tun – a type of cask, ton/tonne) and tonya (a type of sweet bun) in Catalan, tona (surface, skin, bark) and tonel (barrel, tun) in Galician, and tonel (barrel) in Spanish [source].
Incidentally, the English word tun (a large cask, fermenting vat) probably comes from the same roots, via Middle English, Old English, Proto-Germanic, Latin and Gaulish, as does the German word Tonne (barrel, vat, tun, drum), the Dutch word ton (barrel, ton, large amount), and the Irish word tunna (cask), which was borrowed from Latin [source].
(A bit of bonus content that’s not included in the recording.)
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.
Here’s the latest news from the world of Omniglot.
New writing system: Marchen, an abudiga that developed from the Tibetan script in about the 7th century AD and was used until the 10th century to write Zhang-Zhung, an extinct Sino-Tibetan language that was spoken mainly in western Tibet.
New writing system: Hatran, an abudiga that was used in what is now northern Iraq to write Hatran Aramaic, a Middle Aramaic dialect that was spoken in northeastern Mesopotamia from about the 3rd Century BC to the 3rd Century AD.
New constructed script: Badlit Anituun, was created by Ace Paloma as an alternative way to write Filipino.
There are new language pages about:
Tajio, a Celebic language spoken in Central Sulawesi Province in Indonesia.
Jemez (Cáuijògà), a Tanoan language spoken in Jemez Pueblo in Sandoval County in the north of New Mexico in the south of the USA.
There are new numbers pages in:
Tajio, a Celebic language spoken in Central Sulawesi Province in Indonesia.
Nagaibak, a variety of Tatar spoken in the Chelyabinsk Oblast in the southwest of the Russian Federation.
On the Omniglot blog there’s a post about Script Families, about how writing systems can be grouped into families, and the usual Language Quiz. See if you can guess what language this is:
Here’s a clue: this language is spoken in northern Sweden and northern Finland.
The mystery language in last week’s language quiz was Futunan (Fakafutuna), a Polynesian language spoken on the islands of Funtuna and Alofi in the French territory of Wallis and Futuna in the South-West Pacific Ocean.
In this week’s Adventure in Etymology we find out what links the words Kith and Kin with words like cunning, uncouth, gnome, gentle, genius and engine.
On the Celtiadur blog there’s a new post about words for Bright Lights and related things in Celtic languages.
There’s a new Celtic Pathways podcast about words for Shamrock and Clover and related things in Celtic languages.
In this episode we’re looking into words for shamrock, clover and related things in Celtic languages.
A shamrock is the trefoil leaf of any small clover, especially Trifolium repens, commonly used as a symbol of Ireland. The word comes from the Irish seamróg (shamrock), from the Old Irish semróc, a diminutive of semar (clover, shamrock), from Proto-Celtic *semarā, possibly from Proto-Indo-European *semh₁r-/*smeh₁r- [source].
Related words in the modern Celtic language include:
seamróg [ˈʃamˠɾˠoːɡ] = shamrok and semair = clover in Irish.
siumrag [ʃumərag] = clover, shamrock, wood sorel, and semair [ʃɛmɪrʲ] = shamrock, clover in Scottish Gaelic
shamrag = clover, shamrock, wood sorel in Manx
siamroc/samrog = shamrock in Welsh (borrowed from English)
Shamrock in Cornish teyrdelen (“three leaves”). In Breton it’s trefle, which was borrowed from the French trèfle (clover, shamrock); or melchonenn, which is cognate with the Cornish mellyon (clover), and the Welsh meillion (clover, trefoil, clubs (a suit in cards)). The origin of these words is not known.
You can be find more information about connections between Celtic languages on the Celtiadur blog. I also write about words, etymology and other language-related topics on the Omniglot Blog.
In this Adventure we’re looking into the words kith and kin.
Kith [kɪθ] means:
Friends and acquaintances (archaic/obsolete)
It appears in the expression kith and kin (both friends and family) and comes from the Middle English kith (kinsmen, relations), from Old English cȳþþu [ˈkyːθ.θu] (knoweldge, native land, home) from Proto-Germanic *kunþiþō (knowledge, acquaintance), from PIE *ǵneh₃- (to know) [source].
Engish words from the same roots include can, cunning, gnome, know, noble, quaint and uncouth [source].
Kin [kɪn] means:
Race, family, breed, kind
Persons of the same race or family, kindred
One or more relatives
It comes from Middle English kyn (family, native, tribe, clan), from Old English cynn (kind, tribe, race, species, family), from Proto-West-Germanic *kuni (family, kin), from Proto-Germanic *kunją (kin, family, clan) from PIE *ǵenh₁- (to beget, give birth) [source]
Engish words from the same roots include cognate, engine, gene, genius, gentle, kind and nature [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.
There are new language pages about:
Picuris, a Tanoan language spoken in Picuris Pueblo in northern New Mexico in the USA.
Kiowa (Cáuijògà), a Tanoan language spoken in the southwest of Oklahoma in the USA.
Turka (cuuramã), a Southern Gur language spoken in the Cascades Region in the southwest of Burkina Faso.
There are new numbers pages in:
Llanito, a mixed language spoken in Gibraltar made up mainly of Andalusian Spanish and British English.
Ch’ol, (Lakty’añ), a Cholan Mayan language spoken in Chiapas in southern Mexico.
Karata, (кӏкӏирлӏи), an Avar-Andic language spoken in southern Dagestan in the Russian Federation.
Kaitag, (хайдакьан кув), a Northeast Caucasian language spoken in Dagestan in the Russian Federation.
On the Omniglot blog there’s a post about the word kiki and other popular slang words in the USA, and the usual Language Quiz. See if you can guess what language this is:
Here’s a clue: this language is spoken on a couple of islands in the southern Pacific.
The mystery language in last week’s language quiz was Yao (chiYao), a Bantu language spoken in Malawi, Tanzania, Mozambique and Zambia.
In this Adventure we’re looking into the word caboodle.
A caboodle (also written kaboodle) is:
Any large collection of things or people.
It appears in the US slang expressions the (whole) kit and caboodle and the whole caboodle and means “everything entirely; the whole lot; all together; as one” It first appeared in writing in the 1830s as the whole boodle, and as the whole caboodle in 1848 [source].
Caboodle/kaboodle comes from boodle,which originally meant a crowd, and later phony money or swag, from Dutch boedel [ˈbu.dəl] (property, riches), from Proto-West-Germanic bōþl (house, dwelling, property), from Proto-Germanic *bōþlą [ˈbɔːθ.lɑ̃] (house, dwelling), possibly from PIE *bʰuH- (to become, appear, grow) [source]
Words from the same roots include baile (home, place, town, city) in Irish and Scottish Gaelic, balley (town, village, farm) in Manx, ból (dwelling, abode, home, lair, bed) in Icelandic, and bosky (bushy, bristling) in English [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.
In this episode we’re finding out how words for towns and related things in Celtic languages are linked to words for beehives in other languages.
The Proto-Celtic word *trebā means dwelling, and comes from the Proto-Indo-European *treb- (dwelling, settlement) [source].
Related words in the modern Celtic language include:
treibh [ˈtʲɾʲɛv] = house, homestead, farmstead, household, family, tribe or race in Irish.
treubh [treːv] = tribe, family, clan or kin, and possibly treabh [tro] = farming village in Scottish Gaelic
tre(f) [treː(v)] = town; town centre; dwelling(-place), habitation, residence, home; house (and surrounding land), homestead or farm in Welsh
tre = [trɛ:/tre:] = farmstead, home, town or village in Cornish
trev = town in Breton
There doesn’t appear to be a cognate word in Manx.
Words from the same Proto-Celtic root (via Latin) possibly include trobo (beehive, skep) in Galician, and truébanu (beehive, barrel, basket) in Asturian [source].
The archaic English word thorp(e) (a group of houses standing together in the country; a hamlet; a village), which appears in place names such as Milnthorpe and Scunthorpe, comes from the same PIE roots [source].
Other words from the same PIE roots include Dorf (hamlet, village, town) in German, torp (farm, cottage, croft) in Swedish, þorp (village, farm) in Icelandic, and trevë (country, region, village) in Albanian [source].
You can be find more details of words for Towns and Tribes in Celtic languages on the Celtiadur, a blog where I explore connections between Celtic languages in more depth. I also write about words, etymology and other language-related topics on the Omniglot Blog.
Here’s the latest news from the world of Omniglot.
There are new writing systems pages about:
Chorasmian, which was used to write Khwarezmian, an extinct East Iranian language that was spoken in what is now northern Uzbekistan, and parts of Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan until 1200 AD.
North Arabian, the collective name for a group of scripts that were used in north and central Arabia and southern Syria from about the 8th Century BC until the 4th century AD.
There are new language pages about:
Mongsen Ao, a Kuki–Chin–Naga language spoken in Nagaland in the northeast India.
Tewa, a Tanoan language spoken mainly in the Rio Grande valley in New Mexico, and also in Arizona, in the USA.
Northern Birifor (Bɩrfʋɔr), a Gur language spoken mainly in the southwest of Burkina Faso.
New constructed script: Tenrái, which was created by Judah Kapulare to write Khasi, a Khasi-Palaungic language spoken mainly in Meghalaya state in the northeast of India.
There are new numbers pages in:
Manipuri, (ꯃꯩꯇꯩꯂꯣꯟ / Miteilon), a Kukish language spoken in Manipur in the northeast of India.
Mavea, a Southern Oceanic language spoken on Mavea island in Vanuatu.
On the Omniglot blog we investigating the origins of the phrase ‘the apple never falls far from the tree’ in a post called Falling Apples, and the usual Language Quiz. See if you can guess what language this is:
Here’s a clue: this language is spoken in southern Africa.
The mystery language in last week’s language quiz was Squamish (Sḵwx̱wú7mesh sníchim), a Central Salishan language spoken in the southwest of British Columbia in Canada.
In this week’s Adventure in Etymology we’re finding out what links the word Herb with words like gray, graze, green and grow.
By the way, this is the 100th episode of Adventures in Etymology – if you’d like to see a list of all the words covered so far, head on over to Radio Omniglot. If you’d like me to look into any words that I haven’t already covered, in English or other languages, you can leave your suggestions there as well.
On the Celtiadur blog there’s a new post about words for Revenge and related things in Celtic languages.
There’s a new Celtic Pathways podcast about words for Heights and related things in Celtic languages.
In this Adventure we’re digging up the origins of the word herb.
A herb [hɜːb/(h)ɝb] is:
Any green, leafy plant, or parts thereof, used to flavour or season food.
A plant whose roots, leaves or seeds, etc. are used in medicine.
It comes from Middle English herbe [ˈhɛ(ː)rb(ə)] (a herbaceous plant, herbage, woody plant, tree), from Old French erbe [ˈɛr.bə] (grass, herb), from Latin herba [ˈher.ba] (grass, herbage, herb, weeds, plant), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰreh₁- (to grow, become green) [source].
The initial h sound in herb disappeared at some point, and was restored during the 15th century based on the Latin spelling. However, it wasn’t pronounced by many people until the 19th century, and still isn’t by many speakers, especially in North America.
Words from the same roots include grow, green, graze, gray/grey in English, herbe (grass) in French, erba (grass, herb) in Italian, and hierba (herb, grass) in Spanish [source].
Incidentally, this is the 100th episode of this series, which started in March 2021. You can find a list of all the words covered on Radio Omniglot. If you would like me to look into any words that I haven’t already covered, in English or other languages, you can leave your suggestions there as well.
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.
