Adventures in Etymology – Extravagant

8th October 20238th October 2023 By Simon

In this adventure we’re wondering about the wandering origins of the word extravagant.

Extravagant means:

spending much more than is necessary or wise; wasteful
excessively high
exceeding the bounds of reason, as actions, demands, opinions, or passions
going beyond what is deserved or justifiable

It used to mean wandering beyond bounds [source], and comes from Middle English extravagaunt (rambling, irrelevant, extraordinary, unsual), from Middle French extravagant (extravagant), from Medieval Latin extravagans, from extravagor (to wander beyond), from extra- (beyond) and vagor (to wander, stray) [source].

Words from the same roots include vagabond, vagrant and probably vague in English, vague (vague, vagueness) in French, vaag (vague, hazy, odd, weird) in Dutch, and vago (wanderer, vagabond, slacker) in Spanish [source].

Other English words from the same roots include divagate (to wander about, stray from a suject or theme) [source], and evagate (to wander), which come from Latin roots meaning “to wander away from” and “to wander out of” [source].

Radio Omniglot would like to apologise for the late arrival of this podcast. This was due to malfunctioning plugins at WordPress.

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.

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.

Omniglot News (01/10/23)

1st October 20237th October 2023 By Simon

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

There are new language pages about:

Nume, a Northern Vanuatu language spoken in Gaua, one of the Banks Islands in Torba Province in the north of Vanuatu.
Makaa (mǝ́kaá), a Bantu language spoken in the Meka area in the southeast of Cameroon.
Sidama (Sidaamu Afoo), a Cushitic language spoken in the Sidama Region in southern Ethiopia.

New numbers pages:

Mwotlap (M̄otlap), a Southern Oceanic language spoken mainly on Motolava island in Vanuatu.
Nume, a Northern Vanuatu language spoken in Gaua, one of the Banks Islands in Torba Province in the north of Vanuatu.
Eastern Tawbuid, a South Mangyan language spoken
on the island of Mindoro in the Philippines.

New Tower of Babel translations: Basa, Northern Tepehuán, Sidama

There’s a new Omniglot blog post called Early Peaches, which unpeels the origins of the word apricot and related fruits, and there’s the usual Language Quiz. See if you can guess what language this is:

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

The mystery language in last week’s language quiz was Itelmen (итэнмэн), a Chukotko-Kamchatkan language spoken on the Kamchatka Peninsula in Siberia in the Russian Far East region.

There’s a new Celtiadur post called Impeccable Peccadillos, which is about words for sin, crime and related things.

Improved Celtiadur posts: Fists, Palms, Hands & Arms, Heat and Narrow

In this week’s Celtic Pathways podcast, we get to grips with words for Hand and related things in Celtic languages.

I also made separate pages for the Northern Tepehuán, Southeastern Tepehuán and Southwestern Tepehuán languages.

And finally, here’s a new song I wrote this week Ruith Air Falbh / Run Away!

Simon Ager · Ruith Air Falbh / Run Away!

For more Omniglot News see:
https://www.omniglot.com/news/
https://twitter.com/Omniglossia
https://www.facebook.com/groups/omniglot/
https://www.facebook.com/Omniglot-100430558332117

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.

Celtic Pathways – Hands

30th September 202330th September 2023 By Simon

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In this episode we’re getting to grips with Celtic words for hand and related things.

A Proto-Celtic word for hand (and palm) is *ɸlāmā, which comes from Proto-Indo-European *pl̥h₂meh₂ (palm, hand), from *pleh₂- (flat) [source].

Descendents in the modern Celtic languages include:

lámh [l̪ˠɑːvˠ/l̪ˠæːw] = hand, arm, handle or signature in Irish.
làmh [l̪ˠaːv] = hand, arm or handle in Scottish Gaelic
laue [læu] = hand, handful, foreleg or arm in Manx
llaw [ɬaːu̯] = hand; authority, possession, etc in Welsh
leuv [lœ:v / le:v] = hand in Cornish
lav [lav] = feathered hand in Breton

The usual word for hand in Breton is dorn, which is related to words for fist in the other Celtic languages. Another Breton word for hand is brec’h, which is related to words for arm in the other languages [source].

The Faroese word lámur ((seal’s) flipper, (cat’s) paw, left hand, (big) hand, left-handed person) comes from the same Proto-Celtic root, via the Old Norse lámr (hand, arm) [source].

Words from the same PIE roots include floor, palm, piano, plain and plan in English, piazza (square, plaza, market) in Italian, llano (flat, level, plain) in Spanish, παλάμη (palámi – palm, hand) in Greek, and words for floor and ground in Celtic languages [source]

You can find more details of words for fists, palms, hands and arms and related things 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.

Omniglot News (24/09/23)

24th September 20232nd October 2023 By Simon

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

There are new language pages about:

Inuktun (Avanersuarmiutut), an Inuit language spoken in northern Greenland.
Bangi (Bobangi), a Bantu language spoken in the centre of the Republic of Congo and in west of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Nzadi (Indzéé), a Bantu language spoken in the southwest of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Tembo (Kitembo / Chitembo), a Bantu language spoken in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

New numbers pages:

Inuktun (Avanersuarmiutut), an Inuit language spoken in northern Greenland.
Aramaic (ארמית), a Semitic language that was the lingua franca of much of the Near East from about 7th century BC until the 7th century AD .
Makah (qʷi·qʷi·diččaq), a southern Wakashan language that was spoken on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington state in the USA and is being revived.
Kwak̓wala, a northern Wakashan language spoken on Vancouver Island in Canada.
Nuu-Chah-Nulth (Nuučaan̓uł), a southern Wakashan language spoken in British Columbia in Canada

New Tower of Babel translation: Bangi (Bobangi)

There’s a new Omniglot blog post called Hanging Nails in which we look into the origins of the wordhangnail and related words, and there’s the usual Language Quiz. See if you can guess what language this is:

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

The mystery language in last week’s language quiz was Liq’wala (Liq̓ʷala), a Northern Wakashan language spoken in British Columbia in Canada.

There’s a new Celtiadur post about words for With and Without and related things.

In this week’s Adventure in Etymology, we unwind the origins of the word Weird.

For more Omniglot News see:
https://www.omniglot.com/news/
https://twitter.com/Omniglossia
https://www.facebook.com/groups/omniglot/
https://www.facebook.com/Omniglot-100430558332117

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.

Adventures in Etymology – Weird

23rd September 2023 By Simon

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In this adventure we’re unwinding the origins of the word weird.

As an adjective weird means:

Having an unusually strange character or behaviour.
Deviating from the normal; bizarre.
Of or pertaining to the Fates (archaic)
Connected with fate or destiny; able to influence fate (archaic)
Having supernatural or preternatural power (archaic)

As a noun weird means:

Weirdness
A prediction
That which comes to pass; a fact
Fate; destiny; luck (archaic)

As a verb weird means:

To destine; doom; change by witchcraft or sorcery.
To warn solemnly; adjure.

It comes from Middle English werd (fate, destiny), from Old English wyrd (fate), from Proto-West-Germanic *wurdi (fate, destiny), from Proto-Germanic *wurdiz (fate, destiny), from PIE *wert- (to turn) [source].

By the 16th century weird was obsolete in English, though it contained to be used in Scots. It was reintroduced to English by Shakespeare, who called the three witches in Macbeth the Weird Sisters.

In Scots weird means fate, fortune or destiny, and various other things, and tae dree your weird means to follow your destiny, to make what you can of your lot, or to suffer the consequences of your action [source].

Words from the same roots as weird include retain, verse, vortex and worth in English, Wert (value, worth) in German, gwerth (value, worth) in Welsh, worden (to become, get, grow, turn) in Dutch, and verða (to become, have to, must) in Icelandic [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.

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.

Omniglot News (17/09/23)

17th September 2023 By Simon

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

There are new language pages about:

Tonkawa (Tickanwa•tic), a language isolate that was spoken in western Oklahoma, southern Texas and New Mexico in the USA, and that is being revived.
Vamale, a New Caledonian language spoken in the north of Grande Terre Island in New Caledonia.
Nisu, a Loloish language spoken in the south of Yunnan Province in southern China.
Sani (Nip-dop), a Southeastern Loloish language spoken in central Yunnan Province in southern China.

New numbers pages:

Tonkawa (Tickanwa•tic), a language isolate that was spoken in western Oklahoma, southern Texas and New Mexico in the USA, and that is being revived.
Ditidaht (Diitiidʔaatx̣), a southern Wakashan language spoken in southern Vancouver Island in British Columbia in Canada.
Shoshone (Sosoni’ da̱i̱gwape), an Uto-Aztecan language spoken in Nevada, Utah, Idaho and Wyoming in the USA.
Comanche (nʉmʉ tekwapʉ̱), an Uto-Aztecan language spoken in parts of Oklahoma in the USA.

New weather words page: Finnish (suomi).

On the Omniglot blog we find out if the words Tent and Tenant are related, and there’s the usual Language Quiz. See if you can guess what language this is:

Here’s a clue: this language is spoken in British Columbia in Canada.

The mystery language in last week’s language quiz was Tsat, a Northern Chamic language spoken near Sanya in the south of Hainan Province in southern China.

There’s a new Celtiadur post about words for Down Under and related things in Celtic languages, and I made improvements to the posts about words for Trees, Wood(s) & Forests and Low.

In this week’s Celtic Pathways podcast, entitled Sacred Trees, we explore the roots of some Celtic words for trees and related things.

For more Omniglot News see:
https://www.omniglot.com/news/
https://twitter.com/Omniglossia
https://www.facebook.com/groups/omniglot/
https://www.facebook.com/Omniglot-100430558332117

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.

Celtic Pathways – Sacred Trees

16th September 2023 By Simon

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In this episode we’re exploring the roots of Celtic words for tree and related things.

One Proto-Celtic word for tree is *belyom, which comes from Proto-Indo-European *bʰolh₃yo- (leaf), from *bʰleh₃- (blossom, flower) [source].

Descendents in the modern Celtic languages include:

bile [ˈbʲɪlʲə] = (large, sacred) tree, a scion or a distinguished person in Irish.
bile [bilə] = mast, plough, a cluster of trees, or a sacred tree or grove in Scottish Gaelic
billey = tree or big bush in Manx
pill [pɪɬ] = (tree) trunk, stock, log, branch, pole, stake, post, fortress or stronghold in Welsh.
bill = trunk in Breton

In Manx billey is the usual word for tree, however words for tree have other roots in the other Celtic languages: crann (Irish), craobh (Scottish Gaelic), coeden (Welsh), gwedhen (Cornish) and gwezenn (Breton). Only the Cornish and Breton words are cognate (related).

The Proto-Celtic word *belyom became *bilia [ˈbi.liaː] (tall tree) in Gaulish, which became bille (tree trunk, railway sleeper, rolling pin) and billon (a ridge in a ploughed field) in French, and possibly billa (spigot, tap, stick) in Galician [source].

Words from the same PIE roots include folio and phyllo / fil(l)o (pastry), phyllomancy (diviniation by leaves) in English, feuille (leaf, sheet) in French, and hoja (leaf, petal, blade) in Spanish [source].

You can find more details of words for trees, wood(s) and forests and related things 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.

Omniglot News (10/09/23)

10th September 2023 By Simon

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

There are new language pages about:

Tumulung Sisaala (Sisaaliŋ Tumuluŋ), a Gur language spoken in the Upper West Region of northern Ghana.
Paasaal (Pasaale Sisaala), a Gur language spoken in the Upper West Region of northern Ghana
Sisaali, a Gur language spoken in the provinces of Sissili and Ioba in southern Burkina Faso.

New numbers pages:

Tumulung Sisaala (Sisaaliŋ Tumuluŋ), a Gur language spoken in the Upper West Region in northern Ghana.
Sisaali, a Gur language spoken in Sissili and Ioba in southern Burkina Faso.
Aari (አፋን፡ኣሪ፡ / Áfan ārí), a South Omotic language spoken in the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples’ region of southern Ethiopia.

On the Omniglot blog we look into the origins of the words Pen and Pencil, which are not related, and there’s the usual Language Quiz. See if you can guess what language this is:

Here’s a clue: this language is spoken in southern China, but isn’t related to Chinese.

The mystery language in last week’s language quiz was Erzya (эрзянь кель), a Mordvinic language spoken in the Republic of Mordovia in the west of the Russian Federation.

There’s a new Celtiadur post called Take Note! about words meaning note and related things in Celtic languages,.

In this week’s Adventure in Etymology we’re going down the rabbit hole and unearthing the origins of the word down and related things.

I also made improvements to pages about Japanese Kanji and the Bench language.

For more Omniglot News see:
https://www.omniglot.com/news/
https://twitter.com/Omniglossia
https://www.facebook.com/groups/omniglot/
https://www.facebook.com/Omniglot-100430558332117

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.

Adventures in Etymology – Down

9th September 20239th September 2023 By Simon

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In this adventure we’re going down the rabbit hole and unearthing the origins of the word down.

Down has various meanings, each of which has different roots. First let’s look at down that means ‘from a higher position to a lower one; facing downwards, to knock down; a negative aspect’, and various other things.

This comes from Middle English doun [duːn] (down), from Old English dūne (down), a form of adūne (down, downward), from ofdūne [ovˈduː.ne] (down – “of the hill”), from Proto-Germanic *dūnǭ (sand dune, hill), possibly from *dūnaz (pile, heap), from PIE *dʰewh₂- (smoke, mist, haze) [source].

Another meaning of down (especially in southern England) is a (chalk) hill, rolling grassland, a field, especially one used for horse racing, or a piece of poor, sandy hilly land near the sea covered with fine turf used mainly for grazing sheep.

This comes from Middle English doun(e) [duːn] (hill, grass-grown upland, open country), from Old English dūn (mountain, hill), from Proto-Germanic *dūnǭ (sand dune, hill), probably from Proto-Celtic *dūnom (stronghold, rampart), from PIE *duh₂-nós (lasting, durable), or from *dʰewh₂- (smoke, mist, haze) [source].

Words from the same roots include dùn (heap, fort, town) in Scottish Gaelic, dinas (city) in Welsh, town and dune in English, tuin (garden, yard) in Dutch, and Zaun (fence) in German [source].

Down can also refer to soft, fluffy feathers that grow on young birds, and that are used as insulating material in duvets, sleeping bags and jackets, and soft hairs on plants or people’s faces.

This comes from Middle English doun (soft feathers of birds, down), from Old Norse dúnn (down), from Proto-Germanic *dūnaz (pile, heap), from PIE *dʰewh₂- (smoke, mist, haze) [source].

So all the different senses of down might ultimately come from the same PIE root, but arrived in modern English via different routes. So try not to feel down when up on the downs in a down jacket because that would be a bit of a downer.

Incidentally, we used to call duvets slumberdowns in my family. I thought that was their name, but later discovered that other people have different names for them, such as duvet or continental quilt. Slumberdown is in fact the name of the company that makes them. They’re apparently called comforters or quilts in North America, doonas in Australia, and ralli quilts or razai in India and Pakistan. What do you call them? [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.

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.

Omniglot News (03/08/23)

3rd September 2023 By Simon

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

There are new language pages about:

Buol (Apadu Vuolo), a Gorontalic language spoken in the Buol Regency in the north of Central Sulawesi Province in Indonesia.
Talaud, a North Sangiric language spoken in the Talaud Islands in North Sulawesi Province in Indonesia.
Blaan (B’laan), a South Mindanao language spoken in the south of Mindanao Island in the Philippines.

New constructed script: Wave, an alternative script for English designed by Nixon Nguyen for artistic purposes.

Sample text in Wave (All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.)

New phrases page: Blaan (B’laan)

New numbers pages:

Blaan (B’laan), a South Mindanao language spoken on Mindanao Island in the Philippines.
Keres, a language isolate spoken by the Keres Pueblo people in New Mexico in the USA.

New dates page: Vietnamese

On the Omniglot blog there’s a new post called Sailing Away about words for boatsships> and related vessels, and there’s the usual Language Quiz. See if you can guess what language this is:

Here’s a clue: this language is related to Hungarian.

The mystery language in last week’s language quiz was Wemba Wemba, a Pama-Nyungan language formerly spoken in Victoria in Australia, that is being revived.

There’s a new Celtiadur post about words for Ships and Boats and related vessels in Celtic languages, and I made improvements to the posts about words for Caves and Wide and Broad.

In this week’s Celtic Pathways podcast we delve into the origins of the words for Hollow and related things.

In other news, here’s some Stuff Nonsense, my latest song:

Simon Ager · Stuff and Nonsense

For more Omniglot News see:
https://www.omniglot.com/news/
https://twitter.com/Omniglossia
https://www.facebook.com/groups/omniglot/
https://www.facebook.com/Omniglot-100430558332117

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.

Radio Omniglot

Podcasts about languages and words

Author: Simon

Adventures in Etymology – Extravagant

Omniglot News (01/10/23)

Celtic Pathways – Hands

Omniglot News (24/09/23)

Adventures in Etymology – Weird

Omniglot News (17/09/23)

Celtic Pathways – Sacred Trees

Omniglot News (10/09/23)

Adventures in Etymology – Down

Omniglot News (03/08/23)