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.
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:
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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)
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.
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.
