Category: Language

Omniglot News (03/08/21)

By Simon

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There are three new languages on Omniglot this week:

  • Kusunda (मिहाक / कुसान्डा), a language isolate spoken in the southern Rolpa District of Lumbini province in west-central Nepal.
  • Kodeoha, a Celebic language spoken in Southeast Sulawesi province of Indonesia.
  • Bungku, a Celebic language spoken in the provinces of Central Sulawesi and Southeast Sulawesi in Indonesia.

There’s new constructed script on Omniglot this week called Aketal, an abugida invented by Kazimír Bodnár as an alternative way to write English.

There are new pages of phrases and numbers in Norfuk, an English and Taihitian-based creole language spoken on Norfolk Island in the Pacific, near Australia.

On the Omniglot blog this week there’s a post called Water Wagons, which looks into the origins of the phrase ‘to be on the wagon’, and the Language Quiz.

Last week’s mystery language was (Mambwe-)Lungu (ichiRungu), a Bantu language spoken at the southern end of Lake Tanganyika in Tanzania and Zambia.

In this week’s Celtiadur post you can find connections between circle-related words in Celtic languages, and the English word irrigate.

As quite a bit of wet stuff has been falling out of the sky this week, the Adventure in Etymology looks into the origins of the word rain.

I finally got round to making a new episode of the Radio Omniglot podcast, which looks at the history and use of Emoji (🖼️✍️).

I wrote a new song this week called Music in the Air, which you can also find on SoundCloud, Tiktok and YouTube:

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, 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.

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Adventures in Etymology 29 – Rain

By Simon

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

As quite a bit of wet stuff has been falling out of the sky this week, and it’s raining as I write this, I thought I’d look into the the origins of the word rain [ɹeɪn].

A photo of rain taken from my house

Definition:

  • condensed water falling from a cloud
  • any matter moving or falling, usually through air

[source]

It comes from the Middle English reyn/rein [rɛi̯n/reːn] (rain), from the Old English reġn [rejn] (rain), from the Proto-West Germanic *regn [rejn] (rain), from the Proto-Germanic *regną (rain), possibly from the PIE *Hreǵ- (to flow) [source], or from *reg- (to water, moisture, wetness) [source]

Words for rain in other Germanic languages come from the same Proto-Germanic root, including regen [ˈreɣə(n)] in Dutch, Regen [ˈʁeː.ɡŋ̍] in German, and regn in Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Faroese and Icelandic, with different pronunciations in each language [source].

The English word irrigate comes from the same PIE root, via the Latin irrigare (to irrigate), from irrigō (I water, irrigate, flood), from in- (after) and rigō (I wet, moisten, water) [source].

Here’s a video I made of this information:

Here’s a song I wrote about rain:

A slightly different version can be heard at:

I also write about etymology, and other language-related topics, on the Omniglot Blog.

You can also listen to this podcast on: Apple Podcasts, 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.

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Episode 47 – Emoji (🖼️✍️)

By Simon

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Today we are looking at the origins and use of emoji, those little symbols that appear
in text messages, emails and other electronic communications.

An emoji is a pictogram, logogram, ideogram or smiley used in electronic messages and web pages. Emoji are used to fill in emotional cues otherwise missing from typed conversations. They include facial expressions, common objects, places and types of weather and animals [source].

The word emoji comes from the Japanese word 絵文字 (emoji), which is also written えもじ or エモジ, and means emoji, pictorial symbol, pictograph or pictogram, or literally “picture writing” [source].

Emoji first appeared in 1997 on a Japanese mobile phone made by J-Phone called the SkyWalker DP-211SW, which included 90 black and white emoji. It didn’t sell well and the emoji were rarely used.

A set of 176 colour emoji were created in 1999 by Shigetaka Kurita (栗田穣崇), who was inspired by manga (漫画) comics, which use symbols known as manpu (漫符) to represent emotions, actions, etc. They appeared on the i-mode pager developed by NTT DoCoMo. The emoji became popular in Japan and other companies starting add similar symbols to their mobile systems.

Between 2007 and 2010, the Unicode Consortium and other standarization bodies in the USA, Europe and Japan discussed and eventually agreed on a set of 722 emoji. These were included in the version 6.0 of Unicode, which was released in 2010. More emoji have been added since then, and they have become popular worldwide.

In 2014 the founder of Emojipedia, Jeremy Bruge, declared 17th July as World Emoji Day [source].

In 2015 the face with tears of joy emoji 😂was named Word of the Year by the Oxford Dictionaries [source].

There have been several musicals based on emoji in Los Angeles and New York, and The Emoji Movie was released in 2017 [source]..

According to a 2017 study at the University of Michigan that analysed emoji use in over 1.2 billion messages, the most widely used emoji are the face with tears of joy (😂), the red heart (❤️) and the smiling face with heart eyes (😍). People in Australia, France and Czechia are more likely to use happy emoji, while these in Mexico, Colombia, Chile and Argentina prefer more negative emoji.

The emojitracker site shows realtime emoji use on Twitter. As I’m writing this, the face with tears of joy (😂) appears in the top spot, followed by the red heart (❤️), the loudly crying face (😭), the smiling face with heart eyes (😍), and the recycling symbol (♻️).

The appearance of emoji vary between different operating systems, and the way they’re interpreted can vary from person to person. Some have developed particular meanings in specific contexts or places. Some are culturally specific, such as the white flower emoji (💮), which is used by teachers in Japan when their students have done well. It is also used to indicate love, happiness and beauty on special occasions such as Valentine’s Day. If you include emoji in a message, the person or people receiving it might not get the same meaning from them as you intended.

The novel Moby Dick has been ‘translated’ into emoji to become Emoji Dick or 🐳 (spouting whale), and a few other stories have been written in emoji. Whether readers understand them or not is another matter. Judging by the comments on one of them, most don’t. [source].

If you would like to support this podcast, you can make a donation via PayPal or Patreon, or contribute to Omniglot in other ways.

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Omniglot News (26/09/21)

By Simon

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There are three new languages on Omniglot this week:

  • Kambera (hilu Humba), a Sumba-Flores language spoken mainly in the east of Sumba Island in the Lesser Sunda Islands in East Nusa Tenggara province of Indonesia.
  • Mentawai (Behase Mentawei), a Malayo-Polynesian language spoken in the Mentawai Islands in West Sumatra province of Indonesia.
  • Gayo (Basa Gayo), a Malayo-Polynesian language spoken in Aceh province in the highland region of north Sumatra in Indonesia.

There’s new adapated script on Omniglot week called Hermosa española (هعرمۆسا عسپاڽۆلا), which is a way to write Spanish with the Arabic alphabet devised by Zayan Anwar.

There are new numbers pages in Proto-Italic, Umbrian, Oscan and Ket.

On the Omniglot blog this week I wrote a post about the Japanese word 賑やか / にぎやか (nigiyaka), because I just liked the sound of it, and related words in Japanese and Chinese, as well as the usual language quiz.

The mystery language in last week’s language quiz was Kanakanavu, a Southern Tsouic language spoken in the villages of Manga and Takanua in Namasia District (那瑪夏區) of Kaohsiung (高雄) in southern Taiwan.

In this week’s Celtiadur post you can find connections between words for victory in Celtic languages, the English word booty, and Queen Boudica.

This week’s Adventure in Etymology looks into the origins of the word neighbour, as I got to know some of my neighbours better this week. I found out that some of them speak other languages, including Mandarin Chinese, Spanish, French and Irish, and I got to speak a bit of all those languages, and some Welsh as well with one of my builders.

I made a new video this week featuring me play a tune I wrote a few years ago called the Dancing Donkeys on four different instruments, and it’s been getting a lot of views and likes on TikTok particularly.

In other news, work started on laying the foundations of my new garden studio this week:

Laying the foundations for my garden studio

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, 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.

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Adventures in Etymology 28 – Neighbour

By Simon

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As I got to know some of my neighbours better this week I thought I’d look into the the origins of the word neighbour [ˈneɪbə] / neighbor [ˈneɪbɚ].

Hector, my neighbour's dog

Definition:

  • a person who lives near or next to another
  • a person or thing near or next to another
  • to be or live close (to a person or thing)

[source]

It comes from the Middle English neighebor [ˈnɛixəbur] (neighbour, citizen), from the Old English nēahġebūr [ˈnæ͜ɑːx.jeˌbuːr] (neighbour), from the Proto-Germanic *nēhwagabūrô [ˈnɛː.xʷɑ.ɣɑ.ˌbuː.rɔːː] (neighbour), from *nēhwaz [ˈnɛː.xʷɑz] (near, close) and *gabūrô (dweller) from *būraz (room, chamber, dwelling, residence) [source].

Other words derived for the Proto-Germanic *nēhwaz include near, next and nigh (near, close by), as in ‘the end is nigh’ in English, nah [naː] (near, close, nearby) in German, and na (close) in Dutch [source].

Other words derived for the Proto-Germanic *būraz include bower in English, buur(man/vrouw) [byr] (neighbour) in Dutch, boer [buːr] (farmer, peasant) in Dutch and Afrikaans, Bauer (birdcage) in some German dialects, and bur [bʉːr] (cage) in Swedish [source].

Here’s a video I made of this information:

Video made with Doodly – an easy-to-use animated video creator [affiliate link].

German, Dutch and Swedish words pronounced by https://speakabo.com/text-to-speech/

I also write about etymology, and other language-related topics, on the Omniglot Blog.

You can also listen to this podcast on: Apple Podcasts, 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.

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Omniglot News (19/09/21)

By Simon

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There is a new writing system on Omniglot this week: The Global Alphabet, which was devised in 1944 by Robert Latham Owen as an alternative way to write English and other languages.

There’s a new adapted script: Türk Uygur Alfabesi, which is a way to write Turkish using the Uyghur version of the Arabic alphabet devised by Muhammad Shakeel.

There are three new languages on Omniglot this week:

  • Maguindanao (Magindanawn), a Central Philippine language spoken mainly in Maguindanao province in the south of Mindanao island in the Philippines.
  • Tonsawang (Toundanow), a Minahasan language spoken in the Southeast Minahasa Tenggara regency in North Sulawesi province of Indonesia.
  • Rinconada Bikol, a Central Philippine language spoken in the Bicol region in the southeast of Luzon in the Philippines.

There are Omniglot blog posts about being Quobbled and Kvetching, as well as the usual language quiz.

The mystery language in last week’s language quiz was Wayuu (Wayuunaiki), an Arawakan language spoken in northwestern Venezuela and northeastern Colombia.

The Celtiadur post this week is about words for battle and related things in Celtic languages.

This week’s Adventure in Etymology looks into the origins of the word bucket. Versions can be found on Instagram and TikTok and YouTube, which includes some extras bits.

On Friday afternoon I wrote a new tune called Friday Afternoon or Prynhawn Dydd Gwener, which goes something like this:

Another version is available on Tiktok and Instagram

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, 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.

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Adventures in Etymology 27 – Bucket

By Simon

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Today we’re looking into the the origins of the word bucket [ˈbʌkɪt/ˈbə-kət].

Fire buckets

Definition:

  • a container made of rigid material, often with a handle, used to carry liquids or small items.
  • a part of a piece of machinery that resembles a bucket

[source]

It comes from the Middle English buket/boket [ˈbukɛt] (bucket), partly from the Old English bucc (bucket, pitcher), partly from the Anglo-Norman buket/buquet (tub, pail), from the Old French buc (abdomen, object with a cavity), from the Frankish *būk (belly, trunk, torso), from the Proto-Germanic *būkaz [ˈbuː.kɑz] (belly, abdomen, body), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰōw- (to blow, swell) [source].

Words for the same Proto-Germanic root include bowk (to retch, vomit, emit smoke) in Scots, buik [bœy̯k] (belly, paunch) in Dutch, buque [ˈbuke] (ship, vessel) in Spanish, and buco [ˈbu.ko] (hole, gap, hovel) in Italian [source].

The English word trebuchet also comes from the same Proto-Germanic root, via the Old French trebuchet/trebuket (trebuchet, bird trap), from trebuchier (to fall/knock over), from tres (trans-, across, intensifying prefix) and buc (abdomen) [source].

I also write about etymology, and other language-related topics, on the Omniglot Blog.

You can also listen to this podcast on: Apple Podcasts, 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.

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Omniglot News (12/09/21)

By Simon

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This week I added details of Xiǎo’érjīng (小兒錦 / ثِیَوْعَرڭٍ۟), which is a way to write Mandarin Chinese (普通话) and Dungan (Хуэйзў йүян) with the Arabic alphabet that’s sometimes used by Muslims in China.

There are two new constucted scripts: Elithnah and IKON.

  • Elithnah was created by Richard Orbeck, and is used in his novel Lost Blood to write Dadeirom b’Vae, a constructed language that features in the book.
  • IKON is a graphical communication system designed to be an easy, intuitive, international and transcultural visual language developed by the KomunIKON project.

There are two new languages on Omniglot this week, thanks to Wolfram Siegel: Singlish and Provençal.

  • Singlish is a creole spoken in Singapore that combines elements of English, Hokkien, Malay, Tamil and other languages.
  • Provençal (pro(u)vençau) is a variety of Occitan spoken mainly in Provence in the southeast of France.

There’s also a new numbers page in Provençal.

There are Omniglot blog posts about Iron Ferrets and about the IKON script, as well as the usual language quiz.

The Celtiadur post this week is about words for kisses and related things in Celtic languages.

This week’s Adventure in Etymology delves into the origins of the word iron, and versions of this adventure can be found on Instagram and TikTok and YouTube, which includes some extras bits.

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, 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.

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Adventures in Etymology 26 – Iron

By Simon

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Today we’re getting elemental and delving into the origins of the word iron [ˈaɪ.ən/ˈaɪ.ɚn].

iron fence

Definition:

  • an element which usually takes the form of a hard, dark-grey metal that can be used to make steel.
  • an electrical device with a flat metal base that heats up and is used to remove creases from clothes.

[source]

It comes from the Middle English word iren [ˈiːrən] (iron), from the Old English īsern [ˈiː.sern] (iron), from the Proto-West-Germanic *īsarn (iron) from the Proto-Germanic **īsarną [ˈiː.sɑr.nɑ̃] (iron), from the Proto-Celtic *īsarnom (iron), probably from the Proto-Indo-European *h₁ēsh₂r̥no- (bloody, red), from *h₁ésh₂r̥ (flowing blood) [source].

Words for iron in Germanic and Celtic languages come from the same Proto-Celtic root, including ijzer [ˈɛi̯zər] in Dutch, Eisen [ˈʔaɪ̯zn̩] in German, haearn [ˈhai.arn] in Welsh and iarann [ˈiəɾˠən̪ˠ] in Irish [source].

Incidentally, the word irony is not related to iron at all. Instead it comes from the Middle French ironie (irony), from the Latin īrōnīa (irony), from the Ancient Greek εἰρωνεία [eː.rɔː.něː.a] (irony, pretext), from εἴρων (one who feigns ignorance) [source].

I also write about etymology, and other language-related topics, on the Omniglot Blog and a recent post was about Iron Ferrets.

Here’s a video I made of this information:

Video made with Doodly – an easy-to-use animated video creator [affiliate link].

You can also listen to this podcast on: Apple Podcasts, 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.

Blubrry podcast hosting

Omniglot News (05/09/21)

By Simon

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This week on Omniglot there are details of several new languages from southern Mexico, thanks to Wolfram Siegel:

  • Acazulco Otomi (Ndöö́ngüǘ yühǘ) is an Eastern Otomian language spoken in the town of San Jerónimo Acazulco in the state of Mexico.
  • Sierra Otomi (Yųhų / Ñųhų) is another Eastern Otomian language spoken in the states of Hidalgo, Veracruz and Puebla.
  • Temoaya Otomi (Ñatho) is a Southwestern Otomian language spoken in Temoya and Toluca in the state of Mexico.
  • Misantla Totonac (Laakanaachiwíin) is a Totonacan language spoken in the Mexican state of Veracruz.

I made improvements to the Bassari, Balanta-Kentohe and Balanta-Ganja language pages as well, also thanks to Wolfram Siegel.

There’s a new phrases page in Gwentian Welsh (Gwenhwyseg), a dialect of Welsh spoken in Gwent and Glamorgan in the south east of Wales. I have recordings for most of them which I’ll be adding when I have a spare moment or two.

There’s a new numbers page in Turoyo (ܛܘܪܝܐ / ܣܘܪܝܬ), an Eastern Aramaic language spoken in southeastern Turkey and northeastern Syria.

There are Omniglot blog posts about Dutch words, Climbing Up, and about similarities and differences between Japanese and Chinese, High Costs, as well as the usual language quiz.

The Celtiadur post this week is about words for cells, churches and related things in Celtic languages.

This week’s Adventure in Etymology tells a tale about the origins of the word yarn. Versions of this adventure can be found on YouTube, Instagram and TikTok.

Meanwhile on Duolingo I recently reached 1,500 days in my current streak (1,506 today). I am currently studying Japanese and Spanish there, and I’ve also completed courses in Swedish, Russian, Danish, Czech, Esperanto and Romanian.

In other news, I was a guest judge for the Fluent in 3 Months Challenge this week. It was nice to catch up with Benny Lewis and Shannon Kennedy, who run it, and to ‘meet’ the finalists, who learnt an impressive amount during their 3-month challenges.

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, 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.

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