Omniglot News (21/06/26)

21st June 202621st June 2026 By Simon

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Omniglot News

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

New language pages:

Tupuri (Tpuri), a Northern Mbum language spoken in Chad and Cameroon.
Akum, a Plateau Benue-Congo language spoken in Cameroon and Nigeria.
Alumu (Alumu Təsu), a Plateau Benue-Congo language spoken in Nigeria.
Karao, a Northern Luzon language spoken in the north of Luzon in the Philippines.

New numbers pages:

Tupuri (Tpuri), a Bak language spoke in Guinea-Bissau, Senegal, and the Gambia.
Karao, a Northern Luzon language spoken in northern Luzon in the Philippines.

There are also recordings of all the Georgian phrases now thanks to Lasse of EasyGeorgian.

New constructed script: Valagata, a script invented by Jakub Cieślak to write a constructed language by the same name.

Sample text in Valagata

New constructed script: Sotwor, an alphabet created by Amaiur Velaz Rodriguez to write English and for Japanese.

Sample text in the Sotwor script in Japanese

New adapted script: Fully Phonetic Devanagari, a modified version of the Devanagari script from India created by Yash Batwal as a universal script.

Sample text in Fully Phonetic Devanagari

There are two new Adventures in Etymology this week as I didn’t get round to making one last week: Befuddled Confusion, in which we untangle the origins of the word confusion.

It’s also available on Instagram and TikTok.

And Delays Expected, in which we investigate the tardy roots of the word delay.

It’s also available on Instagram and TikTok.

On the Omniglot blog everything is in a state of confusion as we investigate the phrase At Sixes and Sevens and other number-related phrases in English, Chinese and Japanese, and there’s the usual language quiz. See if you guess what language this is:

Here’s a clue: this language is spoken in Guinea-Bissau and Senegal.

The mystery language in the last language quiz was Yaghnobi (Яғнобӣ зивок), an Eastern Iranian language spoken in the Yaghnob Valley in Tajikistan.

On the Celtiadur blog this week there’s a new post entitled Dry Barrenness, about words for dry, barren, sterile and related things in Celtic languages.

For more Omniglot News, see:
https://www.omniglot.com/news/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/omniglot/
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100046466483286

You can also listen to this podcast on: Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, TuneIn and Podchaser.

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 – Delays Expected

20th June 2026 By Simon

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In this Adventure in Etymology we investigate the tardy roots of the word delay.

A delay [dɪˈleɪ̯ / dəˈleɪ̯] is a period of time before an event occurs; the act of delaying; procrastination; lingering inactivity, and various other things.

To delay can mean to put off until later; to defer; to retard; to temporarily stop; to wait; to hesitate, and other things.

It comes from Middle English delaien (to delay, postpone, withhold, hinder), from Old French deslai(i)er (to delay), probably a conflation of the Old Frankish words *lattjan (to delay, hinder) and *laibijan (to leave).

The former comes from Proto-Germanic *latjaną (to delay, hinder, stall), from PIE *leh₁d- (to leave, to be tired), and the latter comes from Proto-Germanic *laibijaną (to leave), from PIE *leyp- (to stick, fat) [source].

Words from the same Old French roots include délai (time limit, extension) in French, tlajja (to loiter, linger, stroll back forth) in Maltese, and dally (to waste time in trivial activities, or in idleness) and dalliance (playful flirtation, a wasting of time in idleness or triffles) in English [source].

Other words from the PIE root *leh₁d- (to leave, etc) include laten (to leave, let, cause to) in Dutch, lassen (to allow, permit, let) in German, laisser (to leave, forget, let) in French, and late, let, lease and lassitude in English [source].

Other words from the PIE root *leyp- (to stick, etc) include leve (to live, to be alive) in Danish, lepiť (to stick) in Slovak and leave, belive, life and liver in English [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.

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 blog.

Adventures in Etymology – Befuddled Confusion

15th June 2026 By Simon

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In this Adventure in Etymology we untangle the befuddling roots of the word confusion.

Confusion [kənˈfjuːʒən] can mean a lack of clarity or order; the state of being confused; a misunderstanding; the act of mistaking one thing for another, or a lack of understanding due to dementia. It is also the collective noun for a group of wildebeest(s) (a.k.a. gnu).

A confusion of wildebeest(s) / gnus

It comes from Middle English confusioun (destruction, disgrace, disorder), from Old French confusion (spread), from Latin cōnfūsiō (mixing, confounding, trouble), from cōnfundō (to pour, stir up, diffuse, combine, confuse), from con- (with, together) and fundō (to pour out, overthrow, spread out) [source].

Other words from the Latin word cōnfundō include confondere (to mix up, confuse, embarrass) in Italian, confondre (to confuse, mix up) in French, confundir (to confuse, mistake, confound) in Spanish, konfus (confused) in German [source].

Other words from the Latin word fundō (to pour out, etc) include confound, foundation, foundry, fuse and fusion in English, fondre (to melt, smelt) in French, hundir (to sink, ruin, collapse) in Spanish, and ffynnu (to prosper) in Welsh [source].

If you’re both confused and befuddled, you could say that you’re confuddled, but that might be confusing, befuddling, confuddling and maybe even fuddlesome.

Incidentally, befuddle comes from be- (to become, to cause to be) and fuddle (to confuse, intoxicate, get drunk), the origins of which are not known [source].

Some related words include fuddlement (the state of being befuddled), fuddlesome (confusing, marked by fuddling), fuddle-duddle (to depart, be off), and fuddling (drunkenness).

Note: normally I publish these Adventures in Etymology on Saturdays, but I didn’t get round to doing so last week as I was away in London for a few days. So this is either the delayed Adventure from last week, or an early Adventure for this week. If I have time, I will do another Adventure this week as well. I hope that’s not too confusing, befuddling or confuddling.

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 blog.

Omniglot News (14/06/26)

14th June 202615th June 2026 By Simon

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Omniglot News

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

New language pages:

Vute (Vɨ́tè), a Mambiloid language spoken mainly in northern Cameroon, and also in Nigeria.
Manjak (Manjáku), a Bak language spoke in Guinea-Bissau, Senegal, and the Gambia.
Weh (Kɨ́wí), a Southern Bantoid language spoken in the North West Region of Cameroon.

New numbers pages:

Manjak (Manjáku), a Bak language spoke in Guinea-Bissau, Senegal, and the Gambia.
Maninka (Maninkakan), a Mande languages spoken mainly in Guinea and Mali

I also made improvements to the Maninka language page.

New constructed script: Flāmtón, a script created by Leven Walker as an alternative way to write English.

Sample text in Flāmtón

New adapted script: Modern Aljamiado, a contemporary revival and reconstruction of the historical Aljamiado writing tradition of medieval and early modern Iberia developed by Javier A. Hernández Maldonado.

إِسپَانْيَا إِسْ أُونَا نَاثِيُونْ كُونْ أُونَا هِيرِينْثِيَا كُولْتُورَالْ ي لِينْگُوِيسْتِيكَا مُوي دِيبِيرْسَا

On the Omniglot blog we find out what links the words magic and machine in a post entitled Magic Machines, and there’s the usual language quiz. See if you guess what language this is:

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

The mystery language in the last language quiz was Tigak, a Western Oceanic language spoken in New Ireland Province of Papua New Guinea.

On the Celtiadur blog this week there’s a new post entitled Dry Barrenness, about words for dry, barren, sterile and related things in Celtic languages.

Electric Brixton

In other news, I went to see Band-Maid, one of my favorite Japanese bands in London this week. It was a fantastic performance full of joyfully chaotic musical mayhem and brilliance. Tickets sold out very quickly as soon as they went on sale, but more became available when they moved the show to a larger venue – Electric Brixton, and I was lucky to get one.

BAND-MAID performing their song Dilly-Dally at Electric Brixton in London – video by MetalMonkey

They sing mainly in Japanese, with bits of English thrown in for fun. I’ve heard most of their songs many times, and really enjoy listening to their music, even though I don’t understand many of the lyrics. Sometimes words or phrases will suddenly make sense after hearing them multiple times. This happens with songs in other languages as well, even in English sometimes, when the words are not clearly articulated.

The morning after the concert, I met a friend who lives in Brixton and we went to a nice little café in Brixton market. I know him through polyglot events I’ve been to, and we spoke mainly in Welsh, one of the languages he speaks well. He teaches Russian and Germain online, and has language learning tips on his website How to get fluent with Dr Popkins.

For more Omniglot News, see:
https://www.omniglot.com/news/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/omniglot/
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100046466483286

You can also listen to this podcast on: Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, TuneIn and Podchaser.

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 (07/06/26)

7th June 2026 By Simon

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Omniglot News

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

New language pages:

Noni (Nponi), an Eastern Beboid language spoken in the North West Region of Cameroon.
Katë (كمكاتاويرى), a Nuristani language spoken in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Saari (Sari), an Eastern Beboid language spoken in the North West Region of Cameroon.
Lotha, a Kuki-Chin-Naga language spoken in Nagaland in northeastern India.

New numbers pages:

Kogi (Kággaba), a Chibchan language spoken in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta mountains in northern Colombia..
Lotha, a Kuki-Chin-Naga language spoken in Nagaland in northeastern India.

New constructed script: Methwendi, a script developed by Angga Perdana to write his constructed languages, Savlandic and Lwendic.

Sample text in Methwendi

New constructed script: NAVLIPI, a universal phonemic alphabet designed to write any and all languages.

Sample text in NAVLIPI

New Tower of Babel translation: Lak (Лакку маз), a Northeast Caucasian language spoken in Dagestan in the Russian Federation.

In this week’s Adventure in Etymology, Tongues, we find out what links the words tongue and language.

It’s also available on Instagram and TikTok.

On the Omniglot blog this week there’s a new post entitled Polyglottery in Brno about my experiences at the Polyglot Gathering in Brno in the Czech Republic, and there’s the usual language quiz. See if you guess what language this is:

Here’s a clue: this language is spoken in New Ireland Province in Papua New Guinea.

The mystery language in the last language quiz was Rangpuri (অংপুরি), an Eastern Indo-Aryan language spoken in northern Bangladesh and northeastern India.

On the Celtiadur blog this week there’s a new post entitled Fasting Fridays, about words for fast(ing), abstinence and Friday and related things in Celtic languages.

As I mentioned, last week I went to the Polyglot Gathering, which took place at Mendel University in Brno in the Czech Republic. There were 827 participants from 67 countries who know over 200 different languages to varying degrees. Apart from English, the most spoken languages were German, Spanish, French, Italian, Russian, Polish and Portuguese.

I got to speak and practice many of the languages I know, including German, French, Spanish, Mandarin Chinese, Cantonese, Japanese, Welsh, Irish, Esperanto, and also bits of Czech, Slovak, Russian, Swedish, Italian, Portuguese, Taiwanese and Scottish Gaelic.

It was very well organized., and there were talks about language, linguistics, culture and related topics; introductions to languages; language practice tables; workshops on various things like comedy, dance, capoeira, juggling, etc; games, quizzes, karaoke, a talent show, a food fair, and tours of local attractions.

For more Omniglot News, see:
https://www.omniglot.com/news/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/omniglot/
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100046466483286

You can also listen to this podcast on: Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, TuneIn and Podchaser.

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 – Tongues

6th June 20266th June 2026 By Simon

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In this Adventure in Etymology we find out what links the words tongue and language.

A tongue [tʌŋ] is a flexible muscular organ in the mouth that is used to move food around, for tasting and that is moved into various positions to modify the flow of air from the lungs in order to produce different sounds in speech. It can also refer to a language. Other meanings are available.

It comes from Middle English tong(e) / tung(e) (tongue, language, speech), from Old English tunge (a tongue, a language), from Proto-West Germanic *tungā (tongue, speech, language), from Proto-Germanic *tungǭ (tongue, speech, language), from PIE *dn̥ǵʰwéh₂s (tongue) [source].

Words from the same roots include լեզու (lezu – tongue, language, speech, nation, people) in Armenian, liežuvis (tongue) in Lithuanian, jazyk (tongue, language) in Czech, tunga (tongue, language, speech) in Swedish, and Zunge (tongue) in German [source].

Words such as lingua in Italian, lengua in Spanish and langue in French, all of which mean tongue or language, also come from the same roots, via Old Latin dinguā (tongue, language, speech) and Proto-Italic *dn̥ɣwā (tongue) [source].

Words in Celtic languages, such as teanga (tongue, language) in Irish, tafod (tongue) in Welsh, and taves (tongue, language) in Cornish, share the same roots, via Proto-Celtic *tangʷāts (tongue) [source].

The English words language, linguist and lingual (related to the tongue) have the same PIE roots as well. Language comes from Middle English lang(u)age (language, tongue, speech), from Old French language (language), from Vulgar Latin *linguāticum (language, manner of speaking), from Latin lingua (tongue, speech, language), etc. The other words were borrowed directly from Latin [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.

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 blog.

Omniglot News (24/05/26)

24th May 202624th May 2026 By Simon

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Omniglot News

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

New language pages:

Naki, an Eastern Beboid language spoken in the Northwest Region of Cameroon.
Nali, an Oceanic language spoken on Manus Island in northern Papua New Guinea.
Ndoola (laˊ ndòòlaˋ), a Bantoid language spoken mainly in Nigeria, and also in Cameroon.
Chiquitano (Bésɨro), a language isolate spoken in southwestern Bolivia and western Brazil.
Cavineña (Kabina), a Tacanan language spoken in the Beni Department in northern Bolivia.

New numbers pages:

Nali, an Oceanic language spoken on Manus Island in northern Papua New Guinea.
Ndoola (laˊ ndòòlaˋ), a Bantoid language spoken mainly in Nigeria, and also in Cameroon.
Chiquitano (Bésɨro), a language isolate spoken in Bolivia and Brazil.
Cavineña (Kabina), a Tacanan language spoken in the Beni Department in northern Bolivia.

In this week’s Adventure in Etymology, entitled Gather Together, we’re gathering together the good roots of the word gather.

It’s also available on Instagram and TikTok.

On the Omniglot blog this week there’s a new post entitled Fire Arrows about the Chinese word 火箭 (huǒjiàn), which means rocket (lit. “fire arrow”) and related words, and there’s the usual language quiz. See if you guess what language this is:

Here’s a clue: this language is spoken in Bangladesh and India.

The mystery language in last week’s language quiz was Putukwam, a Southern Bantoid language spoken in Cross River State in southern Nigeria.

On the Celtiadur blog this week there’s a new post entitled Side by Side, about words for side and related things in Celtic languages.

For more Omniglot News, see:
https://www.omniglot.com/news/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/omniglot/
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100046466483286

You can also listen to this podcast on: Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, TuneIn and Podchaser.

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 – Gather Together

23rd May 202623rd May 2026 By Simon

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In this Adventure in Etymology we’re gathering together the good roots of the word gather.

Gather [ˈɡæðə / ˈɡæðɚ] as a verb can mean to collect normally separate things; to harvest food; to accumulate over time; to congregate or assemble; to bring parts of a whole closer; or to infer or conclude.

As an noun, gather can mean a plait or fold in cloth, a blob of molten glass collected on the end of a blowpipe, or a gathering.

It comes from Middle English gaderen (to assemble, congregate), from Old English gaderian (to bring together, to gather), from Proto-West Germanic *gadurōn (to gather, bring together), from *gadur (together, gathered in one place), possibly from PIE *gʰódʰ-r̥, from *gʰedʰ- (to join, unite, suit) [source].

Words from the same roots include godzić (to reconcile, bring together) in Polish, hodit (to fit, suit, be appropriate) in Czech, guõdas (virtue, nobleness, glory, honour) in Lithuanian, goed (good, correct, right) in Dutch, and good and together in English [source].

Next week I’m off to the Polyglot Gathering in Brno in the Czech Republic, where language enthusiasts from all over the world will forgather and regather together to talk in and about languages. There may some woolgathering, but hopefully no misgathering, as we gather our thoughts and ourselves together.

to forgather = to assemble or gather together in one place, to gather up, to congregate
to regather = to gather again, to gather back together
woolgathering = the gathering of fragments of wool torn from sheep by bushes, etc. indulgence in idle fancies or daydreams
to misgather = to accumulate or assemble incorrectly, to infer or conclude incorrectly

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 blog.

Omniglot News (17/05/26)

17th May 202617th May 2026 By Simon

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Omniglot News

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

New language pages:

Lukpa, a Southern Gur language spoken in Benin and Togo.
Chepang, a Binanderean language spoken in Morobe Province of Papua New Guinea.
Mungbam (Mùŋgbàm), a Southern Bantoid language spoken in the Northwest Region of Cameroon.
Rengao (Rơngao), a North Bahnaric language spoken in Quảng Ngãi Province in central Vietnam.

New numbers pages:

Rengao (Rơngao), a North Bahnaric language spoken in Quảng Ngãi Province central Vietnam.
Northern Emberá (ẽberã bed̶ea), a Chocoan language spoken in Colombia and Panama.
Catio (Ẽ́bẽra Katío), a Chocoan language spoken in Colombia and Panama.

New constructed script: Scrollex, an alternative way to write English with lettera shaped a bit like scrolls that was inspired partly by the Chinese Seal script.

Sample text in Scrollex

In this week’s Adventure in Etymology, Burning Torrents, we uncover the burning roots of the word torrent.

It’s also available on Instagram and TikTok.

On the Omniglot blog this week there’s a new post entitled Ashen Hearted, in which we investigate the Chinese word 灰心 (huīxīn), which means to lose heart, to be discouraged or to despair,and related words, and there’s the usual language quiz. See if you guess what language this is:

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

The mystery language in last week’s language quiz was Nisgaʼa, a Tsimshianic language spoken in British Columbia in western Canada.

On the Celtiadur blog this week there’s a new post entitled Directly Straight, about words for direct, straight and related things in Celtic languages.

Improved pages Blackfoot language page

For more Omniglot News, see:
https://www.omniglot.com/news/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/omniglot/
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100046466483286

You can also listen to this podcast on: Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, TuneIn and Podchaser.

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 – Burning Torrents

16th May 202623rd May 2026 By Simon

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In this Adventure in Etymology we uncover the burning roots of the word torrent.

Torrent [ˈtɒɹənt / ˈtoɹənt] as a noun can mean a violent flow (as of water, lava, etc), a stream suddenly raised and running rapidly, or a large amount or stream of something.

As an adjective, torrent means rolling or rushing in a rapid stream, and as a verb it means to fall or flow in a torrent or to pour.

It comes from French torrent (a torrent), from Italian torrente (stream, creek, torrent), from Latin torrentem, from torrēns (scorching, burning, roasting), from torreō (to scorch, burn, parch, roast), from Proto-Italic *torzeō (to burn, scorch), from PIE *torséyeti (to make dry), from *ters- (dry) [source].

Words from the same roots include tir (land) in Welsh (and Cornish and Breton), tierra (earth, land, ground, soil) in Spanish, torr (dry, matter-of-fact, dull) in Swedish, turska (cod) in Finnish, and terrace, terrain, territory, thirst, toast, torrid in English [source].

The terrier dog also gets its name from the same roots via Old French chien terrier (terrier dog) from chien (dog) and terrier (of earth), from Latin terra (dry land, ground, earth), ultimately from PIE *ters- (dry)[source].

The Mediterranean also gets part of its name from the same roots. It comes from Latin mediterrāneus (inland), from medius (middle),‎ terra (earth, land) and -āneus (adjectival suffix) 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.

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 blog.