Category: English

Buttery Donkeys

By Simon

In my Italian lessons today, I learnt the word burro, which means butter. In Spanish, the same word means donkey, and I decided to find out more about these words.

Buttery Donkeys

Burro [ˈbur.ro] (butter) in Italian comes from Old French burre (butter), from Latin būtȳrum (butter), from Ancient Greek βούτῡρον [bǔː.tyː.ron] (butter), from βοῦς (boûs – cow) and‎ τυρός (turós – cheese) [source].

Words from the same roots include butter in English, boter (butter) in Dutch, buerre (butter) in French, and βούτυρο [ˈvu.ti.ɾo] (butter) in Greek [source].

Related words and expressions in Italian include:

  • burrificàre = to churn (cream, to make butter)
  • burroso = buttery
  • imburràre = to butter, grease with butter
  • butirro = butter (for cooking)
  • avere le mani di burro = to be butter-fingered [source]

Aberdeen Butteries Recipe

Incidentally, in England a buttery can refer to a room for keeping food or beverages, a storeroom, or a room in a university where snacks are sold. While in Scotland, particularly in Aberdeen, a buttery is a savoury bread roll (see photo above), also known as a rowie, Aberdeen buttery, Aberdeen roll or rollie [source].

Wild Burros

The Spanish word burro [ˈburo] means stupid, pig-headed, donkey, racehorse, also-ran, stubborn fool, sawhorse or swing [source]. The same word with similar meanings is also found in Catalan, Galician and Portuguese [source].

It comes from borrico (donkey, a stubborn, lazy, or stupid person), from Latin burricus (small horse), from burrus (red, reddish-brown), from Ancient Greek πυρρός (purrhós – flame colored, red-haired, red, blushing), from πῦρ (pûr – fire, lightning, fever), Proto-Hellenic *pāwər, from Proto-Indo-European *péh₂wr̥ (fire, spelt [grain]) [source].

Words from the same roots include burlap (a very strong, coarse cloth), fire, purge, pyre, pyromancy (divination by fire) in English; πυρ (pyr – fire) in Greek; vuur (fire, heater, lighter) in Dutch, and fona (spark) in Portuguese [source].

Related words and expressions in Spanish include:

  • burrero = horse-loving, race-going, mule/donley driver, coarse person, horse-lover
  • burro de agua = big wave
  • burro de carga = workhorse, dogsbody, beast of burden, drudge, pack mule
  • burro de planchar = ironing board
  • lomo de burro = speed bump
  • salto de burro = leapfrog
  • ponerse burro = to dig one’s heels in, be pigheaded
  • caerse del burro = to admit defeat
  • no ver tres en un burro = to be as blind as a bat
  • trabajar como un burro = to work like a dog / horse [source]

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Snub Nosed Simians

By Simon

The other day I came across the word scimmia in my Italian lessons and wondered where it comes from. It’s rather unlike words for monkey in other Romance languages, such as mono in Spanish, macaco in Portuguese, maimuță in Romanian, and singe in French.

Scimmie

Scimmia [ˈʃim.mja] comes from Latin sīmia (ape, monkey, imitator), from sīmus (snub-nosed, flattened, splayed), from Ancient Greek σῑμός [siˈmos] (snub-nosed, flat nosed, steep, uphill, bent in, hollow, concave), the origins of which are uncertain [source].

Words from the same roots include simian (monkey-like, ape-like) in English, jimio [ˈxi.mjo] (ape) in Spanish, símio (ape, monkey, simian) in Portuguese, simi (simian) in Catalan, and singe (monkey, ape, foolish man) in French [source].

Related words and expressions in Italian include:

  • scimmiesco = monkey-like, ape-like, simian
  • scimmione = gorilla, ape, a clumsy and brutish person
  • scimmiottare = to mock, make fun of, mimic, ape
  • scimmiottamento = aping, mimicry
  • scimmiotto = small or young money, friend, pal [source]

Incidentally, the origins of the English word monkey are uncertain. It may come from monk, or from Middle Low German Moneke, the name of the son of Martin the Ape in Reynard the Fox, a collection of medieval Dutch, English, French and German fables.

Or it may be related to the Late Middle French monne (monkey), from Italian monna (monkey), from Old Spanish mona (female monkey, from mamona, from maimón (a type of monkey with a prehensile tail), from Arabic مَيْمُون (maymūn – baboon, mandrill). Mono in Spanish comes from the same roots, as does maimuță in Romanian [source].

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Mushrooms Hats

By Simon

An interesting Spanish word I learnt recently is hongo [ˈonɡo], which means fungus, fungal growth, mushroom, toadstool, bowler hat and derby. As this appears very different to words for mushroom in other Romance languages, such as champignon in French, I wondered where it came from.

setas, hongos

Hongo comes from Old Spanish fongo (mushroom), from Latin fungus (mushroom, fungus, fungal infection, candle-snuff, dolt, idiot), from sfungus, from Ancient Greek σπόγγος (spóngos – spongue, tonsil), the origins of which are unknown [source].

Words from the same roots include sfungjer (sponge) in Albanian, սպունգ [spunɡ] (sponge) in Armenian, sponge in English, spugna (sponge, drunkard) in Italian, and сунѓер [ˈsuɲɟɛr] (sponge) in Macedonian [source].

Related words and expressions in Spanish include:

  • hongo venenoso = toadstool
  • nube de hongo = mushroom cloud
  • sombrero hongo = bowler hat [source]
  • valer hongo = worthless – colloquial, vulgar – used in Chile [source]

Other words from mushroom in Spanish include:

  • champiñón, which means (button) mushroom, fungus or mold, and was borrowed from French champignon (mushroom, fungus) [source]
  • seta, which is used in Latin America to mean mushroom, and possibly comes from Ancient Greek σηπτά (septá – lost things), from σηπτός (septos) [source]
  • callampa = mushroom or umbrella, and in the plural, callampas, shanty town. It’s used in Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador and Peru, and comes from Quechua qallampa or Aymara qallampa [source]

The French word champignon (mushroom, fungus, fungal infection, accelerator pedal), comes from Vulgar Latin *campāniolus (mushroom, lit. ‘grows in the field’), from Late Latin campāneus (of or pertaining to the fields), from Latin campānia (plain, countryside surrounding a city, cultivatable land), from campus (open flat level ground, a plain, a natural field), from Proto-Indo-European *kh₂ém-po-s, from *kh₂emp- (to bend, curve, smooth) [source].

Incidentally, the English word mushroom comes from Middle English muscheron (mushroom, fungus, toadstool, a surname), from Anglo-Norman musherum, from Old French mousseron / moisseron (mushroom), possibly from Old French mosse/moise (moss) [source].

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Battering Down the Door

By Simon

Yesterday I learnt that a French word for door knocker is heurtoir. I wondered if this is related to the English word hurt. Let’s find out.

DSC08266

Heutoir [œʁ.twaʁ] means door-knocker, knocker, (rail) buffer or bumper. It comes from heurter (to hit, collide with, upset, clash, strike, knock), from Middle French heurter, from Old French hurter (to ram into, strike, collide with), from Frankish *hūrt (a battering ram), from Proto-Germanic *hrūtaną, *hreutaną (to fall, fly, move quickly), from Proto-Indo-European *krew- (to fall, beat, smash, strike, break) [source].

Related words and expressions in French include:

  • heurt [œʁ] = collision, bump, clash
  • sans heurts = smoothly
  • heurté = jerky, uneven
  • heurter de plein fouet = to crash headlong
  • heurter qn de front = to clash head-on with sb
  • s’heurter (à) = to collide, crash into, bump, bang into, come up against
  • entreheurter = to hit one another [source]

Words from the same Proto-Germanic roots include rout (to beat, strike, assail) in Scots, hrjóta (to snore) in Icelandic, and aürtar (to knock, bump against) in Catalan [source].

So where does the English word hurt come from?

It comes from Middle English hurten (to injure, wound hurt), from Old Northern French hurter (to ram into, strike, collide with), either from Frankish *hūrt (a battering ram), or from Old Norse hrútr (ram [male sheep]), from hjǫrtr (stag), from Proto-Germanic *herutuz (hart, male deer), which is related to the English word hart (a male deer) [source].

So heurtoir and hurt might be related, but we can’t be sure.

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What’s that noise?

By Simon

Did you know that the Italian word rumore doesn’t mean rumo(u)r, as you might expect, but rather noise, rumble, sound or clatter. Is it connected to the English word rumo(u)r? Let’s find out.

Rumore

Rumore comes from Latin rūmōrem (vague noises, rumours), from rūmor (rumo(u)r), hearsay, gossip, rustle, murmur, a murmuring, the voice of the people), from Proto-Italic *roumōs, from Proto-Indo-European *h₃rewH- (to shout, to roar) [source]. A related word in Latin is rūmusculus (idle gossip) [source].

Related words and expressions in Italian include:

  • rumoreggiare = to rumble, clamo(u)r
  • rumoreggiare = to rumble, clamo(u)r
  • rumorista = noisemaker, foley artist
  • rumoroso = noisy, loud
  • rumorosamente = noisily
  • antirumore = anti-noise, soundproof, noise-cancelling, noise-reducing
  • un rumore sordo = a thud
  • rumore bianco = white noise
  • rumore di sottofondo = background noise
  • la notizia ha fatto molto rumore = the news aroused great interest [source]

Words from the same Latin roots include rumoer (rumo(u)r, noise) in Dutch, rumo(u)r in English, rumeur (rumo(u)r) in French, rumur (rumo(u)r, continuous noise) in Portuguese, and rumor (rumo(u)r, murmur) in Spanish [source].

Words from the same PIE roots include řvát (to yell, roar) in Czech, реветь [rʲɪˈvʲetʲ] (to roar, bellow, howl, cry, weep) in Russian, and possibly ωρύομαι [oˈri.o.me] (to howl) in Greek, and rāvis (hoarseness) in Latvian [source].

So the English word rumo(u)r is related. It means “A statement or claim of questionable accuracy, from no known reliable source, usually spread by word of mouth.” or “Information or misinformation of the kind contained in such claims.”. It used to mean a report, new, information in general, fame, reputation, clamour, din or outcry [source].

It comes from Middle English rumour (rumour, gossip, hearsay; a report, tidings, news; loud shouting, noise, din; outcry of protest or disapproval; a disturbance, stir, tumult) [source], from Old French rimur (noise [produced by an army on the march]), from Latin rūmōrem [source].

In Old English, the word hlýd meant rumo(u)r or the noise made in discussing an event [source], and also noise, sound, tumult, disturbance or dissension. Another word for rumour was hlísa, which also meant sound, fame or glory [source].

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Doorgetting

By Simon

Do you ever walk into a room and forget why you’re there? Or have you ever opened the fridge or a cupboard and couldn’t remember what you were looking for?

Doors

This is a common phenomenon known as the Doorway Effect or location updating effect and can occur when you’re thinking about or trying to remember too many things, get distracted, and particularly when you move from one location to another that differs significantly. This apparently primes our minds to receive something new. So if you want to avoid this effect, it’s best to keep whatever you need to remember at front of your mind.

This morning, for example, I put my laundry in the washing machine, then forgot to start it. I did remember later, but before then, I got distracted preparing my breakfast. It’s time to hang up the laundry now. I’ll be right back, unless I get distracted and start doing something else, which is quite likely.

Right, where was I? I did get distracted and did some lessons on Duolingo (2,600 days today, by the way), Anyway, sometimes I put bread in the toaster, or a pan on the cooker, and forget to turn them on. These memory lapses aren’t the result of going through doors into other rooms, or passing through portals, but they involve thinking and doing too many things and getting distracted.

I came up with an alternative name for this effect today – doorgetting, a portmanteau of door and forgetting, inspired by a video on TikTok by Jess Zefarris about Words for Things That Don’t Have names. These are also known as word fugitives, a term coined by Barbara Wallraff, an author and editor at The Atlantic Monthly, or sniglets – any word that doesn’t appear in the dictionary, but should – coined by American comedian Rich Hall. If they don’t enter into common usage, they are also known as occasionalisms, protologisms or nonce words.

An example she gives is serenquipity, for when you accidentally say something witty and quotable, or in other words, come up with a serendipitious quip. Another is pandephonium, for the confusion experienced when a phone rings and no one nearby is sure if it is theirs.

More on this phenomenon:
https://www.sciencealert.com/scientists-find-the-doorway-effect-could-be-real-but-only-in-overloaded-brains
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20160307-why-does-walking-through-doorways-make-us-forget
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-walking-through-doorway-makes-you-forget/
https://www.livescience.com/17132-forget-walked-room-doorways-blame-study-finds.html

Here’s a song I wrote about this some years ago called What Did I Come In Here For?:

What did I come in here for?
Something important I’m sure
Something to fetch or find
Oh what did I come in here for?

What did I come in here for?
I forgot as I came through the door
I cannot remember, I cannot recall
Oh what did I come in here for?

What did I come in here for?
This has happened at times before
I need a clue to get out of this stew
Oh what did I come in here for?

What did I come in here for?
What did I come in here for?
Just let me think and I’ll get it
Ah, that’s what I came in here for

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Stanzas, Cameras and Salons

By Simon

The Italian word stanza [ˈstan.tsa] means room or bedroom. I noticed it recently in my Italian lessons, and wondered where it came from. Today I realised that it’s related to the English word stanza (a part of a poem equivalent to a verse), and also has that meaning in Italian.

Villa Panza - Robert Wilson, Ivory. Black Panther, 2007

It comes from Vulgar Latin *stantia (standing, stopping-place), from Latin stantem (standing, staying, remaining), from stō (to stand, stay, remain), from Proto-Italic *staēō (to stand), from Proto-Indo-European *steh₂- (to stand) [source].

The English word stanza [ˈstænzə], which was borrowed from Italian, can also refer to:

  • An apartment or division in a building (architecture)
  • A segment or portion of a broadcast devoted to a particular topic (broadcasting)
  • A period or interval into which a sporting event is divided (sports)

It is also used in computing.

Words from the same roots include stance, stand, distant, estate, stable, stage, state, station, status and store in English, sawdl (heel) in Welsh, Staat (country, state) in German, and stam (tree trunk, stem, tribe, clan) in Dutch [source].

Other words for room in Italian include sala and camera.

Sala can also refer to a hall, living room or cinema (movie theatre), and was borrowed from French salle (hall, room), which ultimately comes from PIE *sel- (human settlement, village, dwelling), via Middle and Old French, Frankish and Proto-Germanic. The English words salon and saloon come from the same roots [source].

Camera is a room, chamber, bedroom, assembly, parliament or camera. It comes from Latin camera (chamber, room, vault), from Ancient Greek καμάρα (kamára – a vaulted chamber, vault), from Proto-Iranian *kamarā- (something curved), from *kamárati, ultimately from PIE *kh₂em- (to bend, curve) [source].

Words from the same roots include camera, cabaret and chamber in English, قَمَرَة (qamara – berth, bunk, cabin) in Arabic, καμάρα (kamára – arch, instep) in Greek, chambre (room, chamber, bedroom) and cabaret (pub, tavern, cabaret) in French, and câmara (chamber, council, camera) in Portuguese [source].

IMG_4321

Camera, as in a device for taking photos and/or videos, is an abbreviation of camera obscura (A darkened room in which the image of an outside object is projected and focused onto a surface – see above) from New Latin camera obscūra (“dark chamber”) [source].

In English, camera can also mean a vaulted room or a judge’s private chamber, where cases may be heard in camera (in secret, in private).

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Foolish Consistency

By Simon

Insanity - definitions

Albert Einstein supposedly said:

“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.”

It sounds like something he might have said, but there’s no evidence that he did. According to Quote Investigator®, the most likely source of this saying is a Narcotics Anoymous pamphlet published in November 1981, in which they say:

“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

Here something that Einstein did actual say that has a somewhat similar meaning:

“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”

He also said:

“Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is not to stop questioning.”

Hobgoblin Squad

Another quotation that I came across the other day that has a related meaning is:

“a foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds”

This appears in Self Reliance, an essay by Ralph Waldo Emerson that was published in Essays: First Series in 1841. Here’s a longer version:

“A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do. He may as well concern himself with his shadow on the wall. Speak what you think now in hard words, and to-morrow speak what to-morrow thinks in hard words again, though it contradict every thing you said to-day.”

Apparently he meant this as criticism of a refusal to change one’s mind or adjust one’s position in light of new facts or different situations.

So what is an actual definition of insanity?

Here are a few:

  1. The state of being insane; madness.
  2. Unsoundness of mind or lack of the ability to understand that prevents someone from having the mental capacity required by law to enter into a particular relationship, status, or transaction or that releases someone from criminal or civil responsibility (law)
  3. Extreme folly or unreasonableness
  4. Something utterly foolish or unreasonable

Insanity is a combination of in- (not), sane and -ity (the state of). It comes either from Latin insānus (unsound in mind, mad, insane) and -itās; or from in- (lacking, without), sanitās (health, sanity). Insānus and sanitās both come from sānus (sound, sane, well, correct), possibly from PIE *seh₂-no-, from *seh₂- (to satisfy), or from PIE *swā-n- (healthy, whole, active, vigorous).

Incidentally, what is a hobgoblin when it’s at home?

  1. A small, ugly goblin that makes trouble for humans. [from 1520s]
  2. A source of dread, fear or apprehension; a bugbear.

From hob (elf, from Hob, a variant of Rob, short for Robin Goodfellow, an elf in German folklore), and goblin (a malevolent and grotesque diminutive humanoid).

In some of the stories I read, such as Wandering Inn, hobgoblins are larger varieties of goblins, and don’t always make trouble for humans, and are not a source of dread, fear or apprehension for those who get to know them.

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Sources:
https://www.inc.com/kevin-daum/26-genius-quotes-from-albert-einstein-that-will-make-you-sound-smarter.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Emerson_and_Wilde_on_consistency
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/insanity
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sanus#Latin
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/insanity
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/hobgoblin

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Superfluously Redundant

By Simon

What does the word redundant have to do with surges and waves? Let’s find out.

redundancy

Meanings of redundant [ɹɪˈdʌn.dənt / ɹɪˈdan.dənt] include:

  • Superfluous; exceeding what is necessary, no longer needed.
  • Repetitive or needlessly wordy (of words, writing, etc).
  • Dismissed from employment because no longer needed (mainly UK, Ireland, Australia & New Zealand).
  • Duplicating or able to duplicate the function of another component of a system, providing backup in the event the other component fails.

It comes from the Latin word redundāns (overflowing, abounding), from redundō (to overflow, abound, pour out), from red- (again, back) + undō (surge, flow, abound), from unda (a wave, billow) [source].

Words from the same roots include undulate (to move in a wavelike motion, to appear wavelike) and redound (to contribute, reverberate, attach, reflect) in English, and ridondare (to overflow, abound, overwhelm) in Italian, redundar (to redound, result) in Spanish, and ondoyer (to sway, undulate) in French [source].

The word superfluous (in excess of what is required or sufficient) has a similarly overflowing origin – it comes from Middle English superfluous (redundant, immoderate, excessive), from Latin superfluus (running over, overflowing, superfluous, unnecessary), from superfluō (to run over, overflow, be superfluous), from super- (over, above) + fluō (to flow, stream, pour) [source].

Another word from similarly flowing roots is mellifluous, which means sweet, smooth and musical, or pleasant to hear, and usually refers to a person’s voice, tone or writing style. It can also mean ‘flowing like honey’, and comes from Latin mellifluus (honey-dropping, flowing with honey, mellifluous), from mel (honey, sweetness, pleasantness) + fluō (to flow, pour, stream) [source].

If someone has a mellifluous voice, you might describe them as melliloquent, an old word meaning ‘speaking sweetly or harmoniously’, from Latin mel (honey, etc) + loquens (speaking, talking) [source].

Back in 2008, I was made redundant from my job as a web developer in Brighton. Or rather, my position was made redundant – that’s how they put it. They gave me a substantial redundancy payment and that was that. At the time, I couldn’t really afford to stay in Brighton, and fancied a change of scenery anyway, so I moved to Bangor and did an MA in Linguistics. I’ve been here ever since, working on Omniglot full-time, and am fortunate enough to make a living from it.

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Rucksacks & Mistletoe

By Simon

What links the Italian word zaino (rucksack, backpack) with the English word mistletoe? Let’s find out.

escursione monte pramaggiore 2479m s.l.m.

Zaino [ˈdzaj.no] means rucksack, backpack, sack or bag in Italian [source]. It comes from Lombardic *zainjā (basket), from Old High German zeina (basket), from Proto-Germanic *tainijǭ (wickerwork, wicker basket), from *tainaz (rod, twig), the origins of which are unknown [source].

Words from the same roots include teen (twig, thin branch) in Dutch, Zain (rod, branch, whip) in German, tein (twig, offshoot, spindle) in Norwegian, ten (small stick or rod) in Swedish, and zana (a shallow, oval basket) in Italian [source].

mistletoe

Misletoe (a parasitic evergreen plant with white berries which grows on oaks, apple and other trees* – see above) comes from Middle English mistelto, mistilto (misletoe), from Old English misteltān, misteltān (misletoe), from mistel (mistletoe, basil, birdlime) + tān (twig, branch) [source].

*This refers to European misletoe,Viscum album. Other varieties of mistletoe are available [source].

Mistel comes from Proto-West Germanic *mistil (mistletoe), from Proto-Germanic *mistilaz (mistletoe), from Proto-Indo-European *me (with, mid) + *sed- (to sit) + *-ilaz (diminutive suffix), so mistletoe is a little plant that sits on other plants – a good description. The English word mistle, as in mistle thrush (Turdus viscivorus – see below), comes from the same roots, and used to be used to mean misletoe [source].

Mistle Thrush

The Old English word tān (twig, branch) comes from Proto-Germanic *tainaz (rod, twig) [source], like the Italian word zaino, so there we have our connection. In Lancashire dialect, a tan used to refer to a twig or branch [source].

Incidentally, mistletoe in Italian is vischio [vi.skjo], which comes from Vulgar Latin *visclum, from Latin viscum (mistletoe, birdlime), the origins of which are uncertain [source]. The Portuguese word visgo (viscosity, any viscous substance secreted by or extracted from plants, mistletoe) comes from the same roots [source], as do viscous, viscose and viscosity in English [source]

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