Category: English

Omniglot News (25/05/25)

By Simon

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Omniglot News

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

New language pages:

  • Kebu (Kǝkpǝǝkǝ), a Kwa language spoken in southern Togo and southeastern Ghana.
  • Bangubangu (Kibangubangu), a Bantu language spoken in the east and south the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
  • Cherepon (Kyiripong), a Kwa language spoken in the Eastern Region of Ghana.

New numbers pages:

  • Kebu (Kǝkpǝǝkǝ), a Kwa language spoken in southern Togo and southeastern Ghana.
  • Butuanon, a Southern Bisayan language spoken Mindanao in the Philippines.

New constructed script: Sadalian (新德書), a phonetic script for Cantonese created by Wong “Sadale” Cho Ching.

Sample text in Sadalian

On the Omniglot blog we discover whether the words host and hostage are related in post entitled Hosting Hostages, and there’s also the usual Language Quiz. See if you can guess what language this is:

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

The mystery language in last week’s language quiz was: Wapishana (Wapixana), a Northern Arawakan language spoken in Guyana and Brazil.

This week’s episode of Celtic Pathways, entitled Cheesy Hills, uncovers the possible Celtic roots of words for hillsides and rough scrub land in Romance languages, and also of the French cheese brie.

It’s also available on Instagram and TikTok.

On the Celtiadur blog there’s a new post entitled Spring Fountains about words for spring, fountain, well 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/Omniglot-100430558332117

JapanesePod101.com

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.

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Celtic Pathways – Cheesy Hills

By Simon

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In this episode, we uncover the possible Celtic roots of words for hillsides and rough scrub land in Romance languages.

Cwm Idwal

The Proto-Celtic words *brigā (hill, fortress) and *brixs (hill), both come from Proto-Indo-European *bʰérǵʰ-s (something high up, fortified) [source].

Related words in the modern Celtic languages include:

  • brí [bʲɾʲiː] = brae, hill in Irish
  • bre [bre] = hill, headland in Scottish Gaelic
  • bre [bre] = hill, hillock, mountain, hill-country, upland, peak in Welsh
  • bre [brɛ: / bre:] = hill in Cornish – appears as Bray or Brae in placenames
  • bre [breː] = hill, mountain in Breton

For more details of related words in the Celtic languages, see the Celtiadur post Hills.

Words from the same Proto-Celtic root, via Gaulish *brigā (hill, fortress) and Latin *brigna (rocky terrain), possibly include bricco (hill, crag, ridgeside) in Italian, breña (scrub, brush, rough ground) in Spanish and Galician, and brenha (scrub, complication, confusion) in Portuguese [source].

Words from the same PIE roots include burrow and borough, (and place names ending in burg(h), boro(ugh), bury, etc.) in English, Burg (castle) in German, burcht (citadel, castle, borough, burrow) in Dutch, and bourg (market town, village) in French – also found in place names, such as Strasbourg and Luxembourg [source].

My take

Incidentally, the French cheese brie comes from and is named after the historic region of Brie in northern France, which gets its name from Gaulish *brigā (hill, fortress), from Proto-Celtic *brigā (hill, fortress) [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.




Omniglot News (18/05/25)

By Simon

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Omniglot News

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

New language pages:

  • Nawdm (nawdm), a Gur language spoken in northern Togo and southern and eastern Ghana.
  • Yom (Pila), a Gur language spoken in the Atacora, Borgou and Donga departments in the northwest of Benin.
  • Akuapem, a variety of Akan spoken mainly in southern Ghana, and in the southeast of the Ivory Coast.
  • Likpe (Sεkpεlé), a Kwa language spoken in the Hoehoe District of the Volta Region in southeastern Ghana.

New numbers pages:

  • Nawdm (nawdm), a Gur language spoken in Togo and Ghana.
  • Loma (Löömàgòòi), a Southwestern Mande language spoken in northern Liberia.
  • Mandari (Kútúk nà mùndárì), an Eastern Nilotic language spoken in Central Equatoria state in South Sudan.

New phrases pages:

  • Nawdm (nawdm), a Gur language spoken in Togo and Ghana.

On the Omniglot blog there’s a new post entitled Rustling Frou-frous – a frou-frou little post I rustled up about ways to say rustle in French, and there’s also the usual Language Quiz. See if you can guess what language this is:

Here’s a clue: this language is spoken in Guyana and Brazil.

The mystery language in last week’s language quiz was: Batak Mandailing (Saro Mandailing), a Southern Batak language spoken mainly in North Sumatra Province in Indonesia.

This week’s Adventure in Etymology is an assembly of words about the word thing, or something like that.

It’s also available on Instagram and TikTok.

On the Celtiadur blog there’s a new post entitled Buckets & Pails about words for bucket, pail and related things in Celtic languages.

In other news, I finally finished the Spanish course on Duolingo this week, or all the lessons I hadn’t got to yet disappeared. This has happened before for other languages, including Japanese, Irish and Scottish Gaelic. Sometimes lessons mysteriously disappear, and other times new ones appear. I’d previously finished all the Spanish lessons, for example, then a whole load more showed up.

I’m currently concentrating on Italian and Mandarin Chinese, and keeping my Japanese ticking over. I’m thinking about either trying a completely new language to me, or brushing up one of the ones I’ve already studied. My streak is currently at 2,857 days – that’s over 8 years (and 14 languages), and I don’t want to lose it. I’ve got into the habit of studying every day and would miss it, even if some days I’m mainly doing it to maintain my streak and my position in the diamond league.

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

JapanesePod101.com

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.

Unlimited Web Hosting - Kualo

Adventures in Etymology – An Assembly of Things

By Simon

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This Adventure in Etymology is an assembly of words about the word thing, or something like that.

Pointless things?

Meanings of thing [θɪŋ] include:

  • That which is considered to exist as a separate entity, object, quality or concept.
  • A word, symbol, sign, or other referent that can be used to refer to any entity.
  • An individual object or distinct entity.

It comes from Middle English thing (thing, substance, object), from Old English þing (thing, matter, concern, event, meeting, court, case, reason, means), from Proto-West Germanic *þing (court, session, lawsuit, affair, matter, thing, object) from Proto-Germanic *þingą (time, date, meeting, assembly, council, case, matter, issue), from Proto-Indo-European *tenk-ó-, from *tenk- (to be suitable) [source].

So, its meaning changed from being suitable, to a suitable or scheduled time, to an assembly, to a specific issue discussed at an assembly, to issues, objects or things in general. Which is quite something.

There are related words in other Germanic languages that also mean thing, and other things. For example, ding (matter, thing) in Dutch [source] (and Afrikaans), Ding (thing, girl, boy) in German [source], and Déngen (thing, object) in Luxembourgish [source].

The Alþingi
The Alþingi

However, in Norwegian, ting can mean thing, court or assembly [source], ting means thing, assembly or parliament in Danish [source], and þing means assembly, meeting, council or parliament in Icelandic, and the parliament of Iceland is called the Alþingi – see above [source].

Other words from the same roots include tinka (quarrel, disagreement, shortage, lack, tight situation) in Finnish, tinge (to bargin, haggle) in Danish, þinga (to hold a meeting) in Icelandic, dungi (to employ) in Esperanto, and gedeihen (to thrive, flourish, prosper) in German [source].

You can also listen to this podcast on: Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Podchaser, Podbay or Podtail and other pod places.

The theme tune for this podcast is The Unexpected Badger / Y Mochyn Daear Annisgwyl, a piece I wrote and recorded in 2017.

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.

The Fastest Way to Learn Japanese Guaranteed with JapanesePod101.com

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 (11/05/25)

By Simon

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Omniglot News

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

New language pages:

  • Bujeba (Bisio), a Bantu language spoken in the Litoral Province in the west of Equatorial Guinea.
  • Gyele (gyɛ̀lì), a Bantu language spoken in the Océan Department in the South Province of Cameroon.
  • Kwasio, a Bantu language spoken along the coast of south western Cameroon and north western Equatorial Guinea.
  • Mbosi (Embɔ́si), a Bantu language spoken in the Cuvette and Plateaux departments in the Republic of the Congo.

New numbers pages:

  • Hadza (Hadzane), a language isolate spoken near Lake Eyasi in northern Tanzania.
  • Gascon (Gascoun), a variety of Occitan spoken mainly in southwestern France and northeastern Spain.
  • Bearnese (biarnés / bearnés), a variety of Gascon spoken in Nouvelle-Aquitaine in southwestern France.

On the Omniglot blog we find out what the words knot and knit have to do with King Canute, and how they connect to Bluetooth in a post entitled Knotted Knitting, and there’s also the usual Language Quiz. See if you can guess what language this is:

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

The mystery language in last week’s language quiz was: Sar(a) (Madjingay), a Central Sudanic language spoken in southern Chad.

In this week’s Celtic Pathways podcast, Bearing Cradles, we discover the Celtic roots of words for cradle, crib and related things in Portuguese and other languages.

It’s also available on Instagram and TikTok.

On the Celtiadur blog there’s a new post entitled Saponaceous Soap about words for soap and related things in Celtic languages.

I also made improvements to the Celtiadur post entitled Ceilidh Companions, and improved the Daggers Alphabet page.

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

JapanesePod101.com

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.

Unlimited Web Hosting - Kualo

Celtic Pathways – Bearing Cradles

By Simon

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In this episode we discover the Celtic roots of words for cradle, crib and related things in Portuguese and other languages.

berço

The Proto-Celtic word *bereti means to carry or bear, and comes from Proto-Indo-European bʰéreti (to be carrying), from *bʰer- (to bear, carry) [source].

Related words in the modern Celtic languages include:

  • beir [bʲɛɾʲ] = to bear, give birth to; lay (eggs) in Irish
  • beir [berʲ] = to take hold; bring forth, bear, produce, carry in Scottish Gaelic
  • behr = to bear (give birth to) in Manx
  • beru = to flow, drip, drizzle in Welsh
  • perthi = to bear, endure, put up with, stand, suffer, tolerate in Cornish (not entirely sure about this one)
  • berañ [ˈbeːrã] = to drip, flow in Breton

For more details of related words in the Celtic languages, see the Celtiadur post Birth.

Words from the same Proto-Celtic root via Proto-Celtic *bertā (bundle, burden ?), Gaulish *berta and Latin berciolum (cradle), include berço (cradle, crib, birthplace) in Portuguese, bressol (cradle) in Catalan, berceau (cradle, crib, birthplace, arch, vault) in French, and berså (arbour, bower) in Swedish (borrowed from French) [source].

Words from the same PIE roots include barn, barrow, bear, berth, birth and burden and ferret in English, baren (to bear, give birth to, cause) in Dutch, brouette (wheelbarrow) in French, and Bürde (burden) in German [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.




Omniglot News (04/05/25)

By Simon

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Omniglot News

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

New language pages:

  • Masalit (Masaraa / Masarak), a Maban language spoken in southeastern Chad and southwestern Sudan.
  • Maba (buraa mabaŋ / بُرَا مَبَݝ‎), a Maban language spoken mainly in Ouaddaï Province in southwestern Chad.
  • Guerrero Nahuatl (Mēxihcatlācatl), an Aztecan (Nahuan) language spoken in the state of Guerrero in west-central Mexico.
  • Tetelcingo Nahuatl (Mösiehuali̱), an Aztecan (Nahuan) language spoken in the state of Morelos in south-central Mexico.
  • Myene (Omyènè), a Bantu language spoken in western Gabon.

New numbers pages:

  • Bribri (se’ie), a Chibchan language spoken in Limón and Puntarenas provinces in southern Costa Rica.
  • Teribe (Naso), a Chibchan language spoken in Bocas del Toro province in northwestern Panama.
  • Tetelcingo Nahuatl (Mösiehuali̱), an Aztecan (Nahuan) language spoken in the state of Morelos in south-central Mexico.

On the Omniglot blog there’s a new post entitled Dog Days about some dog-related words and expressions, such as canicule (heat wave) in French, and there’s also the usual Language Quiz. See if you can guess what language this is:

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

The mystery language in last week’s language quiz was: Dhundari (ढूंढाड़ी), a Rajasthani language spoken in the Dhundhar region of Rajasthan in the northwest of India.

In this week’s Adventure in Etymology we find out where the word Spring springs from.

It’s also available on Instagram and TikTok.

On the Celtiadur blog, we get granular looking into words for Grain 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/Omniglot-100430558332117

JapanesePod101.com

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.

Unlimited Web Hosting - Kualo

Adventures in Etymology – Spring

By Simon

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In this Adventure in Etymology, we find out where the word spring springs from.

Apple Blossom / Blodau Afal
Spring blossom on my apple tree

As a verb, spring [spɹɪŋ] can mean:

  • To appear.
  • To grow, to sprout.
  • To arise, come into existence.
  • To enliven.
  • To move with great speed and energy.
  • To leap over.

It comes from Middle English spryngen [ˈsprinɡən] (to spring, burst forth, shoot out, rise, emerge, appear), from Old English springan [ˈsprin.ɡɑn] (to leap, bound, burst forth, grow, rise), from Proto-West Germanic *springan (to spring, jump to, burst, explode) from Proto-Germanic *springaną (to spring, jump up, burst, explode), from Proto-Indo-European *sprenǵʰ-, from *sperǵʰ- (to move rapidly, to hurry) [source].

As a noun, spring can mean:

  • An act of springing: a leap, a jump.
  • A season of the year in temperate regions between winter and summer.
  • Something which springs forth, up or back.
  • A mechanical device made of flexible or coiled material that exerts force and attempts to spring back when bent, compressed, or stretched.

It comes from Middle English spryng [sprinɡ] (a spring, tide, new growth, source or origin, leap, jump, strike), from Old English spring [sprinɡ] (a spring [of water], ulcer, sore, pustule), from Proto-West Germanic *spring (a spring) from Proto-Germanic *springaz (a wellspring, fount) [source].

Words from the same roots include springen [ˈʃpʁɪŋən] (to spring, leap, bounce, jump, burst) in German, springa (to run) in Swedish, sprænge [ˈsb̥ʁaŋə] (to blow up, burst, explode) in Danish, пружити [prûʒiti] (to stretch out, extend, offer, give) in Ukrainian, and léim [lʲeːmʲ] (to jump, leap) in Irish [source].

Incidentally, in Middle English spring (the season) was referred to as lente/lentin, which comes from Old English lencten (spring, Lent), from Proto-West Germanic *langatīn (spring), from *lang (long) & *tīn (day) – so named because the days become longer again in spring [source].

In Modern English, this became Lent (A period of the ecclesiastical year preceding Easter, traditionally involving temporary abstention from certain foods and pleasures), and is related to lente (spring [season]) in Dutch and Afrikaans.

You can also listen to this podcast on: Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Podchaser, Podbay or Podtail and other pod places.

The theme tune for this episode is The Unexpected Badger / Y Mochyn Daear Annisgwyl, a piece I composed and recorded in 2017.

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.

The Fastest Way to Learn Japanese Guaranteed with JapanesePod101.com

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 (27/04/25)

By Simon

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Omniglot News

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

New language pages:

  • Eastern Huasteca Nahuatl, an Aztec / Nahuan language spoken in the state of Veracruz in southern Mexico.
  • Ngwii (Engwíí), a Bantu language spoken in Kwilu Province in the Democratic Repubic of the Congo.
  • Njebi (Yinzèbi), a Bantu language spoken in southern Gabon and the southwest of the Repubic of the Congo.
  • Seki (Sekiyani), a Bantu language spoken in northwestern Equatorial Guinea and western Gabon.

New numbers pages:

  • Eastern Huasteca Nahuatl, an Aztec / Nahuan language spoken in the state of Veracruz in southern Mexico.
  • Njebi (Yinzèbi), a Bantu language spoken in southern Gabon and the southwest of the Repubic of the Congo.
  • Northern Paiute (Numu), an Uto-Aztecan language spoken in Nevada, California, Oregon and Idaho in the USA.

New adapted script: Nuevoladino (נוֵבָלַדִנָו / נויבולאדינו), a way to write Spanish with the Hebrew abjad developed by Murray Callahan.

Sample text

On the Omniglot blog there’s a new post entitled Calm Heat in which we uncover the hot roots of the word calm, there’s another post about the word Piecemeal, and there’s also the usual Language Quiz. See if you can guess what language this is:

Here’s a clue: this language is spoken in the northeast of India.

The mystery language in last week’s language quiz was: Huasteco (Teenek kaaw), a Mayan language spoken mainly in the states of San Luis Potosi, Veracruz and Tamaulipas in eastern Mexico.

In this week’s Celtic Pathways podcast, entitled Floors, we unearth the possible Celtic roots of words for field and related things in Galician and other languages.

It’s also available on Instagram and TikTok.

On the Celtiadur blog, there’s a new post entitled Monastic Monks about words for monk, nun, monastery 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/Omniglot-100430558332117

JapanesePod101.com

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.

Unlimited Web Hosting - Kualo

Celtic Pathways – Floors

By Simon

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In this episode we unearth the possible Celtic roots of words for field and related things in Galician and other languages.

Attic with added cusions

The Proto-Celtic word *ɸlārom means floor and comes from Proto-Indo-European *pleh₂ros (to be flat, from *pleh₂- (flat) [source].

Related words in the modern Celtic languages include:

  • lár [l̪ˠɑːɾˠ] = ground, floor, middle, centre in Irish
  • làr [l̪ˠaːɾ] = floor, ground, storey, middle, centre in Scottish Gaelic
  • laare = flat, level, set, sill, centre, bottom, deck, floor, storey in Manx
  • llawr [ɬau̯r] = floor, deck, stage, platform, cellar, ground in Welsh
  • leur = floor, ground, storey in Cornish
  • leur [løːr] = floor, ground, area in Breton

For more details of related words in the Celtic languages, see the Celtiadur post Floor / Ground.

Words from the same Proto-Celtic root possibly include leira (field, a strip of cultivable land) in Galician, leira (furrow, a strip of cultivated land) in Portuguese, llera (a pebbly or stony area) in Spanish [source].

Words from the same PIE roots include flat, floor, palm, piano, plan and plane in English, piazza [ˈpjat.tsa] (square, plaza, market, space) in Italian, Flur [fluːr] (hall, corridor, stairwell) in German, and vloer [vluːr] (floor, ground, surface) in Dutch [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.