Category: Language

Omniglot News (13/10/24)

By Simon

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Omniglot News

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

New language pages:

  • Djabugay, a Pama-Nyungan language spoken in Queensland in northeastern Australia.
  • Lamalama, a Pama-Nyungan language spoken in Queensland in the northeastern Australia.
  • Warao, a language isolate spoken in Venezuela, Guyana and Suriname.
  • Kapóng, a Cariban language spoken in Guyana, Venezuela and Brazil.

New constructed script: Arkyn, an alternative way to write English created by Hanson Walker and designed for discreet and efficient communication.

Sample text in Arkyn (fancy version)

New constructed script: Nyctography, a substitution cipher for English created by the author Lewis Carroll in 1891 to enable him to write in the dark when ideas came to him in the middle of the night.

Sample text in Nyctography (regular version)

New numbers pages:

  • Arvanitic (arbërisht), a variety of Albanian spoken in southern Greece.
  • Alur (Dho-Alur), a Southern Luo language spoken in Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

On the Omniglot blog there’s a new post entitled Jack Of All Trades about the origins of that saying, and related sayings in English and other languages. There’s also the usual Language Quiz. See if you can guess what language this is:

Here’s a clue: this language is spoken mainly in southwestern China and northeastern Myanmar.

The mystery language in last week’s language quiz was Samogitian (žemaitiu kalba), an Eastern Baltic language spoken in the Samogitia region in western Lithuania.

In this week’s Celtic Pathways podcast, Garters, we discover the Celtic roots of words for garter in English and French.

On the Celtiadur blog there’s a new post about words for Darkness and related things

I also made improvements to the Guugu Yimithirr language page.

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

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 – Garters

By Simon

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In this episode, we discover the Celtic roots of words for garter in English and French.

Garter

The English word garter refers to a band around the leg to hold up a sock or stocking. It comes from Old Northern French gartier (garter), from Old French garet (knee, leg), from Vulgar Latin *garra (shank, calf), from Gaulish *garrā (leg), from Proto-Celtic *garros (calf, shank), possibly from PIE *ǵʰes- (hand, to take) [source].

Words in the modern Celtic languages from the same Proto-Celtic root include: gar [ɡar] (leg, shank, thigh, ham) in Welsh, garr [ɡarː/ɡɒr] (leg, stem) in Cornish, and gar [ɡɑːr] (leg, paw) in Breton [source].

Words from the same Proto-Celtic root in other languages include: jarret (hock) and jarretière (garter) in French, and possibly garra (claw, talon, hand, paw, spirit) in Spanish, and garra (shank, tail, claw) in Catalan [source].

Words from the same PIE root include chiropractor, million and surgeon in English; dorë (hand) in Albanian; paže (arm) in Czech, and pažastis (armpit) in Lithuanian [source].

Chiropractor comes from Ancient Greek χείρ (kheír – hand) & πρᾶξις (prâxis – action, activity, practice) [source]; million comes ultimately from the PIE root *ǵʰéslom (thousand) or literally “full hand” [source]; and surgeon comes from Ancient Greek χειρουργός (kheirourgós – craftsman, surgeon), from χείρ (kheír – hand) & ἔργον (érgon – work) [source]

Incidentally, the English word hock [hɒk/hɑk] (also written hough) can refer to the hollow behind the knee, the tarsal joint of an animal such as a horse or pig, and the meat from that part of an animal. It’s also the name of a type of wine from the Hochheim region of Germany [source].

See the Celtiadur post Legs & Feet for more details of words for shank, calf, leg, foot and related things in Celtic languages. I also write about words, etymology and other language-related topics on the Omniglot Blog.

Radio Omniglot podcasts are brought to you in association with Blubrry Podcast Hosting, a great place to host your podcasts. Get your first month free with the promo code omniglot.

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Omniglot News (06/10/24)

By Simon

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Omniglot News

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

New language pages:

  • Datooga, a Southern Nilotic language spoken in parts of northern Tanzania.
  • Sobei, a Western Oceanic language spoken in Papua Province in eastern Indonesian.
  • Defaka (défàkà), an Ijoid language spoken in Rivers State in southern Nigeria.

New numbers pages:

  • Defaka (défàkà), an Ijoid language spoken in Rivers State the southern Nigeria.
  • Yapese (Thin nu Waqab), an Oceanic language spoken mainly on the island of Yap in Micronesia.
  • Ulithian (Yulidiy), a Micronesian language spoken mainly in Ulithi Atoll in Yap State in Micronesia.

New constructed script: Skálmvargic, which was invented by Kitsune Sobo as the native script of the Skálmvargar (Bladewolves) in the fictional Rhodinoverse

Sample text in Skálmvargic

New adapted script: RoHangul, which is a way to write Romanian with the Korean Hangul script created by Laura Brauman.

Sample text in RoHangul

On the Omniglot blog there’s a new post entitled Buttery Donkeys, about words for butter and donkey in Italian, Spanish and other languages. There’s also the usual Language Quiz. See if you can guess what language this is:

Here’s a clue: this language is considered a separate language by some people, but a dialect of another language by others.

The mystery language in last week’s language quiz was Hixkaryána, a Southern Guiana language spoken in Pará and Amazonas states in northern Brazil.

In this week’s Adventure in Etymology, Random Origins, we’re looking into the origins of the word origin, and randomly looking at the word random.

On the Celtiadur blog there’s a new post entitled Spinning, Twisting & Turning, about words for spin, twist, turn and related things, and I made improvements to the Legs & Feet post.

I also made improvements to the Yapese language page.

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

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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Adventures in Etymology – Random Origins

By Simon

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In this Adventure in Etymology, we’re looking into the origins of the word origin, and randomly looking at the word random.

Armadale
A random and original rowing boat

Origin [ˈɒɹ.ɪ.dʒɪn/ˈɔɹ.ɪ.dʒɪn] is:

  • The beginning of something
  • The source of a river, information, goods, etc

It comes from Middle English origyne [ɔˈridʒin(ə)] (origin, lineage, provenance), from Old French or(ig)ine [ɔˈɾinə] (origin, lineage, heritage, breeding), from Latin orīginem from orīgō [ɔˈriːɡoː] (beginning, origin, source, birth), from orior (to rise, get up, appear, be born), from Proto-Italic *orjōr (to rise, get up), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃er- (to move, rise, spring) [source].

Words from the same roots include earn earnest, orient, random, run and yearn in English, rennen [rɛ.nə(n)] (to run) in Dutch, rinnen [ˈʁɪnən] (to flow, leak, run, trickle) in German, and ruch [rux] (movement, traffic) in Czech [source].

The name Ernest also comes from the same roots. It became popular in English in the 18th century, and is a version of the German name Ernst, which comes from Old High German ernust (serious), from Proto-Germanic *ernustuz (seriousness, earnest, strength, solidity, struggle, fight) [source].

Incidentally, the English word random (as a noun) originally meant speed or force, then came to refer to a range of a bullet or other projectile; a roving motion; a course without definite direction; a lack of rule or method, and chance [source].

As an adjective, it can mean occurring for no particular reason; haphazard; unpredictable; involving an outcome which is impossible to prediect; arbitary; unspecified; diverse or unexpected. In slang, it can refer to anything that is out of the ordinary, odd, strange or bizarre; a person who acts or says random things, or an undefined, unknown or unimportant person.

I hope this podcast hasn’t been too random, and I randomly decided to add a theme tune this time – it’s an original one I wrote a while ago called The Unexpected Badger / Y Mochyn Daear Annisgwyl. You can hear the whole thing here:

Are there random words with similar random meanings in other languages?

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

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.

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Omniglot News (29/09/24)

By Simon

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Omniglot News

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

New language pages:

  • Anuak (Dha-Anywaa), a Western Nilotic language spoken in western Ethiopia and eastern South Sudan.
  • Belanda Bor (di Bor), a Western Nilotic language spoken in South Sudan.
  • Bawm, a Kuki-Chin-Naga language spoken mainly in Bangladesh, and also in India and Myanmar.
  • Keiyo, a Southern Nilotic language spoken in western Kenya.
  • Southern Oromo (Borana), a Lowland East Cushitic language spoken in Ethiopia and Kenya.

New numbers pages:

  • Anuak (Dha-Anywaa), a Western Nilotic language spoken in Ethiopia and South Sudan.
  • Bawm, a Kuki-Chin-Naga language spoken mainly in Bangladesh, India and Myanmar.
  • Southern Oromo (Borana), a Lowland East Cushitic language spoken in Ethiopia and Kenya.

On the Omniglot blog there’s a new post about words for Mushroom in Spanish, French and English, and a post called Snub Nosed Simians, about the Italian word scimmia (monkey, ape), and words for monkey in other languages. 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 northern Brazil.

The mystery language in last week’s language quiz was Deg Xinag (Degexit’ank), a Northern Athabaskan language spoken in Alsaka in the USA.

In this week’s Celtic Pathways podcast, we investigate the possible Celtic roots of the word Jeans, and also the place names Genoa and Geneva, and find out how they’re connected to words for knee

On the Celtiadur blog there’s a new post entitled Voices about words for voice, word, sound and related things in Celtic languages, and I made improvements to the Heads & Brains, Hearing, fame & renown and Ears posts.

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

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 – Jeans

By Simon

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

In this episode we discover the possible Celtic roots of the word jeans, and also the place names Genoa and Geneva.

Boots and Jeans

Jeans are trousers made from denim cotton, traditionally dyed dark blue, and also known as blue jeans. The word jeans is an abbreviation of jean fustian, from Middle English Gene (Genoa, Genovese) and fustian (a strong cotton fabric) [source].

Gene comes from Latin Genua (Genoa), which like Geneva, possibly comes from the Proto-Celtic *genwā ([river] bend) from PIE *ǵénw-eh₂, from *ǵónu (knee), which is also the root of the Proto-Celtic word *glūnos (knee) [source].

Related words in the modern Celtic languages include:

  • glúin [ɡl̪ˠuːnʲ] = knee, generation, step, node in Irish
  • glùin [ɡl̪ˠuːn̪ʲ] = knee, generation, lap in Scottish Gaelic
  • glioon [ɡlʲuːnʲ] = joint, knee in Manx
  • glin [ɡliːn] = knee in Welsh
  • glin [ɡliːn] = knee in Cornish
  • glin [ɡlĩːn] = knee in Breton

Other words from the same PIE roots include genuflect (to bend the knee, grovel) and knee in English; genou (knee) in French; knie (knee) in Dutch and Afrikaans; gju [ɟu/ɡjũː] (knee) in Albanian, and γόνατο [ˈɣɔnatɔ] (knee) in Greek [source].

Incidentally, the k in knee was pronounced in Middle Engish kne [kneː] and Old English cnēow [kne͜oːw] [source], and also in Early Modern English until about the 16th or 17th century, when it quietly disappeared in speech [source].

See the Celtiadur post Knees for more details of words for knee and related things in Celtic languages. I also write about words, etymology and other language-related topics on the Omniglot Blog.

Radio Omniglot podcasts are brought to you in association with Blubrry Podcast Hosting, a great place to host your podcasts. Get your first month free with the promo code omniglot.

The Fastest Way to Learn Japanese Guaranteed with JapanesePod101.com

Omniglot News (22/09/24)

By Simon

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Omniglot News

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

New language pages:

  • Adhola (DhoPadhola), a Western Nilotic language spoken in the Eastern Region of Uganda.
  • Ntcham (ncam), a Northern Gur language spoken in Togo and Ghana.
  • Akha (A˯ka˯daw˯), a Southern Loloish language spoken in China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam.

New constructed script and language: Yufrabiz, which was created by Max Greiner.

Sample text in Yufrabiz

New constructed script: Western Script, which was invented by Julius Alfred Cordova as an alternative way to write English and Spanish.

Sample text in Western Script

New numbers pages:

  • Adhola (DhoPadhola), a Western Nilotic language spoken in the Eastern Region of Uganda.
  • Akha (A˯ka˯daw˯), a Southern Loloish language spoken in China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam.
  • Achang (Ngachang), a Tibeto-Burman language spoken in Yunnan province in southern China.

On the Omniglot blog we find out whether the French word heurter (door knocker) is related to the English word hurt in a post entitled Battering Down the Door. 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 Alaska in the USA.

The mystery language in last week’s language quiz was Maung (Mawng Ngaralk), an Iwaidjan language spoken on Goulburn Island in Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of Austalia.

In this week’s Adventure in Etymology, we find out what the word Swan has to do with sonnets, sonatas and bells.

On the Celtiadur blog there’s a new post entitled Leader in Chief about words for leader, chief, president and so on in Celtic languages.

Improved page: New Akha con-script page.

I forgot to mention on the recording, but here’s a new song I wrote recently called Cats & Dogs:

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

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 – Swan

By Simon

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In this Adventure in Etymology we’re looking into the origins of the word swan.

Swan

A swan [swɒn/swɑn] is:

  • Any of various species of large, long-necked waterfowl, of genus Cygnus (bird family: Anatidae), most of which have white plumage.
  • One whose grace etc. suggests a swan.

It comes from Middle English swan [swan] (swan, swan meat), from Old English swan [swɑn] (swan), from Proto-West-Germanic *swan (swan) from Proto-Germanic *swanaz [ˈswɑ.nɑz] (swan, literally “the singing bird”), probably Proto-Indo-European *swenh₂- (to sound) [source].

Words from the same roots include sound, sonnet and sonata in English, zwaan [zʋaːn] (swan) in Dutch, Schwan [ʃvaːn] (swan, the constellation Cygnus) in German, sonar [soˈnaɾ] (to sound, ring) in Spanish, suonàre [swoˈna.re] (to play [an instrument], to sound, to ring) in Italian, and possibly dzwon [dzvɔn] (bell) in Polish [source].

Incidentally, the English word sonar, as in a device that uses hydrophones to locate objects underwater, is an acronym of Sound Navigation and Ranging, and was coined by Frederick Vinton Hunt, an American inventor, scientist and professor of acoustic engineering at Havard University in 1942.

Initially, the name ‘bearing and deviation indicator’ (BDI) was used for the system developed by Hunt and his team at the Harvard Underwater Sound Laboratory in 1941. The Navy Bureau of Ships asked him to come up with a more interesting name to make the job of an acoustic ranging technician sound more glamorous. He suggested SONAR, and said that it stood for Sound Navigation and Ranging – so it is in fact a backronym (an acronym based on an existing word) [source].

By the way, an adult male swan is a cob, which comes from Middle English cobbe (male swan, gang leader, bully) [source]. An adult female swan is a pen, the origins of which are uncertain [source], and a baby swan is a cygnet, which comes from Middle English signet (a young swan), from Anglo-Norman cignet, a diminutive of Old French cigne (swan), from Latin cycnus [ky.knus] (swan, [singing] poet), from Ancient Greek κύκνος (kúknos – swan, a type of ship) [source]. Baby swans are also known as swanlings [source].

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

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.

Unlimited Web Hosting - Kualo

Omniglot News (15/09/24)

By Simon

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Omniglot News

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

New language pages:

  • Moma (Mobaha), a Celebic language spoken in Central Sulawesi Province in northern Indonesia.
  • Burum (Mindik), a Western Huon language spoken on the Huon Peninsula in Morobe Province of Papua New Guinea.
  • Ternate (bhsua ternente), a West Papuan language spoken mainly on Ternate island in North Maluku Province of Indonesia.
  • Tidore, a West Papuan language spoken mainly on the island of Tidore in North Maluku Province of Indonesia.
  • Thadou (Thadou pao), a Kuki-Chin-Naga language spoken in Manipur and Assam in the northeast of India.

New numbers pages: in Ternate (bhsua ternente), a West Papuan language spoken mainly on Ternate island in North Maluku Province of Indonesia.

New Numbers and Phrases pages in Mirandese (mirandés), a Western Ibero-Romance language spoken mainly in northern Portugal.

On the Omniglot blog this we investigate the Italian word rumore in a post entitled What’s that noise?. There’s also the usual Language Quiz. See if you can guess what language this is:

Here’s a clue: this is an Australian aboriginal language.

The mystery language in last week’s language quiz was Mangareva (Te Reo Magareva), a Polynesian language spoken on the islands of Gambier and Mangareva in French Polynesia.

In this week’s Celtic Pathways podcast, we discover the possible Celtic roots of words for Leather in English and other Germanic languages.

On the Celtiadur blog there’s a new post entitled Leathery Hide about words for leather, hide and related things, and I made improvements to the Surfaces and Calling Words posts.

Improved page: Mirandese language page.

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

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 – Leather

By Simon

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Close-up of a leather sole on a shoe form

The Irish word leathar and the Welsh word lledr both mean leather, and various other things. You might think that they were borrowed from English, but in fact the English word leather might ultimately come from a Proto-Celtic word, via Middle and Old English and Proto-Germanic [source].

The Proto-Celtic word for leather or hide was *(ɸ)letros, which comes from Proto-Indo-European *péltrom, from *pel- (to cover, to wrap, skin, hide, cloth) [source].

Related words in the modern Celtic languages include:

  • leathar [ˈl̠ʲahəɾˠ] = skin, hide, leather in Irish
  • leathar [l̪ʲɛhər] = leather, leathery in Scottish Gaelic
  • l(h)iare = leather in Manx
  • lledr [ɬɛdr/ˈɬeːdɛr] = leather, parchment, vellum, skin, hide in Welsh
  • ledher = leather in Cornish
  • lêr [lɛːr] = leather in Breton

The Proto-Germanic word *leþrą [ˈle.θrɑ̃] (leather), which was possibly was borrowed from Proto-Celtic, and from these roots we get words such as leather in English, leer (leather) in Dutch, Leder (leather, suede, hide) in German, læder (leather) in Danish, and läder (leather, suede) in Swedish [source].

Words from the same PIE root include pall, pelt, camouflage and film in English; plena (membrane) in Czech; piel (skin, fur) in Spanish, plah (to cover, veil) in Albanian, and pall (cloak, curtain, covering, tent) in Welsh [source].

See the Celtiadur post Leathery Hide for more details of words for leather and related things in Celtic languages.

You can find more connections between Celtic languages on the Celtiadur blog. I also write about words, etymology and other language-related topics on the Omniglot Blog.

Radio Omniglot podcasts are brought to you in association with Blubrry Podcast Hosting, a great place to host your podcasts. Get your first month free with the promo code omniglot.

The Fastest Way to Learn Japanese Guaranteed with JapanesePod101.com