Adventures in Etymology – Unkempt Combs

6th September 20256th September 2025 By Simon

You can be unkempt, but can you be just kempt? Let’s find out in this Adventure in Etymology on Radio Omniglot.

An unkempt llama

Unkempt [ˌʌnˈkɛmpt] means uncombed or dishevelled (hair), disorderly, untidy, messy, rough or unpolished.

It comes from unkemmed, from Middle English kembed (well-combed, neat), from kemben [ˈkɛm(b)ən] (to comb), from Old English cemben [ˈkem.bɑn] (to comb), from Proto-West Germanic *kambijan (to comb), from Proto-Germanic *kambijaną (to comb), from *kambaz (comb) from Proto-Indo-European *ǵómbʰos (tooth, peg), from *ǵembʰ- (to bite, chomp) [source].

Combs

Words from the same roots possibly include dhëmb (tooth) in Albanian, zub (tooth) in Slovak, kampa (comb) and hammas (tooth, cog, sprocket) in Finnish, kam (comb, ridge) in Dutch, and comb in English [source].

The word kempt does exist in English and means neat and tidy, especially when talking about hair. These days it is usually used humorously, but it was more commonly used in the past [source].

A camshaft

Incidentally, the English word cam, as in camshaft, camwheel, etc, comes from the same roots, via Dutch kam (comb, ridge). The Dutch word was also borrowed into French as came (cam, stuff, trinket), Italian as camma (cam), and into other languages [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 (31/08/25)

31st August 2025 By Simon

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Omniglot News

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

New language pages:

Naman, a Southern Oceanic language spoken on Malekula Island in central Vanuatu.
Mbugu (kiMbugu) / Maʼa (kiMaʼa), a Bantu language spoken in the Lushoto District in the Tanga Region in the northeast of Tanzania.
Mwerlap (N̄wërlap), a Southern Oceanic language spoken in the Banks Islands in Torba Province of Vanuatu.

New adapted script: Tang-galog (𗒨𗓸𗈒𗄀𗄻𗄀𗈒), a way to write Tagalog with the Tangut script devised by Chen Carson D. Callueng.

Sample text in Tang-galog

New adapted script: New Futhorch (ᚾᚣᚹ ᚠᚢᚧᚩᚱᚳ), a way to write Modern English with Old English / Anglo-Saxon runes devised by John Higgins.

Sample text in New Futhorch

New numbers pages:

Naman, a Southern Oceanic language spoken on Malekula Island in central Vanuatu.
Mwerlap (N̄wërlap), a Southern Oceanic language spoken in the Banks Islands in Torba Province of Vanuatu.
Newar (नेपाल भाषा), a Tibeto-Burman language spoken mainly in central Nepal, and also in northern India.

On the Omniglot blog there a new post entitled Facting Facts about the verbification of the word fact, and other fact-related factlets, factettes and factoids, and there’s the usual Language Quiz. See if you can guess what language this is:

Here’s a clue: this language is spoken in New Caledonia.

The mystery language in last week’s language quiz was Iramba (Nilamba), a Bantu language spoken in the Singida Region in central Tanzania.

In this week’s Celtic Pathways podcast, Birches, we unearth the Celtic roots of words birch (tree) in various languages.

It’s also available on Instagram and TikTok.

On the Celtiadur blog there’s a new post entitled Coughing about words for cough and various other things in Celtic languages, and I made improvements to the posts entitled To Choke and Birch (Trees).

In other news, I spent yesterday exploring Chester with Richard Simcott and Israel Lai (see photo below), friends I know from language-related events. Richard was our guide – he grew up in Chester and has relatives there, although he lives in North Macedonia. He’s studied even more languages than I have, runs the Speaking Fluently blog, and is the organiser of the Polyglot Conference and other language-related events. Israel is a composer, language enthusiast and podcaster from Hong Kong, who lives in Mancester, where he did a PhD in music composition. He has also studied many languages, including Welsh, and runs the blog Rhapsody in Lingo and a podcast 絮言．狂想 (seoi5jin4 kwong4soeng2), which discusses language and linguistics in Cantonese. We had a great time exploring the city and nerding out about language-related things.

More of my photos of Chester

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

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.

Celtic Pathways – Birches

30th August 2025 By Simon

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In this episode we unearth the Celtic roots of words for birch (tree) in various languages.

The Proto-Celtic word *betuyā means birch tree, and comes from Proto-Indo-European *gʷetu-yo-s, from *gʷet- (resin, gum) [source].

Descendents in the modern Celtic languages include:

beith = birch (tree), letter B in Ogham (ᚁ) in Irish
beithe [behə] birch, birch wood/forest in Scottish Gaelic
beih = birch (tree) in Manx
bedw [ˈbɛdʊ] = birch(es), birch grove, maypole, birch-rod in Welsh
besow = birches in Cornish
bezv [ˈbɛ(z)w] = birches in Breton

More details of words for birch in Celtic languages can be found in the Celtiadur post Birch (trees).

Words from the same Proto-Celtic roots, via Gaulish *bitu/betua and Latin *betius, include betulla (birch) in Italian, bouleau (birch) in French, βετούλη (vetoúli – birch) in Greek, and abedul (birch) in Spanish [source].

The botanical Latin name for the genus, Betula (birch), also comes from the same roots [source].

Incidentally, the English word birch comes from Middle English birche (birch), from Old English bierċe (birch), from Proto-West Germanic *birkijā (birch), from Proto-Germanic *birkijǭ (birch), from PIE *bʰerHǵos (birch), from *bʰerHǵ- (to shine, to gleam, whiten) [source].

Words from the same roots possibly include: bredh (fir tree) in Albanian, björk (birch) in Swedish, béržas (birch) in Lithuanian and březen (March) in Czech [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 (24/08/25)

24th August 202530th August 2025 By Simon

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Omniglot News

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

New language pages:

Kwangali (Rukwangali), a Bantu language spoken in northern Namibia and southern Angola.
Lega (Kilega), a Bantu language spoken in the west of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Lomwe (Elomwe / Emakhuwa), a Bantu language spoken in northern Mozambique and southern Malawi.

New numbers pages:

Kwangali (Rukwangali), a Bantu language spoken in northern Namibia and southern Angola.
Lomwe (Elomwe / Emakhuwa), a Bantu language spoken in northern Mozambique and southern Malawi.
Lhomi (ल्होमी‎), a Central Bodish language spoken mainly in eastern Nepal, and also in China and India.
Makassarese (Basa Mangkasara’ / ᨅᨔ ᨆᨀᨔᨑ), a South-Sulawesi language spoken in South Sulawesi Province in Indonesia.

New phrases pages:

Kwangali (Rukwangali), a Bantu language spoken in northern Namibia and southern Angola.
Bless you! – phrases to use when someone sneezes in many languages.

New Tower of Babel translation:

Kwangali (Rukwangali), a Bantu language spoken in northern Namibia and southern Angola.
Lomwe (Elomwe / Emakhuwa), a Bantu language spoken in northern Mozambique and southern Malawi.

On the Omniglot blog there a new post entitled Knobbly Monsters about the creative ways journalists use to avoid repeating key words in their articles, and there’s the usual Language Quiz. See if you can guess what language this is:

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

The mystery language in last week’s language quiz was Aheri Gondi (कोयम‎ / गोंडी‎), a Dravidian language spoken mainly in the Indian states of Maharashtra and Telangana.

In this week’s Adventure in Etymology, Sticky Climbs, we uncover the sticky roots of the word climb.

It’s also available on Instagram and TikTok.

On the Celtiadur blog there’s a new post entitled Shameful Disgrace about words for shame, disgrace and various other things in Celtic languages.

New song: It’s All Greek To Me, a song I wrote based on idioms that mean that things are incompehensible.

Simon Ager · It’s All Greek To Me

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

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 – Sticky Climbs

22nd August 2025 By Simon

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In this Adventure in Etymology we uncover the sticky roots of the word climb.

Meanings of climb [klaɪm] include:

To ascend, rise or go up
To mount, move upwards
To scale, get to the top of
To move by gripping with the hands and using the feet

It comes from Middle English climben [ˈkli(ː)mbən / ˈkli(ː)mən] (to climb, scale, ascend) – the b was no longer pronounced in Late Middle English – from Old English climban [ˈklim.bɑn] (to climb), from Proto-West Germanic *klimban (to climb), from Proto-Germanic *klimbaną (to climb), probably from *klibāną (to stick, adhere) from Proto-Indo-European *gley- (to smear, to stick, putty, glue) [source].

Words from the same roots possibly include glue, gluten, clay, to cleave, cliff, cloth in English, klimmen (to climb) and kleven (to stick, glue) in Dutch, glynu (to stick, adhere) in Welsh, and glina (clay, loam) in Polish [source].

The English word clamber (to climb with difficulty or in a haphazard fashion) possibly also comes from the same roots, and is related to klambra (to clamp) in Icelandic and klamra (to cling) in Swedish [source].

Incidentally, the word to cleave can mean both to split or sever something with a sharp instrument, and to adhere, cling, or stick fast to something. The second meaning shares common roots with climb, but the first doesn’t [source]

Instead, it comes from Middle English cleven (to cleave, split, slice), from Old English clēofan (to cleave, split), from Proto-West Germanic *kleuban (to split, cleave), from Proto-Germanic *kleubaną (to split, cleave), from Proto-Indo-European *glewbʰ- (to cut, to slice) [source].

Related words include cleft and glyph in English, kloof (gap, gorge, ravine) in Dutch (and in Afrikaans and South African English), and глубокий [ɡɫʊˈbokʲɪj] (deep, profound) in Russian [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 (17/08/25)

17th August 202517th August 2025 By Simon

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Omniglot News

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

New constructed script: Surat Binua, which was created by Reza Sumanda as a way to write Kendayan, a Land Dayak language spoken in Indonesia and Malaysia.

Sample text in Surat Binua

New constructed script: Tenzu, which was created by Reza Sumanda as a way to write Indonesian, and inspired by the Soyombo and Tibetan scripts.

Sample text in Tenzu

New language pages:

Kuhane (Chikuhane / Chisubia), a Bantu language spoken in Namibia, Botswana and Zambia.
Kendayan / Salako (Bahasa Dameà / Katà Diri’), a Malayic / Land Dayak language spoken in Sarawak in Malaysia and West Kalimantan in Indonesia.
Paku, an East Barito language spoken in the East Barito Regency in Central Kalimantan Province in Indonesia.
Motuna, a South Bougainville language spoken in mainly in Siwai Rural LLG in Bougainville in Papua New Guinea.

New numbers pages:

Lawangan, an East Barito language spoken in Central Kalimantan Province in Indonesia.
Motuna, a South Bougainville language spoken in mainly in Siwai Rural LLG in Bougainville in Papua New Guinea.
Vurës, a Southern Oceanic language spoken on Vanua Lava Island in Vanuatu.

On the Omniglot blog we investigate why the words flammable and inflammable mean the same thing in a post called Inflammability, and there’s the usual Language Quiz. See if you can guess what language this is:

Here’s a clue: this language is spoken mainly in Maharashtra and Telangana in central India.

The mystery language in last week’s language quiz was Unami / Lenape, an Eastern Algonquian language that was historically spoken in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware in the USA, and later in Ontario and Oklahoma. It is currently being revived.

In this week’s Celtic Pathways podcast, we uncover the possible Celtic roots of words for heron in Romance languages in a post entitled Herons.

It’s also available on Instagram and TikTok.

On the Celtiadur blog there’s a new post entitled Swearing Oaths about words for oath, vow, (to) swear and various other 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

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.

Celtic Pathways – Herons

16th August 2025 By Simon

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In this episode we uncover the possible Celtic roots of words for heron in Romance languages.

The Proto-Celtic word *korxsā / *korxsiyos means heron or crane [source], and possibly comes from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kreik- (to screech, creak), which is imitative in origin [source].

Descendants in the modern Celtic languages include:

corr [kəuɾˠ] = (grey) heron, stork, crane, leg-necked person in Irish
corra [kɔr̪ˠə] = heron, stork, crane in Scottish Gaelic
coar = heron, stork, crane in Manx
crychydd [ˈkrəχɨ̞ð / ˈkrəχɪð] = heron in Welsh
kerghydh = heron in Cornish
kercʼheiz [kɛrˈɣɛjs] = heron in Breton

Words from the same Proto-Celtic roots, via Celtiberian *cárcia (heron) or Gaulish curcio (heron), possibly include garza (heron) in Galician, garza (heron) in Spanish, and garça (heron) in Portuguese [source].

The Welsh word crëyr [ˈkreː.ɨ̞r / ˈkreː.ɪr], which means heron or egret, probably comes from the same PIE roots, as do reiger (heron) in Dutch, Reiher (heron) in German, häger (heron) in Swedish, heron and egret in English, and haikara (heron, stork) in Finnish [source].

More details of heron-related words can be found in the Celtiadur post Herons.

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 (10/08/25)

10th August 202510th August 2025 By Simon

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Omniglot News

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

New constructed script: Urup Bidayuh’, which was created by Reza Sumanda as a way to write Biatah (Bidayuh), a Land Dayak language spoken in West Kalimantan in Indonesia, and Sarawak in Malaysia.

Sample text in Urup Bidayuh’

New language pages:

Luang (Letri Lgona), a Timoric language spoken in the Leti and Babar Islands in Maluku Province in southern Indonesia.
Tsudaqar (цӀудхърила мец), a Northeast Caucasian language spoken in southern Dagestan in the southwest of the Russian Federation.
Bukar-Sadong (Bidayŭh Bukar-Sadung), a Land Dayak language spoken in Sarawak in Malaysia, and in West Kalimantan in Indonesia.

New numbers pages:

Bukar–Sadong (Bidayŭh Bukar-Sadung), a Land Dayak language spoken in Sarawak in Malaysia, and in West Kalimantan in Indonesia.
Kim (kwasap), an Mbum-Day language spoken in southwestern Chad.
Xong (Dut Xonb), a Hmong-Mien language spoken mainly in Hunan Province in southern China.

On the Omniglot blog we discover whether the words cargo and car are related in post called A Cargo of Cars, and there’s the usual Language Quiz. See if you can guess what language this is:

Here’s a clue: this language was spoken in Ontario in Canada and Oklahoma in the USA, and is currently being revived.

The mystery language in last week’s language quiz was Rutul (мыхӏабишды‎), a Lezgic language spoken in the Republic of Dagestan in the southwest of Russia.

In this week’s Adventure in Etymology we find out what links helicopters, Roger Federer and Feathers.

It’s also available on Instagram and TikTok.

On the Celtiadur blog there’s a new post entitled Ashy Embers about words for ash, embers, cinders etc, and I made improvements to the post about Wings and related things.

Improved page: Kaitag language page.

In other news, I finished all the Italian lessons on Duolingo this week, and I’m continuing to study Swahili. I may learn some more of one of the languages I’ve already studied in the past, or try a new language. I haven’t decided which one yet. So far, I’ve completed Duolingo courses in Spanish, Japanese, Italian, Scottish Gaelic, Danish, Swedish, Dutch, Irish, Finnish, Czech, Russian, Mandarin Chinese, Esperanto and Romanian.

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

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.

Adventures in Etymology – Feathers

9th August 2025 By Simon

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In this Adventure in Etymology we investigate the word feather.

Feathers

A feather [ˈfɛð.ə(ɹ) / ˈfɛð.ɚ] is:

A branching, hair-like structure that grows on the bodies of birds, used for flight, swimming, protection and display.
Long hair on the lower legs of a dog or horse, especially a draft horse.
[other meanings are available]

It comes from Middle English feþer (feather), from Old English feþer (feather, pen), from Proto-West Germanic *feþru (feather, wing), from Proto-Germanic *feþrō (feather), from Proto-Indo-European *péth₂r̥ (feather, wing), from *peth₂- (to fly, to spread out) [source].

Words from the same Proto-Germanic roots include veer (feather, plume) and vlerk (wing, scoundrel) in Dutch, Feder (feather, spring, nib, penholder, fountain pen) and Gefieder (plumage) in German, and federa (pillowcase) in Italian (via Lombardic fedeara (feather)) [source].

By the way, the Swiss tennis player Roger Federer gets his surname from the Swiss German word Federer, which means ‘one who works with or trades in quills’, which are traditionally made from feathers [source]

Other words from the same Proto-Indo-European roots include πτηνό (ptinó – bird) in Greek, पत्र (patra – letter, paper, document, leaf) in Hindi, adar (birds) and adain (wing, fin) in Welsh, and appetite, petal, petition and fathom in English [source].

Incidentally, the word heliocopter also comes from the same roots, via French hélicoptère (helicopter), which comes from Ancient Greek ἕλιξ (hélix – spiral) &‎ πτερόν (pterón – feather, wing) – at least the -pter part does – see also pterodactyl (“winged finger”) [source].

Can anybody identify which birds the feathers in the photo at the top of this post come from? I found them in my garden.

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 (03/08/25)

3rd August 20253rd August 2025 By Simon

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Omniglot News

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

New constructed script: Urup Bakatiʼ, which was created by Reza Sumanda as a way to write Bakatiʼ, a Land Dayak language spoken in West Kalimantan in Indonesia.

Sample text in Urup Bakatiʼ

New language pages:

Bakatiʼ, a Land Dayak language spoken in West Kalimantan in Indonesia.
Koro (Kōrō), a North-Central Vanuatu language spoken on Gaua Island in Torba Province in northern Vanuatu.
Mota, a North-Central Vanuatu language spoken on Mota Island in Torba Province in northern Vanuatu.
Guna (Dulegaya), a Chibchan language spoken in northern Colombia and southern Panama.

New numbers pages:

Batak Karo (cakap Karo), a Northern Batak language spoken in the provinces of Aceh and North Sumatra in Indonesia.
Bouyei (Haausqyaix), a Tai-Kaidai language spoken mainly in Guizhou Province in southern China, and also in northern Vietnam.
Dioula (Julakan), a Western Mande language spoken in Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast and Mali.

On the Omniglot blog we look at the world through rose-tinted spectacles and discover that everything is coming up roses as we investigate some rose-related expressions in a post entitled Rose-Tinted, and there’s the usual Language Quiz. See if you can guess what language this is:

Here’s a clue: this language is spoken in the southwest of Russia.

The mystery language in last week’s language quiz was: North Ambryn (Ranon) a North-Central Vanuatu language spoken on Ambryn Island in Malampa Province in the north of Vanuatu.

In this week’s Celtic Pathways podcast, Sunwise, we unravel the Celtic origins of the English word desieal (the direction of the sun, right-hand side).

It’s also available on Instagram and TikTok.

On the Celtiadur blog there’s a new post entitled First Things First about words for first, before, previous and related things, and I made improvements to the post about words for To Seek and related things in Celtic languages.

Improved page: Kven phrases

New song: Discombobulation

This recording features me on vocals, guitar, cavaquinho, descant recorder, tenor recorder and (GarageBand) drums. It’s also available on SoundCloud.

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

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.