{"id":3969,"date":"2025-06-28T14:37:22","date_gmt":"2025-06-28T14:37:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/?p=3969"},"modified":"2025-06-28T14:37:23","modified_gmt":"2025-06-28T14:37:23","slug":"adventures-in-etymology-minions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/?p=3969","title":{"rendered":"Adventures in Etymology &#8211; Minions"},"content":{"rendered":"<div itemscope itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/AudioObject\"><meta itemprop=\"name\" content=\"Adventures in Etymology &amp;#8211; Minions\" \/><meta itemprop=\"uploadDate\" content=\"2025-06-28T14:37:22+00:00\" \/><meta itemprop=\"encodingFormat\" content=\"audio\/mpeg\" \/><meta itemprop=\"duration\" content=\"PT1M59S\" \/><meta itemprop=\"description\" content=\"In this Adventure in Etymology we unravel the roots of the word minion.\n\n\n\nA minion [\u02c8m\u026anj\u0259n] is:\n\n\n  A loyal servant of another, usually a more powerful being.\n  A sycophantic follower.\n  A small, yellow creature that appears in the Despicable Me an...\" \/><meta itemprop=\"contentUrl\" content=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/minions.mp3\" \/><meta itemprop=\"contentSize\" content=\"2.0\" \/><div class=\"powerpress_player\" id=\"powerpress_player_1542\"><audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-3969-1\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/minions.mp3?_=1\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/minions.mp3\">https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/minions.mp3<\/a><\/audio><\/div><\/div><p class=\"powerpress_links powerpress_links_mp3\" style=\"margin-bottom: 1px !important;\">Podcast: <a href=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/minions.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_pinw\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Play in new window\" onclick=\"return powerpress_pinw('https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/?powerpress_pinw=3969-podcast');\" rel=\"nofollow\">Play in new window<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/minions.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_d\" title=\"Download\" rel=\"nofollow\" download=\"minions.mp3\">Download<\/a><\/p><p>In this Adventure in Etymology we unravel the roots of the word <strong>minion<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><a data-flickr-embed=\"true\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/jeepersmedia\/16053942396\/in\/photolist-qsCDLh-qmyd2u-pG7xhY-qD7iNp-qduPQr-qdn1NN-oYyAYd-qsCDW7-pxVoGS-Eikree-QQdULd-vnEoVW-agne4R-2b7AXEE-DkD1Qi-fn44P3-2hLBTHX-whrugj-PwBFLb-2ndo8LA-ozBimM-LD4imM-2mheHsB-2qr76KG-jaUogq-BQnXWV-pBNRSo-2ogYUvz-fNPHPy-8fRhFx-BAuqto-t8NynG-qCtBzM-pFDwxW-zFEYap-udas3o-r4HQJS-ufEMkB-mnW1Li-pBwwiz-qgSG7i-pBi6dw-pBww8V-2oe59Nn-qCWEtP-KKV9qM-qydWfN-qyhFuk-qgJLfs-pBwwuX\" title=\"Minions\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/7514\/16053942396_df2cc7e85d_z.jpg\" width=\"640\" height=\"378\" alt=\"Minions\"\/><\/a><script async src=\"\/\/embedr.flickr.com\/assets\/client-code.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>A <strong>minion<\/strong> [\u02c8m\u026anj\u0259n] is:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A loyal servant of another, usually a more powerful being.<\/li>\n<li>A sycophantic follower.<\/li>\n<li>A small, yellow creature that appears in the <em>Despicable Me<\/em> and <em>Minions<\/em> films.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>It used to mean:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A loved one; one highly esteemed and favoured.<\/li>\n<li>Favoured, beloved<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>It comes from Middle French <em>mignon<\/em> (lover, favourite, darling), from Old French <em>mignon<\/em> (dainty, pleasing, gentle, kind), from Frankish <em>*minnju<\/em> (love, friendship, affection, memory), from Proto-Germanic <em>*min\u00feij\u014d,<\/em> (affectionate thought, care), from PIE <em>*men-<\/em> (to think, mind) [<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/minion#English\">source<\/a>].<\/p>\n<p>Related words in Engish include <strong>minionette<\/strong> (small, delicate), <strong>minionlike<\/strong> (resembling a minion, finely, daintily), and <strong>miniondom<\/strong> (the realm, sphere, or world of minions; minions collectively).<\/p>\n<p>Words from the same PIE roots include <strong>mignon<\/strong> (cute, sweet, lovely) in French, <strong>manit<\/strong> (to notice, observe, perceive) in Lithuanian, <strong>monieren<\/strong> (to criticize, complain) in German, <strong>mostrare<\/strong> (to show, indicate, point) in Italian, <strong>mynwent<\/strong> (graveyard, cemetery) in Welsh, and <strong>admonish<\/strong>, <strong>mantra<\/strong>,  <strong>mind<\/strong>, <strong>monitor<\/strong>, <strong>monster<\/strong>, <strong>monument<\/strong> and <strong>summon<\/strong> in English [<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European\/men-\">source<\/a>].<\/p>\n<p>You can also listen to this podcast on: <a href=\"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/gb\/podcast\/radio-omniglot\/id1432641094\">Apple Podcasts<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/music.amazon.com\/podcasts\/8b1b1d1b-b39e-4277-b28d-479a3b5043b3\/radio-omniglot\">Amazon Music<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/tunein.com\/podcasts\/Education-Podcasts\/Radio-Omniglot-p1154145\/\">TuneIn<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.podchaser.com\/podcasts\/radio-omniglot-716327\">Podchaser<\/a>, <a href=\"<a href=\"https:\/\/podbay.fm\/p\/radio-omniglot\">Podbay<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/podtail.com\/da\/podcast\/radio-omniglot\/\">Podtail<\/a> and other pod places.<\/p>\n<p>The theme tune for this podcast is <a href=\"https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/simon-ager\/the-unexpected-badger\">The Unexpected Badger \/ Y Mochyn Daear Annisgwyl<\/a>, a piece I wrote and recorded in 2017.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"100%\" height=\"166\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"no\" allow=\"autoplay\" src=\"https:\/\/w.soundcloud.com\/player\/?url=https%3A\/\/api.soundcloud.com\/tracks\/339162597&#038;color=%23ff5500&#038;auto_play=false&#038;hide_related=false&#038;show_comments=true&#038;show_user=true&#038;show_reposts=false&#038;show_teaser=true\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<div style=\"font-size: 10px; color: #cccccc;line-break: anywhere;word-break: normal;overflow: hidden;white-space: nowrap;text-overflow: ellipsis; font-family: Interstate,Lucida Grande,Lucida Sans Unicode,Lucida Sans,Garuda,Verdana,Tahoma,sans-serif;font-weight: 100;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/simon-ager\" title=\"Simon Ager\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;\">Simon Ager<\/a> \u00b7 <a href=\"https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/simon-ager\/the-unexpected-badger\" title=\"The Unexpected Badger \/ Y Mochyn Daear Annisgwyl\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;\">The Unexpected Badger \/ Y Mochyn Daear Annisgwyl<\/a><\/div>\n<p>If you would like to support this podcast, you can make a donation via <a href=\"https:\/\/www.paypal.com\/uk\/cgi-bin\/webscr?cmd=_flow&amp;SESSION=aLjPfXL-vP_1gQ_U23Iz8_hSWLlhzLHPMFZrt32dIEfG8htoNFLYaPoWkv8&amp;dispatch=5885d80a13c0db1f8e263663d3faee8def8934b92a630e40b7fef61ab7e9fe63\">PayPal<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.patreon.com\/omniglot\">Patreon<\/a>, or <a href=\"http:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/donations.htm\">contribute to Omniglot in other ways<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Radio Omniglot podcasts are brought to you in association with <a href=\"https:\/\/blubrry.com\/services\/podcast-hosting\/?code=omniglot\">Blubrry Podcast Hosting<\/a>, a great place to host your podcasts. Get your first month free with the promo code <strong>omniglot<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.japanesepod101.com\/member\/go.php?r=759259&amp;i=b0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/images\/banners\/banner_japanesepod.jpg\" alt=\"The Fastest Way to Learn Japanese Guaranteed with JapanesePod101.com\" width=\"630\" height=\"83\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>I also write about words, etymology and other language-related topics on the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/\">Omniglot Blog<\/a>, and I explore etymological connections between Celtic languages on the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/celtiadur\/\">Celtiadur<\/a> blog.<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-5001128073855040\"\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script><br \/>\n<!-- Blog horizontal --><br \/>\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\n     style=\"display:block\"\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-5001128073855040\"\n     data-ad-slot=\"1685480124\"\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins><br \/>\n<script>\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\n<\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div itemscope itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/AudioObject\"><meta itemprop=\"name\" content=\"Adventures in Etymology &amp;#8211; Minions\" \/><meta itemprop=\"uploadDate\" content=\"2025-06-28T14:37:22+00:00\" \/><meta itemprop=\"encodingFormat\" content=\"audio\/mpeg\" \/><meta itemprop=\"duration\" content=\"PT1M59S\" \/><meta itemprop=\"description\" content=\"In this Adventure in Etymology we unravel the roots of the word minion.\n\n\n\nA minion [\u02c8m\u026anj\u0259n] is:\n\n\n  A loyal servant of another, usually a more powerful being.\n  A sycophantic follower.\n  A small, yellow creature that appears in the Despicable Me an...\" \/><meta itemprop=\"contentUrl\" content=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/minions.mp3\" \/><meta itemprop=\"contentSize\" content=\"2.0\" \/><div class=\"powerpress_player\" id=\"powerpress_player_1543\"><audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-3969-2\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/minions.mp3?_=2\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/minions.mp3\">https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/minions.mp3<\/a><\/audio><\/div><\/div><p class=\"powerpress_links powerpress_links_mp3\" style=\"margin-bottom: 1px !important;\">Podcast: <a href=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/minions.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_pinw\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Play in new window\" onclick=\"return powerpress_pinw('https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/?powerpress_pinw=3969-podcast');\" rel=\"nofollow\">Play in new window<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/minions.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_d\" title=\"Download\" rel=\"nofollow\" download=\"minions.mp3\">Download<\/a><\/p><p>In this Adventure in Etymology we unravel the roots of the word minion. A minion [\u02c8m\u026anj\u0259n] is: A loyal servant of another, usually a more powerful being. A sycophantic follower. A small, yellow creature that appears in the Despicable Me and Minions films. It used to mean: A loved one; one highly esteemed and favoured. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[98,20,56,110,23,24,12,4,156,140,11,109,1,57,59,7],"tags":[90,9,258,259,88,8,103],"class_list":["post-3969","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adventures-in-etymology","category-english","category-etymology","category-frankish-frenkisk","category-french","category-german","category-italian","category-language","category-lithuanian-lietuviu-kalba","category-middle-french","category-music","category-old-french-franceis","category-podcast","category-proto-germanic","category-proto-indo-european","category-welsh","tag-etymology","tag-language","tag-minion","tag-minions","tag-omniglot","tag-podcast","tag-words"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3969","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3969"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3969\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3971,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3969\/revisions\/3971"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3969"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3969"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3969"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}