{"id":4211,"date":"2025-11-15T13:32:29","date_gmt":"2025-11-15T13:32:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/?p=4211"},"modified":"2025-11-15T15:08:47","modified_gmt":"2025-11-15T15:08:47","slug":"adventures-in-etymology-cardinals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/?p=4211","title":{"rendered":"Adventures in Etymology &#8211; Cardinals"},"content":{"rendered":"<div itemscope itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/AudioObject\"><meta itemprop=\"name\" content=\"Adventures in Etymology &amp;#8211; Cardinals\" \/><meta itemprop=\"uploadDate\" content=\"2025-11-15T13:32:29+00:00\" \/><meta itemprop=\"encodingFormat\" content=\"audio\/mpeg\" \/><meta itemprop=\"duration\" content=\"PT2M25S\" \/><meta itemprop=\"description\" content=\"In this Adventure in Etymology we investigate the origins of the word cardinal.\n\n\n\nAs an adjective, cardinal [\u02c8k\u0251\u02d0.d\u026a.n\u0259l \/ \u02c8k\u0251\u0279d\u026an\u0259l] can mean:\n\n Of fundamental importance, e.g. a cardinal rule.\n Of or relating to the cardinal directions (north, sou...\" \/><meta itemprop=\"contentUrl\" content=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/cardinals.mp3\" \/><meta itemprop=\"contentSize\" content=\"2.9\" \/><div class=\"powerpress_player\" id=\"powerpress_player_1209\"><audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-4211-1\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/cardinals.mp3?_=1\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/cardinals.mp3\">https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/cardinals.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\/cardinals.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_pinw\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Play in new window\" onclick=\"return powerpress_pinw('https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/?powerpress_pinw=4211-podcast');\" rel=\"nofollow\">Play in new window<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/cardinals.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_d\" title=\"Download\" rel=\"nofollow\" download=\"cardinals.mp3\">Download<\/a><\/p><p>In this Adventure in Etymology we investigate the origins of the word <strong>cardinal<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><a data-flickr-embed=\"true\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/drphotomoto\/38139776341\/in\/photolist-QMf3KE-2j4hqrR-2kjRAxM-GZrrkd-2oebnqV-2ikEgE3-217hjJH-2kw3jw6-2oega8b-2j7LcQc-2m3PmYD-afvaKR-25GipWC-4Kcv8E-2m5SupE-UP9VXa-Hg83S6-D1bCoJ-4K8frg-2iUm6Yx-a9ggNL-kx8pA9-2g2i5fw-7TB4mJ-7TB4kb-toU6U2-2LwgAL-7TB4iQ-7TB48Q-ra5wJk-Hs1zq-2jggSmB-9BK5DH-HrZLh-duKrjq-35Zbu-4bzqtM-FzMc2x-TjLk8-Hs1xG-V6NDiy-2iK6oJC-Hs4Ng-2bSi2Yf-2kjWxMP-7SJGvG-e9X3th-7SJGd7-byj33E\" title=\"Cardinal\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/4461\/38139776341_5506ae16e9_z.jpg\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\" alt=\"Cardinal\"\/><\/a><script async src=\"\/\/embedr.flickr.com\/assets\/client-code.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>As an adjective, <strong>cardinal<\/strong> [\u02c8k\u0251\u02d0.d\u026a.n\u0259l \/ \u02c8k\u0251\u0279d\u026an\u0259l] can mean:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Of fundamental importance, e.g. a cardinal rule.<\/li>\n<li>Of or relating to the cardinal directions (north, south, east and west).<\/li>\n<li>Describing a &#8220;natural&#8221; number used to indicate quantity (eg 1, 2, 3, 4, etc), as opposed to an ordinal number indicating relative position (1st, 2nd 3rd, etc).<\/li>\n<li>Having a bright red colour (from the colour of a Catholic cardinal&#8217;s cassock).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a data-flickr-embed=\"true\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/rdb466\/49410031911\/in\/photolist-2ihck4V-2oVrt9G-Y5dpp2-FNC41c-SnZGZh-23SCECk-2jnwRuW-2asrLqd-dV4srC-5FXw6z-5G2P9L-Dc7uiS-Qmfbos-5FXr6M-2jaBC1T-egxAoa-QmfbYL-2mKvycs-36LuNX-RpifyN-qYyy4o-pRs6wc-oasuS3-2nwmMaK-2cyRycL-4GephR-5cyUjX-norHvj-qYXNML-gG86Zh-rAz7bh-jfawcd-2mUkPZr-2jaxGRZ-dEtkn-QmfcPo-RrZkip-bStv6e-2kceDFz-Qmf7CS-Qp4KVR-2ku6FqY-2mKD5GD-DgLq4E-2mUqnEe-nUPEub-R4jkRY-5StRZ3-RCNHNK-2kczkck\" title=\"Cardinals Applaud The New Pontiff\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/49410031911_d270c1d376_z.jpg\" width=\"640\" height=\"392\" alt=\"Cardinals Applaud The New Pontiff\"\/><\/a><script async src=\"\/\/embedr.flickr.com\/assets\/client-code.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>As an noun, <strong>cardinal<\/strong> can mean:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>One of the officials appointed by the pope in the Roman Catholic Church, ranking only below the pope, equal to the patriarchs, constituting the special college which elects the pope.<\/li>\n<li>Any of various species of New-World passerine songbird in the genus Cardinalis, so called because of their red plumage.<\/li>\n<li>A deep red colour, somewhat less vivid than scarlet, the traditional colour of a Catholic cardinal&#8217;s cassock.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>It comes from Middle French <em>cardinal<\/em> ([Catholic] cardinal), from Latin <em>cardin\u0101lis<\/em> (pertaining to a door hinge, principal, chief, cardinal), from <em>card\u014d<\/em> (hinge, socket, turning point, critical moment of action), possibly from Ancient Greek <em>\u03ba\u03c1\u03ac\u03b4\u03b7<\/em> (kr\u00e1d\u0113, twig, spray, swing, crane in the drama) or from PIE <em>*(s)kerd-<\/em> (to move, sway, swing, jump) [<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/cardinal#English\">source<\/a>].<\/p>\n<p>Words from the same roots include <strong>cardinal<\/strong> (important, paramount, cardinal) and <strong>chari\u00e8re<\/strong> (hinge, joint, turning point) in French, <strong>cardine<\/strong> (hinge, pivot, support, cornerstone) in Italian, and <strong>corddyn<\/strong> (pivot, hinge) and possibly <strong>cerdded<\/strong> (to walk) in Welsh [<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European\/lewd-\">source<\/a>].<\/p>\n<p><strong>Cardea<\/strong>, the Roman goddess of hinges and families, also got her name from the same roots [<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/Cardea#Latin\">source<\/a>]. She kept evil spirits from crossing the threshold of houses and protected the family and children inside <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thaliatook.com\/OGOD\/cardea.php\">More information about Cardea<\/a>.<\/p>\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; Cardinals\" \/><meta itemprop=\"uploadDate\" content=\"2025-11-15T13:32:29+00:00\" \/><meta itemprop=\"encodingFormat\" content=\"audio\/mpeg\" \/><meta itemprop=\"duration\" content=\"PT2M25S\" \/><meta itemprop=\"description\" content=\"In this Adventure in Etymology we investigate the origins of the word cardinal.\n\n\n\nAs an adjective, cardinal [\u02c8k\u0251\u02d0.d\u026a.n\u0259l \/ \u02c8k\u0251\u0279d\u026an\u0259l] can mean:\n\n Of fundamental importance, e.g. a cardinal rule.\n Of or relating to the cardinal directions (north, sou...\" \/><meta itemprop=\"contentUrl\" content=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/cardinals.mp3\" \/><meta itemprop=\"contentSize\" content=\"2.9\" \/><div class=\"powerpress_player\" id=\"powerpress_player_1210\"><audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-4211-2\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/cardinals.mp3?_=2\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/cardinals.mp3\">https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/cardinals.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\/cardinals.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_pinw\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Play in new window\" onclick=\"return powerpress_pinw('https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/?powerpress_pinw=4211-podcast');\" rel=\"nofollow\">Play in new window<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/cardinals.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_d\" title=\"Download\" rel=\"nofollow\" download=\"cardinals.mp3\">Download<\/a><\/p><p>In this Adventure in Etymology we investigate the origins of the word cardinal. As an adjective, cardinal [\u02c8k\u0251\u02d0.d\u026a.n\u0259l \/ \u02c8k\u0251\u0279d\u026an\u0259l] can mean: Of fundamental importance, e.g. a cardinal rule. Of or relating to the cardinal directions (north, south, east and west). Describing a &#8220;natural&#8221; number used to indicate quantity (eg 1, 2, 3, 4, etc), [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[98,97,20,56,23,12,4,50,140,11,1,59,7],"tags":[356,90,9,15,88,8,103],"class_list":["post-4211","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adventures-in-etymology","category-ancient-greek-","category-english","category-etymology","category-french","category-italian","category-language","category-latin","category-middle-french","category-music","category-podcast","category-proto-indo-european","category-welsh","tag-cardinal","tag-etymology","tag-language","tag-music","tag-omniglot","tag-podcast","tag-words"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4211","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=4211"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4211\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4217,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4211\/revisions\/4217"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4211"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}