{"id":4417,"date":"2026-04-11T16:26:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-11T16:26:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/?p=4417"},"modified":"2026-04-11T16:26:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-11T16:26:11","slug":"adventures-in-etymology-material-matters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/?p=4417","title":{"rendered":"Adventures in Etymology &#8211; Material Matters"},"content":{"rendered":"<div itemscope itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/AudioObject\"><meta itemprop=\"name\" content=\"Adventures in Etymology &amp;#8211; Material Matters\" \/><meta itemprop=\"uploadDate\" content=\"2026-04-11T16:26:11+00:00\" \/><meta itemprop=\"encodingFormat\" content=\"audio\/mpeg\" \/><meta itemprop=\"duration\" content=\"PT1M55S\" \/><meta itemprop=\"description\" content=\"This Adventure in Etymology uncovers the maternal and woody roots of the words material and matter.\n\n\n\nMeanings of material include: \n\nA basic matter from which the whole or the greater part of something physical is made.\nFabric, which can be made in...\" \/><meta itemprop=\"contentUrl\" content=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/materialmatters.mp3\" \/><meta itemprop=\"contentSize\" content=\"2.1\" \/><div class=\"powerpress_player\" id=\"powerpress_player_9471\"><audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-4417-1\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/materialmatters.mp3?_=1\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/materialmatters.mp3\">https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/materialmatters.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\/materialmatters.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_pinw\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Play in new window\" onclick=\"return powerpress_pinw('https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/?powerpress_pinw=4417-podcast');\" rel=\"nofollow\">Play in new window<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/materialmatters.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_d\" title=\"Download\" rel=\"nofollow\" download=\"materialmatters.mp3\">Download<\/a><\/p><p>This Adventure in Etymology uncovers the <strong>maternal<\/strong> and <strong>woody<\/strong> roots of the words <strong>material<\/strong> and <strong>matter<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><a data-flickr-embed=\"true\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/omniglot\/55045768374\/in\/album-72157674334257923\" title=\"Central, Hong Kong \/ \u9999\u6e2f\u4e2d\u74b0\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/55045768374_1165ebafae_z.jpg\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" alt=\"Central, Hong Kong \/ \u9999\u6e2f\u4e2d\u74b0\"\/><\/a><script async src=\"\/\/embedr.flickr.com\/assets\/client-code.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Meanings of <strong>material<\/strong> include: <\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A basic matter from which the whole or the greater part of something physical is made.<\/li>\n<li>Fabric, which can be made into a garments, etc, especially, woven fabric.<\/li>\n<li>The elements, constituents or substance of which something is composed of or can be made of.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>It comes from Middle English <em>material<\/em> (material, worldly), from Latin <em>m\u0101teri\u0101lis<\/em> (material &#8211; made of matter), from <em>m\u0101teria<\/em> (matter, material, substance, timber), from <em>m\u0101ter<\/em> (mother, matron, woman), from PIE <em>*m\u00e9h\u2082t\u0113r<\/em> (mother) [<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/material#English\">source<\/a>].<\/p>\n<p>Words from the same roots include <strong>mattter<\/strong>, <strong>maternal<\/strong>, <strong>matrix<\/strong>, and <strong>mother<\/strong> in English, <strong>madre<\/strong> (mother) in Italian, <strong>mati\u00e8re<\/strong> (material, matter, subject) in French, <strong>madeira<\/strong> (wood) in Portuguese, <strong>mot\u00ebr<\/strong> (sister) in Albanian, and <strong>modryb<\/strong> (aunt) in Welsh [<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European\/m%C3%A9h%E2%82%82t%C4%93r\">source<\/a>].<\/p>\n<p>Incidentally, in Old and Middle English, one word for <strong>material<\/strong> (and <strong>matter<\/strong>) was <em>andweorc<\/em>, which comes from <em>and-<\/em> (against, back, fully), and <em>weorc<\/em> (work, labour, pain) [<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/andweorc#Middle_English\">source<\/a>]. <\/p>\n<p>This is partially related to the Modern English word <strong>handiwork<\/strong>, which comes from Old English  <em>hand\u0121eweorc<\/em> (manual labour, something made with the hands) [<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/handgeweorc#Old_English\">source<\/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; Material Matters\" \/><meta itemprop=\"uploadDate\" content=\"2026-04-11T16:26:11+00:00\" \/><meta itemprop=\"encodingFormat\" content=\"audio\/mpeg\" \/><meta itemprop=\"duration\" content=\"PT1M55S\" \/><meta itemprop=\"description\" content=\"This Adventure in Etymology uncovers the maternal and woody roots of the words material and matter.\n\n\n\nMeanings of material include: \n\nA basic matter from which the whole or the greater part of something physical is made.\nFabric, which can be made in...\" \/><meta itemprop=\"contentUrl\" content=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/materialmatters.mp3\" \/><meta itemprop=\"contentSize\" content=\"2.1\" \/><div class=\"powerpress_player\" id=\"powerpress_player_9472\"><audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-4417-2\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/materialmatters.mp3?_=2\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/materialmatters.mp3\">https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/materialmatters.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\/materialmatters.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_pinw\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Play in new window\" onclick=\"return powerpress_pinw('https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/?powerpress_pinw=4417-podcast');\" rel=\"nofollow\">Play in new window<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/materialmatters.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_d\" title=\"Download\" rel=\"nofollow\" download=\"materialmatters.mp3\">Download<\/a><\/p><p>This Adventure in Etymology uncovers the maternal and woody roots of the words material and matter. Meanings of material include: A basic matter from which the whole or the greater part of something physical is made. Fabric, which can be made into a garments, etc, especially, woven fabric. The elements, constituents or substance of which [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[98,126,20,56,23,12,4,50,58,11,55,1,27,59,7],"tags":[90,9,167,413,411,415,416,412,414,15,88,8,103],"class_list":["post-4417","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adventures-in-etymology","category-albanian-shqip","category-english","category-etymology","category-french","category-italian","category-language","category-latin","category-middle-english","category-music","category-old-english-aenglisc","category-podcast","category-portuguese","category-proto-indo-european","category-welsh","tag-etymology","tag-language","tag-linguistics","tag-mater","tag-material","tag-maternal","tag-matrix","tag-matter","tag-mother","tag-music","tag-omniglot","tag-podcast","tag-words"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4417","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\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4417"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4417\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4418,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4417\/revisions\/4418"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4417"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4417"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4417"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}