{"id":4465,"date":"2026-05-23T16:40:45","date_gmt":"2026-05-23T16:40:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/?p=4465"},"modified":"2026-05-23T18:53:17","modified_gmt":"2026-05-23T18:53:17","slug":"adventures-in-etymology-gather-together","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/?p=4465","title":{"rendered":"Adventures in Etymology &#8211; Gather Together"},"content":{"rendered":"<div itemscope itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/AudioObject\"><meta itemprop=\"name\" content=\"Adventures in Etymology &amp;#8211; Gather Together\" \/><meta itemprop=\"uploadDate\" content=\"2026-05-23T16:40:45+00:00\" \/><meta itemprop=\"encodingFormat\" content=\"audio\/mpeg\" \/><meta itemprop=\"duration\" content=\"PT1M56S\" \/><meta itemprop=\"description\" content=\"In this Adventure in Etymology we're gathering together the good roots of the word gather.\n\n\n\nGather [\u02c8\u0261\u00e6\u00f0\u0259 \/ \u02c8\u0261\u00e6\u00f0\u025a] as a verb can mean to collect normally separate things; to harvest food; to accumulate over time; to congregate or assemble; to bring...\" \/><meta itemprop=\"contentUrl\" content=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/gatheringtogether.mp3\" \/><meta itemprop=\"contentSize\" content=\"2.0\" \/><div class=\"powerpress_player\" id=\"powerpress_player_7950\"><audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-4465-1\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/gatheringtogether.mp3?_=1\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/gatheringtogether.mp3\">https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/gatheringtogether.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\/gatheringtogether.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_pinw\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Play in new window\" onclick=\"return powerpress_pinw('https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/?powerpress_pinw=4465-podcast');\" rel=\"nofollow\">Play in new window<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/gatheringtogether.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_d\" title=\"Download\" rel=\"nofollow\" download=\"gatheringtogether.mp3\">Download<\/a><\/p><p>In this Adventure in Etymology we&#8217;re gathering together the good roots of the word <strong>gather<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><a data-flickr-embed=\"true\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/omniglot\/40708479430\/in\/photolist-FZUrR4-Gsz4QJ-GVi84H-GX6Cnf-J7ZEtp-KyiTTY-KAS8pu-24ZhjnQ-252gAF1-26jr72T-26mYoJM-26AhNes-27DifaY-27Difd3-27Dis4h-27EjRRj-27JjmRG-27JDo2Z-27Mh6DH-27MmJse-2g54wpE-2g6JZRj-2g7sHpJ-2g7sHAF\" title=\"A room full of polyglots\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/882\/40708479430_1495dc7fc0_z.jpg\" width=\"640\" height=\"361\" alt=\"A room full of polyglots\"\/><\/a><script async src=\"\/\/embedr.flickr.com\/assets\/client-code.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><strong>Gather<\/strong> [\u02c8\u0261\u00e6\u00f0\u0259 \/ \u02c8\u0261\u00e6\u00f0\u025a] as a verb can mean to collect normally separate things; to harvest food; to accumulate over time; to congregate or assemble; to bring parts of a whole closer; or to infer or conclude.<\/p>\n<p>As an noun, <strong>gather<\/strong> can mean a plait or fold in cloth, a blob of molten glass collected on the end of a blowpipe, or a gathering.<\/p>\n<p>It comes from Middle English <em>gaderen<\/em> (to assemble, congregate), from Old English <em>gaderian<\/em> (to bring together, to gather), from Proto-West Germanic <em>*gadur\u014dn<\/em> (to gather, bring together), from <em>*gadur<\/em> (together, gathered in one place), possibly from PIE <em>*g\u02b0\u00f3d\u02b0-r\u0325<\/em>, from <em>*g\u02b0ed\u02b0-<\/em> (to join, unite, suit) [<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/gather#English\">source<\/a>].<\/p>\n<p>Words from the same roots include <strong>godzi\u0107<\/strong> (to reconcile, bring together) in Polish, <strong>hodit<\/strong> (to fit, suit, be appropriate) in Czech, <strong>gu\u00f5das<\/strong> (virtue, nobleness, glory, honour) in Lithuanian, <strong>goed<\/strong> (good, correct, right) in Dutch, and <strong>good<\/strong> and <strong>together<\/strong> in English [<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European\/g%CA%B0ed%CA%B0-\">source<\/a>].<\/p>\n<p>Next week I&#8217;m off to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.polyglotgathering.com\/2026\/en\/\">Polyglot Gathering<\/a> in Brno in the Czech Republic, where language enthusiasts from all over the world will forgather and regather together to talk in and about languages. There may some woolgathering, but hopefully no misgathering, as we gather our thoughts and ourselves together.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>to forgather<\/strong> = to assemble or gather together in one place, to gather up, to congregate<\/li>\n<li><strong>to regather<\/strong> = to gather again, to gather back together<\/li>\n<li><strong>woolgathering<\/strong> = the gathering of fragments of wool torn from sheep by bushes, etc. indulgence in idle fancies or daydreams<\/li>\n<li><strong>to misgather<\/strong> = to accumulate or assemble incorrectly, to infer or conclude incorrectly<\/li>\n<\/ul>\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; Gather Together\" \/><meta itemprop=\"uploadDate\" content=\"2026-05-23T16:40:45+00:00\" \/><meta itemprop=\"encodingFormat\" content=\"audio\/mpeg\" \/><meta itemprop=\"duration\" content=\"PT1M56S\" \/><meta itemprop=\"description\" content=\"In this Adventure in Etymology we're gathering together the good roots of the word gather.\n\n\n\nGather [\u02c8\u0261\u00e6\u00f0\u0259 \/ \u02c8\u0261\u00e6\u00f0\u025a] as a verb can mean to collect normally separate things; to harvest food; to accumulate over time; to congregate or assemble; to bring...\" \/><meta itemprop=\"contentUrl\" content=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/gatheringtogether.mp3\" \/><meta itemprop=\"contentSize\" content=\"2.0\" \/><div class=\"powerpress_player\" id=\"powerpress_player_7951\"><audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-4465-2\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/gatheringtogether.mp3?_=2\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/gatheringtogether.mp3\">https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/gatheringtogether.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\/gatheringtogether.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_pinw\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Play in new window\" onclick=\"return powerpress_pinw('https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/?powerpress_pinw=4465-podcast');\" rel=\"nofollow\">Play in new window<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/gatheringtogether.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_d\" title=\"Download\" rel=\"nofollow\" download=\"gatheringtogether.mp3\">Download<\/a><\/p><p>In this Adventure in Etymology we&#8217;re gathering together the good roots of the word gather. Gather [\u02c8\u0261\u00e6\u00f0\u0259 \/ \u02c8\u0261\u00e6\u00f0\u025a] as a verb can mean to collect normally separate things; to harvest food; to accumulate over time; to congregate or assemble; to bring parts of a whole closer; or to infer or conclude. As an noun, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[98,33,47,20,56,4,156,58,11,55,1,63,59,119,67],"tags":[90,428,429,9,167,15,88,8,430,103],"class_list":["post-4465","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adventures-in-etymology","category-czech","category-dutch","category-english","category-etymology","category-language","category-lithuanian-lietuviu-kalba","category-middle-english","category-music","category-old-english-aenglisc","category-podcast","category-polish-polski","category-proto-indo-european","category-proto-west-germanic","category-travel","tag-etymology","tag-gather","tag-gathering","tag-language","tag-linguistics","tag-music","tag-omniglot","tag-podcast","tag-together","tag-words"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4465","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=4465"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4465\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4469,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4465\/revisions\/4469"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4465"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4465"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4465"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}