{"id":4536,"date":"2026-08-01T15:04:55","date_gmt":"2026-08-01T15:04:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/?p=4536"},"modified":"2026-08-01T15:04:55","modified_gmt":"2026-08-01T15:04:55","slug":"adventures-in-etymology-index","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/?p=4536","title":{"rendered":"Adventures in Etymology &#8211; Index"},"content":{"rendered":"<div itemscope itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/AudioObject\"><meta itemprop=\"name\" content=\"Adventures in Etymology &amp;#8211; Index\" \/><meta itemprop=\"uploadDate\" content=\"2026-08-01T15:04:55+00:00\" \/><meta itemprop=\"encodingFormat\" content=\"audio\/mpeg\" \/><meta itemprop=\"duration\" content=\"PT1M52S\" \/><meta itemprop=\"description\" content=\"In this Adventure in Etymology we point out the origins of the word index.\n\n\n\nAn index [\u02c8\u026and\u025bks] is an alphabetical listing of items and their location; the index finger; a movable finger on a gauge, scale, etc (other meanings are available).\n\nAs a v...\" \/><meta itemprop=\"contentUrl\" content=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/index.mp3\" \/><meta itemprop=\"contentSize\" content=\"1.9\" \/><div class=\"powerpress_player\" id=\"powerpress_player_5138\"><audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-4536-1\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/index.mp3?_=1\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/index.mp3\">https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/index.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\/index.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_pinw\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Play in new window\" onclick=\"return powerpress_pinw('https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/?powerpress_pinw=4536-podcast');\" rel=\"nofollow\">Play in new window<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/index.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_d\" title=\"Download\" rel=\"nofollow\" download=\"index.mp3\">Download<\/a><\/p><p>In this Adventure in Etymology we point out the origins of the word <strong>index<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/images\/videos\/index2.jpg\" width=\"630\" height=\"340\" alt=\"Index\" \/><\/p>\n<p>An <strong>index<\/strong> [\u02c8\u026and\u025bks] is an alphabetical listing of items and their location; the index finger; a movable finger on a gauge, scale, etc (other meanings are available).<\/p>\n<p>As a verb <strong>to index<\/strong> can mean to arrange an index for something; to inventory; to measure by an associated value, and other things.<\/p>\n<p>It comes from Latin <em>index<\/em> (a pointer, index finger, index, list, sign, informer, spy), from <em>in<\/em> (in, at, on) and <em>dic\u014d<\/em> (to say, talk, speak, declare, tell) [<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/index#English\">source<\/a>].<\/p>\n<p><em>Dic\u014d<\/em> comes from Proto-Italic <em>*deik\u014d<\/em> (to show, indicate, say, tell), from Proto-Indo-European <em>*d\u00e9y\u1e31eti<\/em> (to be pointing out), from <em>*dey\u1e31-<\/em>. (to point out, to show) [<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/dico#Latin:_to_speak\">source<\/a>].<\/p>\n<p>English words from the same roots include <strong>dictate<\/strong>, <strong>diction<\/strong>, <strong>dictionary<\/strong>, <strong>digit<\/strong>, <strong>edict<\/strong>, <strong>indicate<\/strong>, <strong>judge<\/strong>, <strong>preach<\/strong>, <strong>predict<\/strong>, <strong>teach<\/strong>, <strong>toe<\/strong>, <strong>token<\/strong>, <strong>verdict<\/strong> and <strong>vindicate<\/strong> [<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/Category:English_terms_derived_from_the_Proto-Indo-European_root_*dey%E1%B8%B1-\">source<\/a>].<\/p>\n<p>Words in other languages from the same roots include <strong>decir<\/strong> (to say, tell) in Spanish, <strong>vingar<\/strong> (to avenge, revenge, thrive) in Portuguese, <strong>\u09a6\u09bf\u0995<\/strong> (dik &#8211; direction, side, end) in Bengali, <strong>Zeh<\/strong> (toe) in German, <strong>teikn<\/strong> (omen, sign, icon) in Icelandic, and <strong>mallacht<\/strong> (curse) in Irish [<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European\/dey%E1%B8%B1-\">source<\/a>].<\/p>\n<p>Incidentally, if there is more than one <strong>index<\/strong>, do you talk about <strong>indexes<\/strong> or <strong>indices<\/strong>? <\/p>\n<p>I prefer <strong>indexes<\/strong>, but think you could use <strong>indexen<\/strong> (similar to ox \/ oxen, child \/ children, and aurochs \/ aurochsen) instead. The <strong>-en<\/strong> plural ending used to be a more common and used for words such as <strong>cheesen<\/strong> (cheeses), <strong>kneen<\/strong> (knees), <strong>eyen<\/strong> (eyes), <strong>foxen<\/strong> (foxes) and <strong>shoon<\/strong> (shoes) [<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/-en#English:_plural_noun\">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; Index\" \/><meta itemprop=\"uploadDate\" content=\"2026-08-01T15:04:55+00:00\" \/><meta itemprop=\"encodingFormat\" content=\"audio\/mpeg\" \/><meta itemprop=\"duration\" content=\"PT1M52S\" \/><meta itemprop=\"description\" content=\"In this Adventure in Etymology we point out the origins of the word index.\n\n\n\nAn index [\u02c8\u026and\u025bks] is an alphabetical listing of items and their location; the index finger; a movable finger on a gauge, scale, etc (other meanings are available).\n\nAs a v...\" \/><meta itemprop=\"contentUrl\" content=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/index.mp3\" \/><meta itemprop=\"contentSize\" content=\"1.9\" \/><div class=\"powerpress_player\" id=\"powerpress_player_5139\"><audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-4536-2\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/index.mp3?_=2\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/index.mp3\">https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/index.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\/index.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_pinw\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Play in new window\" onclick=\"return powerpress_pinw('https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/?powerpress_pinw=4536-podcast');\" rel=\"nofollow\">Play in new window<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/index.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_d\" title=\"Download\" rel=\"nofollow\" download=\"index.mp3\">Download<\/a><\/p><p>In this Adventure in Etymology we point out the origins of the word index. An index [\u02c8\u026and\u025bks] is an alphabetical listing of items and their location; the index finger; a movable finger on a gauge, scale, etc (other meanings are available). As a verb to index can mean to arrange an index for something; to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[98,472,20,56,24,29,6,4,50,11,1,27,59,133,28],"tags":[90,473,9,167,15,88,8,103],"class_list":["post-4536","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adventures-in-etymology","category-bengali-","category-english","category-etymology","category-german","category-icelandic","category-irish","category-language","category-latin","category-music","category-podcast","category-portuguese","category-proto-indo-european","category-proto-italic","category-spanish","tag-etymology","tag-index","tag-language","tag-linguistics","tag-music","tag-omniglot","tag-podcast","tag-words"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4536","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\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4536"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4536\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4540,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4536\/revisions\/4540"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4536"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4536"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4536"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}