yvanspijk

yvanspijk, 3 days ago to random

'Fat' comes from Old English 'fǣtt'.

This adjective was originally a past participle meaning "fattened; made fat".

The corresponding verb was 'fǣtan' (to fatten; to make fat).

If it had survived, it would probably have become 'to *feat' (not related to the noun 'feat').

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yvanspijk, 6 days ago to random

The English verb 'to wade' is closely related to Romance verbs forms such as Italian 'vado' (I go), French 'va' (goes) and Spanish 'vamos' (we go).

These come from the Latin verb 'vādere' (to go). Most forms of this verb don't survive in the Romance languages, but some of its present tense forms were lent to the mixed bags of the Romance verbs for "to go".

Click the infographic to learn more about the origins of 'to wade' and its Romance cognates.

yvanspijk, 15 days ago to random

'Friday' comes from Old English 'Frīġedæġ', literally "day of Frīġ", the Germanic goddess of love.

'Frīġedæġ' stemmed from West Germanic *Frījā dag, a loan translation of Latin 'Veneris diēs' (which became 'venerdì' in Italian, 'vendredi' in French, and 'viernes' in Spanish). The West Germanic peoples equated the Roman goddess Venus with their *Frīju.

Listen to how the day name evolved.

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yvanspijk, 16 days ago to random

'Thursday' comes from Old English 'Þunresdæġ', literally "Thor's day".

While the modern god name 'Thor' was borrowed from Old Norse 'Þórr', the part 'Thurs-' in 'Thursday' directly descends from the genitive case of the Old English counterpart 'Þunor'.

Click the video to listen to how the day name evolved. The Middle English to Early Modern English stages are based on the dialect of the region of London.

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yvanspijk, 19 days ago to random

'Tuesday' comes from Old English 'Tīwesdæġ', literally 'Tīw's day'.

'Tīw' was the name of the Germanic god that's also known by his Old Norse name 'Týr'. Both names stem from Proto-Germanic *Tīwaz.

Listen to how the day name evolved from Proto-West Germanic via the dialects of the London region to modern British English:

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yvanspijk, 20 days ago to random

In Standard English, 'Wednesday' is pronounced without a /d/. Then why's it written with a d?

The word comes from a West Germanic name meaning "Woden's day", Woden being the god that's nowadays most often called Odin.

D-less forms such as 'Wennesdai' are attested from the 14th century.

Click the video to hear how the word evolved between the second century AD and now.

The Middle English to Early Modern English stages are based on the dialect of the region of London.

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yvanspijk, 24 days ago to random

Why is 'laugh' written with -ugh while it ends with an [f] sound?

It's because the spelling 'laugh' reflects how the word was pronounced in Late Middle English, some 500 years ago.

Click the video to listen to a phonetic reconstruction of how this verb evolved from 3rd-century BC Proto-Germanic to modern-day Standard English.

The Middle English to Early Modern English stages are based on the dialect of the region of London.

video/mp4

yvanspijk, 28 days ago to random

The word 'bairn' (child), which is used in Scots, Northern and Scottish English, is closely related to 'born' and 'to bear'.

These words all come from a root meaning "to carry".

When a baby is born it's been carried to term.
The infant is then carried around.

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