yvanspijk

yvanspijk, 5 months ago to random

The English words 'of', 'off', 'after', and 'ebb' all contain the same root.

It also lies at the basis of German 'von' (of; from) and 'aber' (but).

This root, Proto-Indo-European *h₂(e)p-, meant "off; away". By adding suffixes, related meanings were derived.

Here's more:

yvanspijk, 5 months ago to random

X is such a heart-warming place.

(For the record: Slavic doesn't have any direct descendants of *h₃dónts.)

yvanspijk, 5 months ago to random

The word 'tooth' is a remnant of an ancient present participle meaning "biting".

It is etymologically related to French 'dent', German 'Zahn', Irish 'déad', Ancient Greek 'odṓn', and Sanskrit 'dán'. These words all stem from the same Proto-Indo-European ancestor.

Here's more:

yvanspijk, 5 months ago to random

German 'gegessen' and Dutch 'gegeten', past participles meaning "eaten", are quite peculiar.

German and past participles normally get the prefix 'ge-', but these words contain a doubled form of this prefix.

As 'ge-' had been obscured in earlier 'gessen' and 'geten', it was added to these forms once more.

Here's more:

yvanspijk, 5 months ago to random

German 'Messer' and Dutch 'mes' (knife) stem from a Proto-Germanic compound meaning 'food-knife'.

As it was frequently used, the four-syllable compound eroded and was obscured.

Click the video to hear how 'Messer' and 'mes' evolved.

On my Patreon I explain how Proto-Germanic *matisahsan acquired the variant *matizahsan and how its z became an r in German.

Below there's an infographic that shows the history of the words that formed *matisahsan and *matizahsan and their Germanic relatives.

video/mp4

yvanspijk, 5 months ago to random

'To think' and 'thanks' are etymologically related.

The distant ancestor of 'thanks' meant "thought". This meaning evolved into "benevolent thought", "grateful thought", and ultimately "gratitude".

My infographic shows the Germanic relatives of 'to think' and 'thanks' and tells you where 'methinks' comes from.

On my Patreon I explain how the regular past tense form of the ancestor of 'to think' became irregular in a regular way (1200 words): patreon.com/yvanspijk

yvanspijk, 6 months ago to random

Dutch 'hangmat' and German 'Hängematte' come from French 'hamac' (hammock).

Seeking to rationalise this opaque word, people associated it with their words for 'to hang' and 'mat' and changed it.

Here are more Dutch and German examples of this type of change: folk etymology.

yvanspijk, 6 months ago to random

Beside singular and plural pronouns, the Germanic languages used to have dual pronouns.

For example, in Old English you could say:
'Hē seah unc' (He saw the two of us)
'Wit sāwon him' (We two saw him)

My new infographic below tells you all about these Germanic dual pronouns.

What would the English, German, and Dutch dual pronouns look like now if they hadn't disappeared? Subscribe to my Patreon to find out: patreon.com/yvanspijk

yvanspijk, 6 months ago to random

'Cockroach' stems from Spanish 'cucaracha'.

When 'cucaracha' was borrowed, it was opaque to English speakers. Trying to rationalise it, they associated it with the familiar words 'cock' and 'roach' and changed its pronunciation.

This type of change is called folk etymology.

More examples:

yvanspijk, 6 months ago to random

'Lady' stems from a compound meaning "bread kneader".

It consisted of West Germanic *hlaeb (bread), the ancestor of 'loaf', and *daigijā (kneader), a derivation of *daig, the ancestor of 'dough'.

In Old English it had become 'hlǣfdiġe', meaning "mistress of the household".

Hear how it changed in 2500 years:

video/mp4

yvanspijk, 6 months ago to random

'Lord' stems from Proto-Germanic *hlaibawardaz: "bread guardian".

This compound consists of two words:

• *hlaibaz, the ancestor of 'loaf'.
• *wardaz, which meant "guardian" and became English 'ward'.

Hear how over the course of 2500 years, its four syllables turned into one:

video/mp4

yvanspijk, 6 months ago (edited 6 months ago) to random

The French word for a werewolf is 'loup-garou'.

Etymologically, this compound is pleonastic: 'garou' means "werewolf" and 'loup' means "wolf".

It's also hybrid: 'loup' stems from Latin 'lupus' whereas 'garou' was borrowed from West Germanic *werwulf.

Click the image for more:

yvanspijk, 6 months ago to random

'Shirt' and 'skirt' are doublets: they both stem from Proto-Germanic *skurtijōn.

'Shirt' was inherited. It underwent the sound changes that turned Proto-Germanic into English.

'Skirt' was borrowed from another Germanic language: Old Norse.

Here's the finale of my doublets series: Germanic doublets in English.

yvanspijk, 6 months ago to random

Dutch 'zolder' (attic) and 'solarium' (sunbed) are doublets: they both stem from Latin 'sōlārium'.

'Zolder' was inherited from an early Proto-Germanic borrowing from spoken Latin.

'Solarium' was borrowed from written Latin, via English.

Number 9 in my series: Dutch doublets from Latin.

yvanspijk, 6 months ago to random

'Pity' and 'piety' are doublets: they both stem from Latin 'pietātem'.

'Pity' comes from Old French 'pité', a word inherited from spoken Latin. It underwent the sound changes that turned Latin into French.

'Piety' was borrowed from Old French 'pieté', which itself was a borrowing from written Latin.

Number 8 in my series:
English doublets from Latin via French!

(This still isn't the last episode of my doublets series. Stay tuned!)

yvanspijk, 6 months ago to random

Galician 'palabra' (word) and 'parábola' (parable; parabola) are doublets: they both stem from Latin 'parabolam'.

'Palabra' was inherited from spoken Latin. It underwent the sound changes that turned Latin into Galician.

'Parábola' was borrowed from written Latin.

Number 7 in my series: Galician doublets!

yvanspijk, 7 months ago to random

Romanian 'femeie' (woman) and 'familie' (family) are doublets: they both stem from Latin 'familiam'.

'Femeie' was inherited from spoken Latin. It underwent the sound changes that turned Latin into Romanian.

'Familie' was borrowed from written Latin.

Number 6 in my series: Romanian doublets!

yvanspijk, 7 months ago to random

French 'poison' and 'potion' are doublets: they both stem from Latin 'pōtiōnem' (drink).

'Poison' was inherited from spoken Latin. It underwent the sound changes that turned Latin into French.

'Potion' was borrowed from written Latin in the second millennium.

The infographic below shows fifteen French doublets.

In the next two weeks, I'll be doing similar charts for Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Romanian, and Catalan as well. 🙂

yvanspijk, 7 months ago to random

In many Romance languages, plurals and certain verb forms end in -s.

This is how you say 'you see the stars' in French, Spanish, and Portuguese:
tu vois les étoiles
ves las estrellas
vês as estrelas

However, in Italian and Romanian none of these words end in -s:
vedi le stelle
vezi stelele

All of these had an -s in Latin: vidēs (illās) stēllās

So what happened in Italian and Romanian?

These languages lost their final -s, but they didn't just drop it. The infographic shows what did happen:

yvanspijk, 7 months ago to random

'Archipelago' comes from Italian 'arcipelago', which used to denote the Aegean Sea, a sea that has many islands. It literally meant "main sea".

'Arcipelago' was borrowed by a large number of languages and underwent a series of changes in meaning.

Here's how:

yvanspijk, 7 months ago (edited 7 months ago) to random

Latin had six noun cases, but in all Romance languages except Romanian, nouns only have one singular form and one plural form left.

What happened?

This extra large infographic tells you in ten steps how the Latin case system collapsed – and how the accusative case emerged victorious:

yvanspijk, 7 months ago to random

Yesterday I tooted about horse words.

"But what about 'horse', German 'Pferd', French 'cheval', Spanish 'caballo'?" people asked.

These words have their own histories. I'll summarise them below.

1. 'Horse' stems from Proto-Germanic *hursan/*hrussan, which also became Dutch 'ros', German 'Ross', and Icelandic 'hross'. This Proto-Germanic word may stem from Proto-Indo-European *ḱr̥sós (vehicle), which also became Latin 'currus' (chariot) and - via Proto-Celtic *karros - 'carrus', whence ... 1/