The study of the history of words including their origins and the changes they've undergone through time.
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24 views
How does PIE *d- in *dlegh- change to PGmc. p- in plegō (E pledge)?
As shown in the Wiktionary:
pledge
From Middle English plege, from Anglo-Norman plege, from Old French plege (Modern French pleige) from Medieval Latin plevium, plebium, from Medieval Latin ...
2
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0answers
74 views
Why do only a few English demonyms have a -man suffix?
Several English demonyms (Englishman) are compound words ending in -man, but most are not (Greek).
The vast majority of -man demonyms refer to England and close neighbors: Frenchman, Irishman, ...
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1answer
80 views
What is the origin of the name “Condoleezza”?
I wonder whether the original form of this name should be "Condolencia"?
3
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74 views
What are the constituent morphemes in 'preposition'?
The word preposition. I am trying to break down a series of words into their constituent morphemes and am having trouble with the word 'preposition'.
I can obviously see that the 'pre-' is a morpheme ...
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1answer
66 views
Etymology and Morphology
In lexicography is the following claim correct?
To describe the origin of a word in a dictionary only you need either describe its 'etymology' (if that word has a single morpheme) or 'morphology' (if ...
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1answer
75 views
Does “Pictura Mentum” mean anything?
I know that the etymology of the word "pigment" is the Latin verb pingere (to paint) plus the suffix -mentum (instrument used in the accomplishment of the action).
I know that the -mentum suffix is ...
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1answer
36 views
What is probable origin of Basque word for city/town?
The Basque word for 'town/city' is hiri, with mute H. Could its origin be in Middle Eastern languages with its subsequent incorporation into Basque through the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia?
There is ...
4
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1answer
73 views
Why does “-b-” differ between L “offero” and L “aufero”?
offero
From ob ("towards") + ferō ("bear, carry")
aufero
From ab ("from") + ferō ("bear, carry")
Both prefixes of them end with "-b-", but why do their compounds differ from each other, ...
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2answers
69 views
How does Gk. “hieros” differ from its cognate Gk. “oistros” with an “h”?
oestrus
From the Latin oestrus ("gadfly”, “sting”, “frenzy"), from the Ancient Greek οἶστρος (oistros).
hiero-
From Ancient Greek prefix ἱερo- (hiero-), from ἱερός (hieros, "sacred, holy")
...
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1answer
60 views
Is the word “abjad” borrowed from Arabic or was it coined in English then borrowed by Arabic?
"Abjad" is a technical term for a kind of writing system which is used when contrasting them with other writing system types such as alphabets, abugidas, and syllabaries.
There is also an Arabic word ...
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1answer
48 views
How did It “sedano” come from Gk “σέλινον”, with a “l”>“d” shift?
sedano
From Ancient Greek σέλινον.
The only Italian etymology I can find is on Wiktionary. And why does the Italian noun "sedano" look the same with the Italian verb "sedano"?
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1answer
44 views
How did E “congee” come from L “commeatus”, with an intrusive “g”?
congee
From Old French congié (modern congé), from commeatus ("passage, permission to leave"), from commeo ("I go and come"), from con- + meo ("I go, I pass")
Occasionally I find this word, but ...
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68 views
Are the Russian уж (a kind of snake) and узко (narrow) related?
According to Mallory we have the following PIE words (in this notation, g = palatal/plain ġ=plain/uvular):
a̯enġhu̯is snake (> уж)
a̯enghus narrow (> узко)
a̯enghnos fear, constriction (> ужас)
...
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1answer
63 views
How did L “reddere” change to E “render”?
render
From Old French rendre ("to render, to make"), from Vulgar Latin *rendere, from Latin reddere, present active infinitive of reddō ("return in profit").
I just wonder whether it is a kind ...
3
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1answer
75 views
How did 'cocodrilo' originate from 'crocodile'?
The English word crocodile seems to originate from the Latin crocodīlus and Ancient Greek κροκόδιλος. Indeed it has ended up very similar in several modern languages: German (Krokodile), Russian ...
3
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2answers
127 views
Is the similarity between the Arabic word Gayyid and the English word Good due to a borrowing?
Why is the Arabic word جید (jayyid) which is pronounced gayyid in Egypt and means good, so similar to the word good or the German word gut? Is it a borrowing? (since the word for good is very ...
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1answer
70 views
Is the word E “able” related to the suffix E “-able”?
able(1)
From Middle English, from Old Northern French able, variant of Old French abile, habile, from Latin habilis ("easily managed, held, or handled; apt; skillful"), from habeō ("have, hold").
...
2
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1answer
94 views
Can the root ש ל ם be used to mean “Submission”?
In Arabic, the root S-L-M (س ل م) has a general meaning of "Peace", but can also be used for "Submission" (such as in the words Islam/Muslim). Given the close relation between Hebrew and Arabic, I'm ...
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3answers
183 views
Linguistic or etymological relationship between the words “Sabbath” and “seven”
The words for "Sabbath" and "seven" seem similar in both Hebrew and Aramaic. Is there an etymological relationship between them?
Sabbath (Shabbat), שַׁבָּת, is Strong's H7676. It is spelled ...
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1answer
112 views
How does L. “quartus” come from L. “quattuor”, which has “quat” but “quart”?
quartus
From Latin quattuor ("four"), originally from Proto-Indo-European
quattuor
From Proto-Indo-European *kʷetwóres.
Cognates include Sanskrit चतुर् (catur), Old Armenian չորք ...
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26 views
Why is the word for the color orange always the same as the fruit orange? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
The relationship between “orange” the colour and “orange” the fruit
It's like that in Spanish, French, English, and I'm starting to wonder how many others.
It's not ...
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1answer
152 views
Are the Russian “фрязь” and Thai “ฝรั่ง” (farang) related?
In old Russian the word фрязь ([fr'az'], apostrophe means a soft consonant) was used to denote a westerner. Although the word is not used any more, it is kept as part of some place names, such as a ...
4
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1answer
68 views
Specifically in terms of nepomorpha, nepidae and further taxonomic classifications
I believe that the meaning of morpha is "form, like, kind". But where does the nepo prefix originate from? I seem to get a lot of terms like 'nepotism' in my searches, but I wonder how purely aquatic ...
6
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3answers
424 views
What is the function of “-ter” in words “laughter” and “daughter”?
Because there exists a word "laugh" but "*daugh", while the forms are alike to each other.
I can't find the function of the morpheme "-ter" here, which is maybe irrelevant to the "-ter" in "enter" or ...
4
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3answers
179 views
Are “fish” and “to swim” relative words?
When learning Thai, I was amazed how modern Thai word "fish" is similar to Slavic word "to swim"
Thai: ปลา [plaː] "fish"
Lao: ປາ [pa᷅ː]"fish"
Ukrainian: плавати [ˈpɫɑvɑtɪ] "to swim"
...
2
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3answers
159 views
Has the word ending *dition any independent meaning?
Does the term 'dition' has any meaning by itself or where does it derive from?
It could be found for example in many English words, like edition, addition, expedition or extradition.
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2answers
205 views
Where does the “t” in some words like “night” and “fight” come from?
The question is on the words with a word-final "ght", such as in "fight" and "wight", which are quite mysterious, I hope to know the connections among these "ght" words.
The question comes from the ...
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59 views
Correct Alexamenos Graffito Translation
I am researching the "Alexamenos Graffito" from Rome and the various opinions of what the correct translation of the Greek inscription should be.
I know some believe it is "Alexamenos worships (his) ...
6
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2answers
272 views
Are “txt-speak” and “emoticons” examples of normal language evolution?
"txt-speak" appeared because of the need to fit a communication into 160 characters.
"Emoticons" appeared due to the need to convey an emotional context with your message so that it is read correctly ...
8
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3answers
251 views
Is Slavic [zima] (“winter”) derived from “snow”?
I was wondering why Thai word for "snow" was sounding similar to Slavic word for "winter":
Thai: หิมะ [hì-má] "snow"
Ukrainian: зима [ˈzɪ-mə] "winter"
Polish: zima [ˈʑi-ma] "winter"
Also, ...
2
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1answer
107 views
How does the word “thunder” get the letter “d”?
thunder
O.E. þunor, from P.Gmc. thunraz (cf. O.N. þorr, O.Fris. thuner, M.Du. donre, Du. donder, O.H.G. donar, Ger. Donner "thunder"), from PIE (s)tene- "to resound, thunder" (cf. Skt. tanayitnuh ...
7
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1answer
209 views
Using the word “dream” as hope for the future across languages
Many languages seem to use the same word for "dream" (psychological phenomenon) and "dream" (hope for the future). Quick scanning on Wiktionary gives the list:
Germanic languages: Danish (drøm), ...
5
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1answer
185 views
What is the origin of the Latin suffix -alis/-alia?
What is the origin of the Latin suffix -alis/-alia? Can it be an Etruscan borrowing? Is Russian adjectival suffix -аль- a borrowing from Latin?
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0answers
225 views
Influences of the origins of the phrase “Mother-fucker”
We should presume that the phrases "fuck your mother", "fuck your mother smelly cunt", "mother-fucking bastard" existed in the Chinese alt-cultural vocabulary for centuries in various dialects, having ...
4
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0answers
126 views
Exclamation for pain
I always thought that the response to pain, which people usually express with 'ouch' or 'ow' is a natural response which is the same for all languages.
Although spelled differently the same and ...
6
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1answer
570 views
What's the difference between a “false cognate” and a “false friend”?
There are two terms used for pairs of words (in the same or different languages) that look similar but are actually unrelated: false friend and false cognate. Are these terms synonymous? If not, ...
4
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1answer
98 views
Why does German word “deuten” mean “to interpret”?
deuten
From Middle High German diuten, from Old High German diuten, from Proto-Germanic *þiudijanan.
Cognate with Dutch duiden, Icelandic þýða (“translate”), Swedish tyda, Danish tyde. Related ...
6
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0answers
125 views
Etymology of the word “sport”
I wonder what is the etymology of the word sport.
Vasmer says that it is from disport "amusement", a contraction from Middle English disporten from Old French desporter "to take away", "to distract ...
9
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1answer
147 views
Connection between right (opposite of left) and right (legal term)?
Does anyone know of a connection, or some sort of established historical/etymological explanation why in a few languages, "the opposite of left" and "legal term" are the same or seemingly related ...
7
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203 views
Did Georgian ever have a native word for “dolphin”?
During my time in Georgia one word came to puzzle me and I'm still thinking about it:
დელფინი (delp'ini) "dolphin"
Wiktionary says this comes from Greek via Russian.
The thing is Georgia is on ...
2
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0answers
68 views
What word is reconstructed for nephew in PIE, *ne-pot-s or *nepo-tēr?
In one source I saw a claim that the word is derived from ne- negation and a root pot- meaning "lord". This means the person was not adult yet.
Despite this, Starostin in his Starling gives the form ...
2
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0answers
65 views
Are euphemisms more likely to be translated when imported into another language?
When euphemisms enter another language, are the words making up the euphemism more likely to be translated to that language compared to non-euphemisms? I suspect that people translate words in the ...
6
votes
2answers
284 views
Hebrew “shemen” versus Latin “semen”
Is the etymology of the word "semen" (eng. "seed") in Latin connected to the hebrew word שֶׁמֶן "shemen" (eng. "ointment")?
I've just read a peculiar article that attempted to make this connection:
...
3
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1answer
112 views
Any etymological link between German/Romanian/Greek Zigeuner/țigan/τσιγγάνος and Scandinavian tigga?
I suppose German Zigeuner and Romanian ţigan (gypsy) share a common etymology from Greek τσιγγάνος. I wonder if Swedish tigga, which means to beg and looks/sounds quite similar to ţigan, has an ...
5
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2answers
151 views
What are the origins of the word Hebrew?
I have read that this word may derive from an Egyptian decree issued by Pharoah Merueptah (1224 which referred to the hebrew word 'habitu' (type of slave) who carry stones for the great pylon of the ...
3
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2answers
171 views
How is the word for “son” reconstructed in PIE?
How is son reconstructed in PIE, soŭnus or seŭnus?
Starostin gives contradictory accounts: in Indo-European etymology page he gives the first variant, but on a page for Eurasiatic etymology he gives ...
10
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3answers
1k views
The Origin of the Word 'God'
I originally posted this a while ago on my blog, but someone recently suggested that I pose it as a question here.
A brief Wikipedia search on the origin of the word ‘god’ reveals the following:
...
9
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1answer
202 views
French Numbering System - Eighty to Ninety-Nine
Why does French use the format "4 x 20 + n" (n = 0 to 19) for numbers from eighty to ninety-nine?
3
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1answer
309 views
No etymology for “dad”?
It seems that the word "mom" derives from "mamm-", Latin for breast. I have actually heard it told that the Latin root "mamm-" derives from the baby's first natural sounds, though I cannot attribute ...
2
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1answer
318 views
List of English words that came from specific words in Latin [closed]
Most English words can be traced to their Latin, Greek, or other roots in any common dictionary. However, is there a Latin-to-English counterpart that would list current English words that are derived ...
