Unanswered Questions
104 questions with no upvoted or accepted answers
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What is the etymology of Wanona (said to be the name of Kullervo's sister meaning "weeping")?
Tolkien coined the name Wanōna (also Welinōre, Wanōra, Oanōra) in his Story of Kullervo. It's totally possible they belong to Tolkien's constructed languages. But I think the etymology is still ...
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Resources for Indonesian/Austronesian etymology
I'm looking for online resources for Austronesian languages etymology.
KBBI doesn't provide any etymology, which is astonishing for such a notable and official dictionary.
The only source I've found ...
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Did the word circle come from the PIE word *kr-kr, which was said to be the Proto-Indo-European word for circular?
When I was reading on Wiktionary, I found something interesting. The word for circle was traced back to a Greek word which was said to be "of Pre-Greek origin". However, I read about the word carcer, ...
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Do we have an Intonation "etymology"?
Recently I was thinking about a language I'm currently learning and its similarities with my own native language. While I assume grammar to change considerably depending on language it came to mind ...
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Is the ellipsis behind 'such as' grammatically correct?
[OED] 7. a. With correlative as pron. (see AS conj. 17),
Middle English also as that, taking the place of Old English swelce, swá.
such as = Of the kind or degree that; the kind of (person or ...
CommunityBot
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'penance' vs 'penitence'
penance (n.) [←]
late 13c., "religious discipline or self-mortification as a token of repentance and as atonement for some sin," from Anglo-French penaunce, Old French peneance (12c.), from ...
CommunityBot
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'dispose' vs 'dispose of' & « disposer » vs « disposer de »
[Source:] [D1.] dispose (v.) - (a) to arrange in order; (b) to lean toward or incline (typically used as a past participle). ...
[D2.] dispose of (phrasal v.) - (a) to throw away or discard; (b) to ...
CommunityBot
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What is the origin and meaning of the word/name "Idora"? (Shortened)
I have been researching the word "Idora" for a couple years now in hopes of discovering the meaning as it applies to the defunct trolley park "Idora Park" formerly in Youngstown, Ohio.
"Idora Park" ...
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Etymology of Ancient Greek deictic -ī
In Ancient Greek, a deictic particle -ī can be attached to demonstratives to strengthen the "this here" meaning: e.g. houtos "this one", houtosī "this one right here". What is the origin of this -ī?
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Are the two Lao (and Isan) words for "to be", "ເປັນ" (pen) and "ແມ່ນ" (maen), etymologically related?
I've just learned that Lao has two words for "to be", that are mostly interchangeable:
ເປັນ (pen)
ແມ່ນ (maen)
They both begin with a labial, have an "e-like" vowel, and end "n".
I think it's pretty ...
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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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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 ...
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Origin of *dhvor-
Formerly as I remember I saw somewhere *dhvor- (door, gate, yard, court) connected with the root *vert- (turn) in PIE. This is quite realistic and can be supported with similar Russian words створка (...
CommunityBot
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What influenced the fact in almost all European languages the word human "man" means a male?
Why "werman" (OldEnglish man as male) became simply Man (human) and "wifman" (OldEnglish man as female) became woman?
Man in English (man, human)
Homme in French (man, human)
Mann ...
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Is Old Church Slavonic съпрѧтьнъ (sŭprętĭnŭ) descending from PIE *sprend-, *sprendʰ- *sper- (“to flinch; jump”)?
It has always intrigued me that the rather popular Romanian word sprinten (swift, fast, lively) seems very close semantically to English sprint.
The etymology of the English word is rather detailed on ...
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