Historical Linguistics

The Dutch Door: Japan’s Hidden Language Bridge

For over two centuries, Japan was sealed from the world. Yet, on the tiny island of Dejima, a single language—Dutch—became…

3 weeks ago

When Did “Hello” Become the Standard Greeting?

"Hello" is so common we rarely question its origin, but it wasn't always our go-to greeting. This now-ubiquitous word exploded…

3 weeks ago

Ghost Words: The Dictionary’s Phantoms

What if a word in the dictionary never actually existed? These lexical phantoms, known as "ghost words", are born from…

3 weeks ago

Russenorsk: The Lost Arctic Pidgin

For 150 years, Russian fishermen and Norwegian merchants in the Arctic communicated in a unique pidgin language: Russenorsk. This fascinating…

3 weeks ago

Clay, Papyrus, Vellum: How Writing Surfaces Shaped Language

Before keyboards or even paper, the very material a scribe wrote on dictated our linguistic conventions. From the wedge-shaped efficiency…

3 weeks ago

When ‘Awful’ Meant ‘Worthy’: The Journey of Good Words

Ever wonder how a word like 'nice', which once meant 'silly' or 'ignorant', became a staple of pleasantries? This fascinating…

3 weeks ago

Digging for Words: Linguistic Paleontology

How can we know what prehistoric people talked about without any written records? The answer lies in linguistic paleontology, a…

3 weeks ago

The Sound of a Merger: Spain’s ‘Y’ vs ‘LL’

Explore "yeísmo", the fascinating linguistic phenomenon where the Spanish 'll' and 'y' sounds have merged into one. This post delves…

3 weeks ago

The Spanish That Crossed the Atlantic

Ever wonder why Spanish in Mexico sounds so different from Spanish in Madrid? The story begins not in the capital,…

3 weeks ago

The Lisp That Isn’t a Lisp: Spain’s Seseo

Ever wondered why some Spanish speakers seem to have a lisp when they pronounce 'c' or 'z'? It's not a…

3 weeks ago

This website uses cookies.