Historical Linguistics

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 months 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 months 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 months 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 months 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 months ago

The Ghost in the Word: Cranberry Morphemes

What do the "cran" in cranberry and the "luke" in lukewarm have in common? They are "cranberry morphemes"—fossilized word parts…

3 months ago

The Janus Word: Unpacking Auto-Antonyms

Ever been told to *dust* a cake right after you finished *dusting* the furniture? Welcome to the paradoxical world of…

3 months ago

The Great Consonant Shift of Romance Languages

Why does the Latin word for 'one hundred' (centum, 'kentum') sound so different in Italian (cento), French (cent), and Spanish…

3 months ago

Sardinian: The Living Echo of Latin

Often called the most conservative Romance language, Sardinian is a true linguistic time capsule. Journey to this Mediterranean island to…

3 months ago

The Source of the Nasal Twinge in French & Portuguese

What gives French and Portuguese their characteristic nasal sound? It’s not just a funny way of saying 'n' or 'm'—it's…

3 months ago

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