Etymology

The Character with No Sound

Before it was the linchpin of your email address, the @ symbol was a character without a sound, a silent…

3 weeks ago

English Doublets: Words That Deceive

** Have you ever wondered why *shirt* and *skirt* sound so similar? They are "etymological doublets"—words from the same root…

3 weeks ago

Biography of a Word: The Journey of ‘Assassin’

Discover the dramatic history of the word 'assassin,' a term born from a mysterious medieval sect in the mountains of…

3 weeks ago

Glib, Glim, and Grunt: A Secret History of Thieves’ Cant, the Anti-Language of the Underworld

In the shadowy corners of Renaissance England, a secret language was born out of desperation and defiance. Known as Thieves'…

3 weeks ago

The Graveyard of Words: Who Decides When a Word Is Officially Dead?

For every new word that enters the dictionary, thousands of others fall into disuse and disappear into the graveyard of…

3 weeks ago

The Shape of Nothing: How the Invention of ‘Zero’ Was a Linguistic and Mathematical Revolution

The concept of zero is more than just a number; it’s a profound linguistic and philosophical idea that had to…

3 weeks ago

Reading the Landscape: How Forgotten Languages Are Fossilized in Place Names

What if the map on your wall was a Rosetta Stone, holding the key to forgotten languages and ancient migrations?…

3 weeks ago

The Euphemism Treadmill: Why We Can’t Stop Inventing New Words for Old Taboos

Ever wonder why we have a dozen words for the toilet? This is the "euphemism treadmill," a linguistic cycle where…

3 weeks ago

The Language of Salt: How a Single Commodity Carved Paths Across the Lexicon

Long before refrigeration, salt was a mineral so valuable that Roman soldiers were paid in it, giving us the word…

3 weeks ago

The Character with a Secret History: How a Roman Scribble Became the Ampersand

The ampersand (&) is more than a simple stand-in for "and"; it's a linguistic fossil with a secret history. This…

3 weeks ago

This website uses cookies.