#etymology — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #etymology, aggregated by home.social.
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Doing a lot of reading of old sword-fighting manuals in preparation for the WIP I’ll start next week. So far I’ve learned:
1) Sir Richard Burton should just get a room with his sword instead of writing a 1000-page love letter to it
2) I always assumed “taking someone’s measure” came from tailoring, but it turns out Measure is a technical term in sword technique, so now I think the phrase’s origin might be from checking that you’re far enough away to not get stabbed.
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The word #revolution ultimately comes from Latin revolutio, “a rolling back” or “turning around,” from revolvere: re- (“back, again”) + volvere (“to roll, turn”).
Rolling things over is rarely bloodless.
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I could see myself taking on an insect photography hobby if I didn't already have too many hobbies. There are constant opportunities in this place at this time of year. An iPhone is not the best camera for this work, but sometimes it does ok!
I rescued this pregnant mantis from my wheelbarrow where she appeared miraculously unharmed after having a pile of dried weeds atop her.
After clinging to the stem I offered, she found herself in a much better place full of tall plants and insects. One even surprised us by being on the tansy where I placed her!
I wanted to capture how she was staring at it, but she turned to look at my phone when it moved into view.
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Surrounded by dragonflies today, trying to get a good picture while saying hi to the cat walking by when a hawk spirals above before moving on.
They were right about installing poles everywhere. There's a queue of dragonflies on this one. One takes off and another immediately takes her place.
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The surprisingly connected origins of "aviation" and "inaugurate".
#etymology #wordnerd #linguistics #HistoricalLinguistics #language #words #lingcomm #aviation #inaugurate #augur #wrightbrothers #NationalAviationDay
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Therefore, I submit the following as a synonym for "to totter":
TO TORKLE.
Example sentence: Courtney got up in the middle of the night and torkled blearily to the bathroom.
This actually happened last night, which is what brought on this wild language ride first thing this morning. You're welcome. 😁💜✌️🤘🖖
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#language
#etymology
#linguistics
#GermanLanguage
#EnglishLanguage
#Latin
#ILoveLanguage -
#TIL that the word "coach" rolled up into the English language from the Hungarian "Kocs," a town that became known in the 1400s for its "kocsi szekér": the cart of Kocs, a wheeled conveyance with steel spring suspension that spread across Europe.
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August 18th is #HeliumDiscoveryDay, so the #ConnectedAtBirth #etymology of the week is SUN/SOLAR/HELIUM #wotd #sun #solar #helium #eclipse
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uncanny valley: From Sigmund Freud to Japanese robots to Hollywood
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Hello, Oakley. Use whatever name you want.
Welcome aboard.
You may find this useful, if you don't already know about it.
Also, you can follow hashtags here. From your profile, #bugs #insects #etymology #tennessee #nature #neurodivergent might be useful. Follow the hashtags and you'll find the people. Follow the people and you'll find more people and more hashtags.
Also, follow @futurebird if you have any interest in ants.
Enjoy the ride.
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For another interesting journey involving #English and Java, see this post I wrote: https://humancode.us/2022/09/18/a-license-plate-sent-me-on
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#TodayILearned that the word “benzin”, used to mean “gasoline” or “petrol” in many languages around the world, came from the name of an aromatic gum from Java called “lubān jāwi” in Arabic (lit. “Javanese frankincense”). The word then traveled to medieval Catalan where it was rebracketed into “lo benjuí”. It then entered French as “benjoin”, and the rest is history. “Benzin” and other variants were used to name any number of things that produced a volatile or combustible vapor, including petroleum.
Interestingly, petroleum is called “bensin” in Java, and I never realized the term traveled around the world and returned full circle.
Video source: hxxps://www.facebook.com/reel/1709454410291684
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Been a while since I stirred shit.
I was blocked by another page on FB for pointing out the problem between bisexuals and pansexuals is just that most bisexuals (unknowingly) gaslight everyone on the etymology of the word. That's pretty much the entire real difference.
Explanation:
People take the Bisexual Manifesto as if it was the founding document of bisexuality, the manifest was from the 90s while bisexual was coined as a sexuality in the 1910s-20s.Times change and culture advances, something from the 1910s-20s is going to have cruft from the past. That doesn't mean it's bad or that those little bits are more accurate than today's usage... but pretending they're not there is gaslighting and most people see it as that.
And it's really hard to convince people to listen to you after you just gaslit them.
The reality is that the split between sex and gender, as well as the concept of non-binary genders didn't properly enter western culture until around the 70s or 80s. Prior to that sex and gender were seen as one and the same, and there was only two sexes (this doesn't mean nonbinary people didn't exist, but they had to struggle with the fact that they didn't have any good language for their identities)
Bisexual started as a scientific term meaning "both sexes" and got adopted as a term for sexuality in the 1910s-20s with the definition used being "attraction to both sexes". This doesn't mean they weren't attracted to trans or non-binary people, it only means they didn't have the language or common concepts for it yet.
In the 70s-80s when nonbinary started entering common western culture, the bisexual community split. One half decided to retcon the definition to be more accurate while still fitting the bi- prefix (I see two definitions commonly, either "two or more genders" or "same and other"). The other half decided that wasn't enough and changed the name they used to pansexual.
Ever since then the groups have basically been flinging shit at eachother trying to establish a difference in their identities. The Bisexual Manifest came out in the 90s, right in the thick of this.
And the shit slinging won't have any chance of stopping until bisexuals accept that the name was a product of it's time and the change in definition is just a matter of language improving to be more accurate.
Bisexuals were always an attraction regardless of gender, but when they were first defined as a group gender and sex weren't separated and there was only two recognized genders/sexes among the people using it.
#LGBTQ #LGBT #LGBTQIA #Bisexual #Pansexual #Etymology #Sociology
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The Spanish word negocio means #business.
It comes from a Latin word that has a really interesting #history.
The Latin word negotium was made from two smaller word parts:
• nec means “not”
• ōtium means “free time” or “relaxation”So when you put them together, negotium literally meant “not free time.”
It described what people did when they weren’t relaxing: the work, the duties, the jobs.
The business that kept people busy.
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Q: What Did Tolkien Mean When He Used ‘Swart’ And ‘Swarthy’ To Describe Elves And Men?
ANSWER: I have deferred answering this question because of my recent post about Andy Serkis. I received this question in September 2025 and as I process my queue of visitor-submitted questions it was coming up when Andy made waves in the news. I hope enough time has passed that people won’t mind my […]
https://middle-earth.xenite.org/what-did-tolkien-mean-when-he-used-swart-and-swarthy-to-describe-elves-and-men/ -
The surprisingly connected origins of "poison" and "beverage".
#etymology #wordnerd #linguistics #HistoricalLinguistics #language #words #lingcomm #poison #potion #beverage
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Today's #Etymology lesson (based on my response to someone's post). Did you know that the words #Ghost, #Guest and #Host have the same root? #Ghosti ! And it goes back to #ProtoIndoeuropean hospitality customs!
"*ghos-ti- Proto-Indo-European root meaning "stranger, guest, host," properly "someone with whom one has reciprocal duties of hospitality," representing "a mutual exchange relationship highly important to ancient Indo-European society" [Watkins]. "
https://www.etymonline.com/word/*ghos-ti-
#WordOrigins #HospitalityLaws #Hospitality #WelcomeImmigrants
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This has been bugging me for a while, because Dad used to say dinner, and I was confused when he meant lunch, and he'd say supper for dinner. Max Miller just brought it up talking about K-Rations so let's resolve this. Please comment on any regional or cultural/etymological details you know of pls! It may just come down to the fact there used to be four meals for farm workers causing all this confusion... breakfast, lunch, dinner, and finally supper. (?) #Culture #Etymology #Language
