#wordorigins — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #wordorigins, aggregated by home.social.
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Broadway / off-Broadway / off-off-Broadway / Obie
https://www.wordorigins.org/big-list-entries/broadway-off-broadway-off-off-broadway-obie?rq=broadway
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Words the Weather Gave Us by Grace Tierney (ARC review)
In one of his books (can’t remember which one) French polymath philosopher Michel Serres makes a big deal of the fact that in French, the same word – temps – means both weather and time. He makes the point, in his gnomish way, that since weather is a chaotic system, then time is too. Time is not a straight line, but fractal and folded. Or, as William Faulkner put it, The past is never dead. It’s not even past.
Serres might have been interested to know that, according to etymologist Grace Tierney, the word temperature in English comes not from the Latin temporalis (denoting time), but from that language’s temperatura, “which is linked to the idea of mixing in the correct proportions and restraining passions”. It wasn’t until the 1670s that it was first used in connection with measuring heat/cold and it was the 1820s when it was applied to discussions about the weather. So maybe temps in French comes from temporalis, while temps comes from temperatura. LOL.
Such are the pleasures of Tierney’s forthcoming Words the Weather Gave Us, the latest in a series of books about language and word origins, which include Words The Vikings Gave Us and Words the Sea Gave Us.
But who are we? We are the people of the stormy North Atlantic, from Newfoundland to Scandinavia. The author herself is based in Ireland, but she writes about that magpie language, English, which steals and absorbs words and phrases from all over the world. We are a people notorious for talking about the weather, so this subject has rich pickings.
Lovely words, for example, like petrichor; dreich; and (one that kept occurring to me over this breezy summer) zephyr. Or interesting phrases, like faffing about, or enough to make a sailor a pair of pants.
When it comes to idiom, English is endlessly inventive, and (as a seafaring nation), we all speak sailor quite a lot of the time. The Shipping Forecast is a national institution, after all, as well as a sleep aid.
If you love words, you’ll find this an enjoyable and entertaining read and a great stocking filler. (I expect there’ll be information on that phrase in Words Christmas Gave Us.) Read more on Grace Tierney’s blog.
#english #Etymology #GraceTierney #language #wordOrigins #Words -
mayonnaise: the food of my people
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booty / booty call (not to be confused with "butt dial")
https://www.wordorigins.org/big-list-entries/booty-bootycall
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lorem ipsum...
Ironically, this editorial placeholder text is rife with (intentional) typos
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hokey / hokey pokey
This is what it’s all about
https://www.wordorigins.org/big-list-entries/hokey-hokey-pokey
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Shorts 296: Is it Disrespectful to Call You The Runt of the Litter?
Absurd humour from Into Your Head podcast - IntoYourHead dot ie. #runt #animalbehavior #dinosaurs #twins #wordorigins #funnythoughs #humour ##absurd #madcap
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uncanny valley: From Sigmund Freud to Japanese robots to Hollywood
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"The word ghos-ti- was thus the central expression of the guest-host relationship, a mutual exchange relationship highly important to ancient #IndoEuropean society. A guest-friendship was a bond of trust between two people that was accompanied by ritualized gift-giving and created an obligation of mutual hospitality and friendship that, once established, could continue in perpetuity and be renewed years later by the same parties or their descendants. [Calvert Watkins, 'American Heritage Dictionary of Indo-European Roots"]' "
#Ghosti #Ghost #Guest #Host #WordOrigins #HospitalityLaws
#Hospitality #WelcomeImmigrants #ProtoIndoeuropean #PIE -
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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The word "book" comes from the Old English "bōc," which is related to "beech" since beech wood tablets were once used for writing. Language history is hiding in plain sight in everyday words! #BookFacts #WordOrigins