2004: 24-Letter Typewriters Jun 10, 2020
Printing press, often designed in the Holy Roman Empire, led to the permanent loss of several letters in English, and so did the typewriter, but only temporarily. In early US typewriters, there were only 24 keys for the letters, though of course the alphabet has 26 letters. The way this was done was a doubling up of the letters I and O with the numbers 1 and 0.
Check out the new video.
Support on Patreon.com/wordfacts
2003: Gender for a 'god' Jun 9, 2020
Although lots of Indo-European languages have separate words for a 'god', in some cases at least there was a shift as Europe Christianized. For instance, while English does not display grammatical gender (except in pronouns), Old English did. In Old English, the gender for the word for 'G-d' was originally neuter when the culture was paganistic (just 'god' in Old English) but changed to the masculine to reflect the change in religion.
Check out the new video.
Support on Patreon.com/wordfacts
2002: Pluralization of Hair: English vs. German Jun 8, 2020
Although we may think of grammar as being strictly linguistic, but there are a few things that are cultural. For instance, when referring to a collective head of hair in English, one would use the singular with no article: "she has purple hair"; in German however, it is usual to use the plural "Sie hat lila Haare" (lit. "she has purple hairs"). Of course, in general, this is how one would use the plural in English, e.g. "he has purple dogs/clothes/pens".
For the latest Word Facts video, watch on Youtube, or on the Website.
2001: Replying After a Sneeze Jun 7, 2020
Sneezing is universal, but what's done after is (s)not. In much of the anglophone world, "G-d bless you" after a sneeze is common, but considering this is not done for other things like coughing, it might just seem like a cultural quirk. It is, however, credited to St. Gregory the Great in the early 7th century, though that said, the non-Christian Romans also had a virtually equivalent phrase, 'absit omen' (evil be gone!); the ancient Greeks had a similar custom.
Check out the newest patreon post or the Word Facts store.
2000: A Desert Called Sandy Jun 6, 2020
This is post #2,000. You can now wear, drink, or otherwise stick your excitement with Word Facts merchandise!
A desert in Australia is creatively named the Great Sandy Desert, though this is not even the biggest on the continent. Indeed, this is also not the only Great Sandy Desert, as there is also one in Oregon, USA, though this is often also called High Desert. In the case of Australia, there were other names given as well including Western Desert or Canning Desert, both on account of its location, but as can be discerned from the continued use of the nearby Lake Disappointment, a salt lake with no fresh water, Australia doesn’t mind blunt names.
1999: Why Decreasing ≠ Ironing Jun 5, 2020
Tomorrow will be post #2,000. Subscribe for a special announcement tomorrow.
Based off the words ‘increase’ or ‘decrease’, there is an evident stem *‘crease’, but this has no relation to the verb 'crease', as in a fold; if this were true, then decreasing would only be to remove wrinkles through ironing. It is taken to be that ‘crease’ comes from ‘crest’ since both of these are from folding clothing, but even that appears to have a separate relation, as it initially referred to the top part of a helmet. Keep in mind however, that it comes from the Latin ‘crista’ meaning ‘plumage’, still used in zoology, and that the process of creasing cloth was used to crease the sense that these crests were like hair. This is why increase/decrease are so different, those coming from the Latin ‘crescere’ (to grow).
Support Word Facts on patreon.com/wordfacts
1998: How to Clarify When Niece Means Granddaughter Jun 4, 2020
As mentioned yesterday, the words for 'granddaughter' and 'niece' (also with the masculine) are the same in many languages [1], historically and in modern times. However, as this can lead to confusion, other words have come around including the Old English broðordoh̩ter (brother's daughter). This is how the words for nephew and niece can be related from languages from Ireland (OI 'necht') to India (Sanskrit 'naptih'), but exist along other synonyms along the way.
Support Word Facts on patreon.com/wordfacts
1997: Why 'Niece' and 'Nephew Sound so Different Jun 3, 2020
In a family, nieces and nephews have to be related, but the terms for something quite basic and personal in its meaning look very different to one another. In many forms of Indo-European languages, it is the same word for 'grandson' as it is for 'nephew', basically just denoting a younger non-child relative. There are approximated roots of *néptih for women and *népōts for men; you might notice that looks like 'nepotism' and that would be a correct assumption. Even in Middle English, these words looked more similar, with the masculine 'neve' and the feminine 'nift', and the main difference today is because English went on to adopt the dialectal French 'nevu' (nephew) and 'nece' (niece), which are ultimately from the same Indo-European roots, but in the case of 'niece', the [s] sound assimilated from a [t], as in the German 'Nichte'. While many forms today do indeed look different, that is a fairly common process for older and somewhat culturally specific words to really morph over time.
Support Word Facts on patreon.com/wordfacts
1996: cesspool Jun 2, 2020
A cesspool is not a pool of 'cess', though in Irish it is another term for taxes, and no one likes those either. Rather, looking at its older form 'suspiral', which denoted an air vent or water pipe, this is all derived from the Old French 'souspirail' from the Latin 'sub-' (‘from below’) and 'spirare' meaning ‘to breathe’. However, by at least the 17th century, the spelling had changed with association to the word 'pool', and 'cess' took on a meaning of its own, probably related to sewage, as can be seen also in 'cesspit'. Moreover, since it denotes an underground container for sewage, it has lost the relation to air anyway.
Support Word Facts on patreon.com/wordfacts
1995: The Missing T in Tyranny Jun 1, 2020
English has a lot of words where an affix will change the original stem, like conservative-conservatism, dropping the terminal-V, or exclude-exclusion, losing the final-D. Nevertheless, this is not the case with tyrant-tyranny, where apparently the final-T is missing. Actually, that T was added in Old French, probably with association with the participial ending -ant, though of course 'tyrant' isn't one. The original Greek τύραννος (tyrannos) does not have one, and would just be rendered 'tyran' in English.
Support Word facts on patreon.com/wordfacts
1994: Latin Sound Shifts in Modern English May 31, 2020
Sound shifts are not always a quick process, but looking back over time the contrasts can be quite stark. Even looking within English, the proof of Latin shifts is apparent; both the term 'corpus' and its collective plural 'corpora' are used in Modern English, and are evidence for a broader shift that happened in Latin that [s] between two vowels because a trilled [r]. Earlier, the term 'corposa' was used instead. This is not the only change that happened in Latin that carried over into English either.
Support Word Facts on patreon.com/wordfacts
1993: French Places and Gallic Tribes May 30, 2020
Just 1 week until post #2,000 so stay tuned for a new video and special announcement then.
While we think of the celtic Gauls and the modern (linguistically) romantic French, there are certain ways in which the legacy was continued. Many places in France retain historic tribal names in the place names, such as Gergovie in Auvergne, which at the time of Vercingetorix was the capital for the Gauls, named 'Gergovia', inhabited by the Arverni. This is true for the Turones of modern Tours, the Cadurci from Quercy, the Vellavi from Le Puy-en-Velay, and of course the Senones and the Parisii around modern Paris in the river Seine, and many, many more. Indeed, while the Romans utterly crushed these Gauls (somewhere in the realm of 2-3 million directly killed or displaced, with more indirectly so) but the legacy was not totally removed.
Support Word Facts on patreon.com/wordfacts
1992: The Sun in Peruvian Currency May 29, 2020
In 1991, Peru renamed its currency 'nuevo sol' (new Sun) because its hyperinflation rates were sky-high. Well not really, and actually, the Sun has always played a role in the currency names since 1863, though granted those have just been Peruvian Sol, Inti from 1985 (represented I/), and new Sol in 1991 (represented S/), both changed due to hyperinflation. The name Inti comes from the name of the Incan Sun god. Indeed, this is not the only unit named for the Sun, as there was also the medieval French coin 'sou'.
Support Word Facts with 1 new Sol, or 1 billion old Soles (equivalent value) on patreon.com/wordfacts
1991: ℞ or Rx? May 28, 2020
The symbols for drugs is ℞ but this is often written as Rx. Either way, none of the words 'drug', 'pharmacy' or 'perscription' start with R nor especially end in X. This is because the abbreviated word—while it exists today in English—is from the Latin 'recipe'. It should be noted, however, that 'recipe' in Latin does not refer to cooking or baking as it does in English now, but was a verb meaning 'take!' or 'recieve!' (as an imperative). The X is just because of the symbol having a slash, like many currency symbols.
Support Word Facts on patreon.com/wordfacts
1990: The Curious Second Letters in Oz. and No. May 27, 2020
Not all abbreviations or symbols make sense, especially when some (or even all) of the shortened version has extra letters. For instance, ounce and number are abbreviated Oz. and No. respectively, but in neither case is the last letter of the abbreviation in the word it's supposed to abbreviate. This is because they aren't abbreviating English; Oz. is from the Italian 'onza', and No. is from the Latin 'Numero', though they mean the same things.
Support Word Facts on patreon.com/wordfacts
1989: Frankokratia: Not in France May 26, 2020
The fact that the original Franks spoke a Germanic language and not French despite modern France deriving its name from this is jarring, but there perhaps even more confusing is Frankokratia, a territory carved out of the former Byzantine Empire where people spoke Greek. Now, to be clear, this was the official name, along with Venetokratia in modern-day Greece, but both of these places were territories gained in crusades, and means 'Rule of the Franks' or '...of the Venetians' respectively. This area was often referred to collectively as Latinokratia or 'rule of the Latins', around Constantinople. Some minor territories in this area were controlled by Venice into the 19th century but never by France directly, despite the name.
Support Word Facts on patreon.com/wordfacts
1988: Pound Signs: Both £ and # May 25, 2020
Both the £ and # symbols are known as pound signs, but not for the same things; the former is for the currency and the latter is for the weight. Still, despite their apparent vision they actually come from the same abbreviation. Both come as a quicker way to write the letters lb., themselves short for the Latin 'libra' meaning 'pound [weight]' or 'scale'. The use of # as a number sign only came about from computer coding.
Send your pounds, sterling or precious metal, to Word Facts on patreon.com/wordfacts to support this blog.
1987: Typo in Australia's Legal Tender May 24, 2020
The Australian government printed its $50 bill from 2018, 46 million times with a typo in it. Part of the reason is that it took several months past the printing to catch the error since it was in microprint, as an anti-counterfeit (or if you will, simply 'feit') precaution. That is, there is an excerpt from an Edith Cowen speech which is printed in letters too small to read with the naked eye using the spelling 'responsibilty', lacking the i in '-ity'. This was not noticed until several months after the printing, and is still legal tender.
Send Word Facts your government's correctly printed money at patreon.com/wordfacts
1986: Germanic Terms of Affinity: Why Father-In-Laws are so Difficult May 23, 2020
In 2 weeks, there will be a surprise announced to commemorate the 2,000th post. Mark your calendars
In German, as in English there is a combining form to indicate relation through marriage, as in '-in-law', or in German 'schwieger-', though on its own it will imply 'mother-in-law'. So for any given relation, one can simply add this form as with 'son-in-law' or 'Schwiegersohn', but in this case exclusively 'son-in-law' can be replaced with the less common but still acceptable 'Eidam' in German. This is the same in Yiddish, but the Yiddish for 'daughter-in-law', or שנור (shnur) is a cognate with the German dialectal form 'Schnur' meaning 'sister-in-law' instead, though more often it just means 'cord'. Indeed, Yiddish does not use the formulas like Standard German or English, and has separate words for each relative, including שוויגער (shviger) for 'mother-in-law', and שווער (shver) for 'father-in-law', which is also the same word as the adjective meaning 'difficult'.
Support Word Facts on Patreon.com/wordfacts
1985: Bad Loans: Yiddish to English May 22, 2020
Just because a word is adopted from another language, doesn't mean at all that the original meaning is kept. For instance, many Yiddish word in English, like 'chutzpah', 'glitch', and 'mentsh' have different meanings, often by a degree of intensity. 'Chutzpah' in English is positive, being synonymous with 'moxie' and conveying toughness, but in Yiddish חצפה means 'insolence' or 'audacity'. Likewise, 'mentsh' (מענטש) in English refers to a great, upstanding person, but in Yiddish merely means 'person' in a very generic sense. 'Glitch' is a little different too, but partly because it often is used to refer to technological issues which would not have possibly existed when the word, glitsh (גליטש), meaning 'slip', was adopted into English.
This has been talked about with regard to Spanish in Tagalog
Support Word Facts on patreon.com/wordfacts