RE: https://meow.social/@Wolf_Baginski/116696509575814767

Speaking of BEOWULF, Maria D. Headley's translation is my favorite. Her opener:

"Bro! Tell me we still know how to speak of kings!"

😄

ICYMI, the name "Beowulf" ultimately derives from Proto-Indo-European words that could mean "Danger in the Growing" or "Evil in the Becoming."

#Beowulf
#etymology
#linguistics
#ProtoIndoEuropean
#HittiteLanguage

TIL: "Just deserts" is actually the correct or original form of the phrase.

Deserts here is the plural of desert, meaning “that which one deserves”. Desert is now rarely used outside this phrase, where it is a fossil word, except as a technical term in philosophy. ... The spelling just desserts is an eggcorn.

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/just_deserts #etymology

Spoiler: Lorem ipsum IS real Latin. It's from an unremarkable book by Cicero weighing the moral differences of various philosophies.

It made it to computers via rub on lettering sold in the 60s. (Remember I was talking about rub on lettering some weeks ago?)

I'm still on the part where they're trying to figure out how it got to rub-on lettering.

#etymology #WordNerd

Deep investigative research into the source of lorem ipsum.

Whatever history you read online is false. This is the first real deep dive into the origin. She brought receipts.

https://youtu.be/kL1PDqzqhM4

#etymology #WordNerd

#TIL that the word "scaffold" arrived in English via the Old French "eschafault" (and various other spellings), which came from the Vulgar Latin "catafalcum," meaning "viewing stage." Most likely, that which was being viewed was an execution. 😳🫤

#etymology
#English
#OldFrench
#VulgarLatin
#ILoveLanguage

@bluejay @AkaSci

I would go further and just call it wrong. Two full moons in a month isn't terribly uncommon, the opposite of the meaning of "blue moon" which is of a very rare occurrence.

The folk etymology has the "rareness" derive from the not-very-rare double full moons, which makes no sense. It's just wrong.

#Astronomy #Etymology

Counting sheep...

More maps on our blog:
https://mapologies.com/animals/

#animal #etymology #etymologymap #mapologies #map #sheep #ewe #ram

Alt...

etymology map of sheep

RE: https://mastodon.world/@paninid/116627180584898162

🤯 #TIL #etymology

@gwcoffey

The name Misr (Modern Arabic: Miṣr; Egyptian Arabic: Maṣr), now the country’s official endonym, comes via Biblical Hebrew Mitsrayim and older Semitic terms, originally meaning something like “the two straits” or “fortress / metropolis,” reflecting Upper and Lower Egypt.

#language #etymology

The English word cow is related to other Germanic words: Icelandic kýr and Swedish ko. These words are also connected to a surprising group of words across other Indo‑European branches thought to derive from a common Proto‑Indo‑European root, *gʷṓws, for example Irish bó, Latvian govs, and Armenian  կով (kov).

https://mapologies.com/animals/

#map #mapologies #etymology #etymologymap #language #lingusiticmap #languagemap #cartography #mapa #karte #lingustics #languages #learnlanguages #geography

Alt...

Etymology map of cow (bos taurus)

Last map has ants in its pants

https://mapologies.com/bugs/

#insects #map #mapologies #etymology #etymologymap #ant #ants #languagemap

Most European languages are united by a common thread: the word for ant. From the Galician formiga to the Romanian furnică, and from Greek μυρμήγκι (myrmígki) to Finnish muurahainen. Surprising, huh? We can find the traces of a single Proto-Indo-European ancestor: *mórwis.

Alt...

Etymology map of ant

OCTADE or OCTAD is a retro word that means either an octal digit of three bits, or an octal octet or an eight-bit byte. Thus an octade, depending on its historical use, is either 3 bits or 8 bits.

OCTADE was used to specify eight bits, as opposed to BYTE which is not necessarily eight bits as the word BYTE could signify any of several numbers of bits.

This yields the retro 1337 numbers of 38 and 83. The number 38 is one more than 37 so a bit more elite a bit cooler. Thus it owns cardinally shorter byterz.

83 mod 38 equals 7, the highest octal digit. 838 mod 383 equals 72 or 9 times 8 which is 8 squared plus 8.

8338 mod 3883 equals 572 which is 72 times 8 minus 4 or 71.5 times 8.

8383 mod 3838 equals 707 which is 88 times 8 plus 3.

I prefer the old word OCTADE to the word BYTE. OCTADE sports a Euro-peon dignity and gravitas like an Internet serf ready to surf the worknet like pwnd peons. This is very true when pronouncing OCTADE with a thick Pennsyltucky Dutch or Yinzer accent. The Bostonian pronunciation sounds like bad beginner German or muffled mumbling of 'lactate.'

OCTADE or OCTAD was also used to describe a poem of eight stanzas.

OCTADE was also used to describe a period of eight years, or two leap years.

OCTADECANAL is a pheromone found in butterflies. It is butterfly perfume. I would not wear butterfly cologne. But I would sell it. Who would buy and wear my snobby smell? With wordplay we can call it OCTADE CHANNEL No. 8 . All rights reserved, ye French odor snooties.

Historical references for use of 'octade' or 'octad':

Burroughs B5500 Information Processing Systems REFERENCE MANUAL
https://bitsavers.trailing-edge.com/pdf/burroughs/LargeSystems/B5000_5500_5700/1021326_B5500_RefMan_196705.pdf

Philips Data Systems Product Range - April 1971
https://www.vintage-calculators.nl/Philips%20productoverzicht%201971.pdf

Is there another name for octet that means 8 bits?
https://www.quora.com/Is-there-another-name-for-octet-that-means-8-bits

#octade #octad #binary #byte #jargon #etymology #bytemology #wordplay #wordgames #wordcrimes #history #retro #retronym #retronymous #yinzer #pennsyltucky #humor

@wordplay@lemmy.ml @Vocabulary@lemmy.ml

--

OCTADE | news://alt.flashback | https://soc.octade.net

#TIL that the word "banjax/ed" was most likely born in Dublin anywhere from 120-100 yrs ago and still enjoys regular usage in Ireland. Of course I defer to y'all over there if I'm mistaken.

Beyond its apparent Dublinesque origins, "banjax" has a nebulous #etymology. It might be synonymous with "bollocks." It might've been imported from India. It might've once meant "women's toilet" in Gaelic.

I've no idea where I first heard the word, but no matter--it needs more airtime!

#banjax
#linguistics

Day 5 of #30DayMapChallenge: Journey
The fruit #apricot 🍑 took an incredible journey around the Mediterranean: starting from #Latin, it traveled to #Greek, then made its way into #Arabic, was later adopted by #Catalan, and finally borrowed into #English. What a traveller!

https://mapologies.com/fruits/

#etymology #language #etymologymap #fruit #europe #map #persian #albercoc #aprikose #abricot #albicocca

Alt...

etymology map of apricot

#etymology fun: emergence and emergency are the same word; and "emergency exit" is redundant.

The #etymology of #Rabbit can be traced to dialectal Old #French rabotte, potentially linked to the verb to rub. In the rest of Europe, the term originates from two #Latin words: lepus and cuniculus. Despite these connections, none of these terms derive directly from Latin or Proto-Italic roots. Instead, they appear to have been borrowed from an unknown language or languages, likely originating from the #Iberian Peninsula, though much about this source remains a mystery.

https://mapologies.com/animals/

Alt...

Etymology map of rabbit

me: lots of our words have "pan" as their root word. Pangaea...pantonime...pandemic...panic....

him: yeah...panic is when you ick about everything

He's not wrong. 😆

#etymology
#linguistics
#HobbyLinguist

It only just occurred to me that the English and French words garage come from the French verb garer which also gives us the French word "gare" for train station (as in La Gare du Nord).

I have been staring at these words all my life. I have no idea why this decided to click tonight. (Except that I was thinking about the Italian word parcheggio.)

#English #French #Language #Etymology

Sometimes words come to mean different things due to exaggeration. A generation uses it exaggeratively until the next generation thinks that's always been the meaning of the word.

Similarly, words often come round to meaning the opposite of their original meaning. They're used sarcastically or in wry humor, until they flip all the way around, until everyone who used it the old way is dead.

I first noticed this with a word that happened in my lifetime. I originally thought "decadent" meant luxurious, because by the time I noticed it in use, it was in advertisements to sell ridiculously nice things.

But in the dictionary, the only meaning I could find had already deprecated by my early adulthood — I rarely see it used this way — it means "in a state of decay."

It came this be way because a rich person living a ridiculously luxurious lifestyle was said to be "decadent" in that they were wasting their wealth. So a red velvet cake, being worthy of such wealth-wasting, presented to the middle class, is "decadent." And that's mostly the only way I ever see it used.

"Nice" is one that changed long before I was born. Centuries ago, it meant "silly," or "stupid."

And in Miss Marple's England, apparently "dazzled" meant "I couldn't see because of a bright light." It still means this in the dictionary, but I've only seen it to mean something is sparkly. A kind of exaggeration in describing jewelry that has stuck. (Anyone remember the Bedazzler™?)

Etymology fascinates me because it carries the history of generational culture. It hurts me that meaning is lost once its context passes out of time.

As a GenXer I'm of an age to know this painfully well. 1990s culture is difficult for young people to understand, it seems. There was a lot going on in that zeitgeist that doesn't come through.

Yet for those willing to look at the history of a word, there's a story playing out, as the baton of existence is repeatedly passed to new minds. If it weren't for recordings and the printed word, it would be lost forever.

#etymology

#jouRapNal #book18 day 5

#3goodThings #friends #fun #fossilFuelFree #threeGoodThings

#etymology #cinema #fnaf #escooter

Alt...

20251218 (illustration of a kick escooter) got enough from an escooter sale to an Unc for a Neph to hopefully get the matching to my scooter so a kid & i can get to appointments this summer without fossil fuels if all goes well. Y&A heading to the cinema to see FNAF 2 with friends. Ma giggling gleefully while playing some fun game with friends. Alt Bonus: why are the words fried and friends so similar - both enjoyable but most friends are much healthier than fried foods. Perhaps the dipping in oil signifies the Royality that friends factor.

Spend any amount of time with a thesaurus looking at synonyms and antonyms, and you'll see just how many words and concept come 'round to mean their opposite, or can mean their opposite depending on context. I encounter these regularly.

(Looking at words related to tolerance / sensitivity / judgement / prudence / humility / tact right now. It gets confusing after awhile.)

#etymology

@deborahh polecats are the slightly more rigid cousins of catsnakes.

#etymology #pooptoot #words

@daedalus @futzle

This is why I love #etymology 😅

"Pieces of eight
Treasures filled with emptiness
Don't let them turn your heart to stone"
(Styx, 1978)

***

I _guess_ German THAL (TAL), meaning "valley", is cognate with Slavic ДОЛ (DOL), meaning "depression in terrain made by running water", and ДОЛИНА (DOLINA), meaning "valley", as well as with English DALE and DELL.

***

«Chances are you’ve never heard of the place.»
Myself, I had read about the place.
I think I even had read about the dark 20th century part of its history...

<https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20200107-welcome-to-jchymov-the-czech-town-that-invented-the-dollar>

#Etymology
#History
#Money
#Silver
#Uranium
#Valley
#WordHistory

The word "garlic" is one of the oldest ever words still in use, nearly unchanged from the original Proto-Indo European, meaning "spear onion," gar+leek.

[ok time for the edit of shame. My memory is no longer reliable. The "gar" bit goes back to PIE, but was a bit different (*ghaiso—), and the leek bit can't be shown to go back before proto-Germanic. It's still a very old word, but not as old as my brain fog.]

#etymology

"#TIL: High Seas" on thomasrigby.com
#TILvember #TILvember2025 #etymology
thomasrigby.com/posts/til-high-seas/

#TIL something about the word "parlous."

I already knew "parlous" as a form of the word "perilous" associated with English spoken in the western and mid-western USA. Most likely, I got that from Western films or maybe cartoons of Yosemite Sam & Bugs Bunny. Who knows. The phrase that sticks in my head is: "I'm parlous thirsty, ma'am."

But today, I learned that "parlous" was used in #MiddleEnglish, so possibly as far back as the 1100s! 😮 Def not the #OldWest!

#etymology
#language
#linguistics

@benroyce @chestas
Another holiday #etymology corruption I forgot to include:

"#Halloween" is a corruption of "All's Hallow Eve"... the day before "All Saint's Day" (Nov. 1st.) 😉

@chestas @benroyce
Another odd English corruption of words:

"Santa Claus" is simply a corruption of how a child pronounces "St. Nicholas".

"Say-Ni-Klus". 🙂 #etymology #trivia

Typed "I'm delighted" in a text to a friend -- and stopped short, looking at the word "delighted."

I used "delighted" to mean that I am pleased, joyful, content, happy.

But delighted. De-lighted.
Wouldn't that mean "darkened"? Illumination removed?

If "de-" indicates that "light" is removed, how does that jive with the emotions of pleased, happy, or content?

Looked up the #etymology.

And voilà.

"light" <-- leoht (#MiddleEnglish) <-- lēoht (#OldEnglish) <-- *leuhtą (#ProtoGermanic)

1/

@Alice cause "salad" originally meant anything chopped and sprinkled with salt long before it meant specifically lettuce, etc.

https://www.etymonline.com/word/salad

#etymology

Furthermore, ἀδελφός ultimately stems from a Proto-Indo-European word meaning "same womb."

So, #Philadelphia is The City of Love In the Same Womb.

That's kinda weird, βρά.

#AncientGreek
#ProtoIndoEuropean
#etymology
#linguistics
#awkward

Mastodon, rejoice! Unto us is revealed a new shibboleth for pedantic people:

https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/nuke

This reminds me of screw caps on wine bottles. They were never trashy - they were better than corks the whole time

#pedantry #etymology #smbc #smbccomics #englishpronunciation

@bakerjohnj Yes, I completely agree. One small detail, however... https://www.lexilogos.com/document/littre_etymologie.htm#Vilain #etymology #history

Alt...

Vilain La pathologie ici est une dégradation. Il y a dans la latinité un joli mot : c'est villa, qui a donné ville, mais qui signifie proprennent maison de campagne. De villa, le bas latin forma villanus, habitant d'une villa ou exploitation rurale. Ainsi introduit, vilain prit naturellement le sens d'homme des champs ; et, comme l'homme des champs était serf dans la période féodale, vilain s'opposa à gentilhomme et fut un synonyme de roturier. Mais, une fois engagé dans la voie des acceptions défavorables, vilain ne s'arrêta pas à ce premier degré, et il fut employé comme équivalent de déshonnête, de fâcheux, de sale, de méchant ; c'était une extension du sens de non noble. Puis il se spécialisa davantage, et de déshonnête en général devint un avare, un ladre en particulier. Enfin, des emplois moraux qu'il avait eus jusque-là, il passa à un emploi physique, celui de laid, de déplaisant à la vue. C'est ordinairement le contraire qui arrive : un sens concret devient abstrait, mais rien en cela n'est obligatoire pour les langues ; et elles savent fort bien que ces inversions ne dépassent pas leur puissance.

How is this possible?

The origin of the name of the U.S. state of #Oregon is unknown.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etymology_of_Oregon

#language #history #meaning #etymology