etymology

How did the Oceans Get their Names?

Niall O'Donnell 16 Comments

Quite simply, in the case of the Pacific at least.

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Alright or All Right?

Niall O'Donnell 6 Comments

You may have thought yesterday, when reading about the word almost, that there are a few other similarly-constructed words in English. There’s already, alright, and altogether, all of which are really just all + ready/right/together. And often you can replace the single word with all + together etc. Not always though…

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Almost…Almost…!!

Niall O'Donnell 4 Comments

While searching for a bathroom in a hospital in Liège this morning (I’m OK, I was donating blood, and I’m writing this on Friday afternoon, so I’m not in Cologne yet), I began to become slightly concerned, as one was hard to find, and I really needed to go. I began to think I’d have to ask someone for directions, and as I do when I know in advance what I’ll need to say in a certain situation, I quickly went through what I’d say in French:

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Shall we Repair to the Drawing Room?

Niall O'Donnell 15 Comments

I think about words quite a lot (you may not be surprised). I had an interesting example of this last night.

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Pandemonium!

Niall O'Donnell 10 Comments

I passed a poster for an event called Pandemonium this morning (I’m not sure what the event was, so I guess it’s not a very effective poster). That’s not a word I’ve given much attention to in the past, I thought, but looking at it now, does it mean what I think it means?

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What do a Chauffeur and Dracula Have in Common?

Niall O'Donnell 8 Comments

Stokers, that’s what. Let me explain…

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Is this a Dagger which I See Before me?

Niall O'Donnell 8 Comments

I was thinking about the word forearm yesterday, as I’m sure most of us do in our more pensive moments on a Tuesday evening. I thought about how easy it is to figure out its meaning by looking at the makeup of the word. Fore means front or forward (fore+ward), as we can see in words and phrases like at the forefront, foremost, to the fore, and forehead. And arm means arm.

And then I considered that the word before must also be related to these words. But that didn’t feel quite right… Continue reading →