etymology

Right to the Heart

Niall O'Donnell 11 Comments

Affairs of the heart are always complex; I think that goes without saying. The English language has a few words which demonstrate this complexity. Bittersweet is a fairly straightforward, literal one. Another similar word is poignant, meaning evoking a keen sadness and regret. Even that definition doesn’t quite convey all of its connotations, as it refers to a nostalgic, gentle kind of sadness. It’s not exactly positive, but it’s a soft, contemplative type of sadness. Continue reading →

And That’s the Tooth!

Niall O'Donnell 4 Comments

I had some dental work recently, and that got me thinking about the apparently strange names we give to our teeth in English. Continue reading →

Ban

Niall O'Donnell 14 Comments

I suppose I should answer the question I started with yesterday: When is a ban not a ban?

The answer of course, is: when it’s not a ban. Continue reading →

Ill-Starred

Niall O'Donnell 7 Comments

The stars have always been important to us. When our first ancestors first noticed that those strange lights in the sky moved gradually over time, they tried to find explanations for this phenomenon. Perhaps these movements were linked to seasonal changes, and unpredictable, calamitous events. Perhaps they were gods, or great creatures like bears and crabs, manipulating events here on Earth. Continue reading →

“Boy, those Germans have a word for everything!”

Niall O'Donnell 25 Comments

I’ve often written about how modern English owes so much to old Germanic languages. These connections aren’t always evident though. Words evolve over time and drift away from their origins. Plus, a lot of what English gained from these languages and proto-languages is not easy to see on the surface. Syntax, grammar, and compound-noun formation are not as easy to recognise as individual words. Which is why Latin-based languages can seem superficially more similar to English, with many words sharing similar etymologies to English ones (though the English ones tend to be more formal).

The result of this is that there don’t appear to be too many words shared between modern German and English. There are a few however, and in honour of English’s origins in Germanic languages, I’m going to look at the German words that we use in English: Continue reading →

WTF!?

Niall O'Donnell 18 Comments

The F word.

F***

F**k

F*ck

To give you fair warning, if you’re of a sensitive nature regarding swearing, that I’m going to type the full word in a few lines. And a few more times after that. You may want to give this one a miss. Continue reading →

What’s in a Name? Part II

Niall O'Donnell 1 Comment

As it’s been a while since I did a post like this, and lately I’ve been thinking about some interesting names, I decided that once more I wanted to look at the meaning and origins of some common English-language names. So then…

… what’s in a name?

Continue reading →