Our Word for Wednesday theme for January is colours. The word colour entered English via Old French and comes from the Latin ‘color’, from the Old Latin ‘colos’ meaning ‘a covering’, from the PIE root ‘kel-’ meaning ‘to conceal’. The word has been used in reference to skin colour since the early-thirteenth century and in reference to pigments and dye since the fourteenth century. The spelling colour became the common English spelling from the fourteenth century, but a classical correction made color an alternative from the fifteenth century. Color&nbs...
The recent wonderful rainbows have made us wonder – where do we get our names for the colours from? The word ‘rainbow’ originates from the Old English ‘renboga’ – ‘regn’ meaning ‘rain’ and ‘boga’ meaning ‘bow’. Imagine the arch shape an arrow might make when flying through the air, or the way your body curves when you bow down – both meanings of ‘bow’ descend from the Proto-Germanic ‘bugan’. Another Old English word for rainbow is ‘scurboga’ meaning ‘shower bow’. Like ‘rainbow’, ‘red’ also comes from Proto Germanic roots. The ...
Last week we shared the first half of our twenty English words of Indian origin – click here to read it. Because Sanskrit is such an old language, Sanskrit words have entered the English language in a variety of ways. Some are direct loanwords, while others have travelled across the world, evolving as they move from language to language, before finally being adopted into English. This week we’re going to take a look at ten more words – scroll down to find out more! Dinghy "a small boat of shallow draft, with cross thwarts for seats and rowlocks for oars with which it is propelled" The Hindi word ‘dingi’ means ‘small boat’. ...
Over the next two posts, we’re going to take a look at twenty English words which originate from Indian languages. Sanskrit words have entered the English language in a variety of ways. Some are direct loanwords, while others have travelled across the world, evolving as they move from language to language, before finally being adopted into English. Scroll down to find out more! Aubergine “egg-shaped vegetable having a shiny skin typically dark purple, but occasionally white or yellow” This word is originally from the Sanskrit ‘vatigagama’, and entered English via the Persian ‘badin-gam’, the Arabic ‘alberginera’, the French ...
Having woken up to a bout of spectacularly apocalyptic weather this morning which has continued for the whole of the day, I felt moved to explore the etymologies of what are widely known as the four ‘Classical Elements’: terra, aqua, aer and ignis (earth, water, air and fire). ‘Earth’ comes from the Old English 'eorþe' meaning dry land, and by the time this word was widely used around 1000 years ago it had already began to refer to the earth in the wider, terrestrial sense. The word ‘Water’ as we know it comes from the proto-Germanic 'watar', meaning just that. Etymology Online suggests that Proto Indo European (PIE) had two stems for the word water. The most interesting of those can st...
For a moment, let’s venture into the mysterious and umbral realms of slumber. Daydreams, nightmares, fantasies, imagination… What do these words mean to you? To me they conjure a very distinct mood or state of mind: clouded, shadowy and often obscure… yet seemingly… real. The word dream encompasses a diverse set of definitions. While a dream could merely refer to a hope, desire or wish for the future – we also attribute the word to the boundless unpredictability of our mind during sleep. Over the centuries, the word dream has become more and more inclined towards the non-existent, the fantastical and spiritual. Many people attempt to interpret and...
In this week’s blog, I’ve decided to celebrate a game that, embarrassingly, is new to me this summer. I mean, I’ve been around almost two decades and have still only played it twice – winning once and losing once. Admittedly, my victory was against an eleven-year-old child, who, to be honest, probably let me win. The game is a classic case of ‘simple to learn, difficult to master’. In fact, the world tournament dishes out prizes of between one and two million dollars annually. Of course I’m referring to one of the world’s most popular and intricate games: Chess. Chess has been around since the 6th century but the modern rules first evolve...
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