Etymology - Blog Posts

I am obsessed and thus I am going to analyse the names of all of these eeveetwotions!! Props to the artist for being super cool and clever and genuinely setting my brain on fire :/

OKAY SO-

BOLTEON: Jolteon (Electric) + Steel: - The concept of STEEL BOLTS + BOLTS OF LIGHTNING MAKES BOLTEON JUST THE PERFECT NAME - Also steel is electrically conductive so it would WORK as a combo

Plus, the colour scheme combo of gold (ik it's yellow but close enough) and silver looks really good together.

SULFUREON: Flareon (Fire) + Poison: - SULPHUR GAS IS FUCKING POISONOUS!! AND sulphur is commonly associated with fire which just makes it such a cool link - The combo of purple and fire is also really giving volcanic vibes, which... also produce tons of sulphur AHHHH

- Also the black rock texture looks amazing!!

- Also, also I think using the "F" spelling of sulphur works so cutely here since it brings the design name closer to Flareon :) but I am a PH sulphur apologist until I die.

My only lil note here would be that sulphur burns blue, so that could have been incorporated #bluehellforthegays

AGUANEON: Vaporean (Water) + Dragon: - The shape of vaporeon with the tail structure blends extremely well with a dragon design (this works for the gills too)

- ALSO!! In spanish Agua = Water

BUT WAIT

- "Aguaneon" is also similar to "Iguana", which is a genus of reptiles AKA WHAT DRAGONS WOULD ALSO BE CONSIDERED TO BE

WHICH IS SO FUCKING CLEVER

Again, colours of the types work well together, plus I love the juxtaposition of the idea that maybe instead of breathing fire this dragon type would breathe water lol (which gills would help with ig hehe)

EPHEREON: Espeon (Psychic) + Ghost: - The new name is very similar to the original name, and we love consistency and theming in this town

- EPHEMERAL = FLEETING (yanno, like a ghost would be)(using my miraculous knowledge here

- The name also is vaguely close to Ethereal (pronunciation and structure wise) which is also linked to supernatural stuff!!

- Not the mention the fact that Psychic and Ghost are already both supernatural types, and thus work really well together naturally. - ALSO AGAIN look at that colour schemeee, Ephereon be looking like a dark high priestess I would totally sell my soul to

OBSIDEON: Umbreon (Dark) + Fighting: - Red and black go excellently together as fighting colours, especially the way the artist has designed the pokemon to look like a ninja

- The bandages (associated with exercise and boxing/exertion etc.) really bring the colour palette together

- Obsidian is a black, dark mineral, that is also very tough (obviously, since you need a diamond pickaxe to get through it) so OF COURSE Obsideon is the perfect name for a tough, dark pokemon.

SYLPHEON: Sylveon (Fairy) + Flying: - Not very different from the original spelling however the subtlety of this one is what I think makes it for me. - So Sylveon + Seraph = Sylpheon A SERAPH IS A CELESTIAL BEING NOTICE HOW SHE HAS A HALO AROUND HER HEAD AND LOWKEY LOOKS LIKE A PEGASUS (FLYING HORSE) - LIKE MAGICAL UNICORN ANGEL ESSENTIALLY, which works so perfectly for a flying fairy type!!!

LEPIDEON: Leafeon (Grass) + Bug: - Conceptually, this is such a good blend of types because, um HELLO, leaf insects exist!! - Upon looking it up, Lepidodendrons are apparently an extinct genus of plants, which I think adds to the eerie vibes that the design has

- And works well enough because it's a similar word to leafeon

OMG WAIT MORE RESEARCH I HAVE DISCOVERED THAT LEPIDOPTERA IS AN ORDER THAT REFERS TO WINGED INSECTS LIKE BUTTERFLIES AND MOTHS. THAT IS SUCH A PERFECT NAME FOR BUG AND GRASS TYPES COMBINED?? AS WELL AS BEING EXTREMELY SIMILAR TO LEAFEON?? HOOLY SHIT

- tHE MOth face is so cute omg, and the forest creature colour scheme vibes are epic

REGALACEON: Glaceon (Ice) + Rock: - Obviously we still have the root word Glaceon still in there, which is cool, and could have just worked by itself as a funny sort of "well, glaciers are just big ice rocks aren't they?" but I'm glad they didn't do that cos I get to ANALYSE 🤓 - However, upon research I found nothing, but what I interpret to be the artist's intention (and I think this is really cool) is that "ice" and "rock" are both like diamonds

(I mean, just look at the design, it is incredibly bejewelled)

So I believe it is Regal + Glaceon, which obviously fit very well together, to form... Regalaceon!!

A beautiful, Rarity from mlp-esque design (always a win for style)

- I like how the ears and tufts look like royal banners, and how the tail kind of reminds me of a red carpet vibe

EVEN THE SCRUFF OF THE NECK IS LIKE THOSE POSH NECK THINGS

It is very beautiful and regal, and I love it and think it's very clever.

AS I DO WITH ALL OF THEM

Also props to them for not including ground type (and obviously normal) as the most boring ones (no offence ground type lovers)

Eeveelutions 2.0!

Level 1: I didn't assume that these two words with similar spellings and related meanings share a common origin because I don't think about things like that.

Level 2: I'm completely certain these two words with similar spellings and related meanings share a common origin because it's fucking obvious just from looking at them, you absolute simpleton.

Level 3: I didn't assume that these two words with similar spellings and related meanings share a common origin because I know what a false cognate is.

Wait a second: cuckoos are nest parasites. Do "cuckoo" and "cuckold" share a common root?

Huh. Apparently the etymology of "cuckold" is literally something along the lines of "cuckoo-lord".

just learned there is something called "mamavirus" of the genus "mimivirus" and idk why but that is just so silly

Curse the words "homesick" and "seasick".

It's the same -sick suffix, but the opposite meaning.

Missing your home, feeling unwell at sea.

All the while the words I need are the opposite:

I am more often than not sick of staying home, and feel a longing for the sea.

I just love the word: "whatsoever", it's just three unrelated words stitched together for no reason whatsoever.

does anyone else ever think about how the way new languages developed from one another was people spelling/pronouncing things differently enough over a period of time that it was completely distinct from another language. Like we have so many languages because people made spelling errors and ran with it

Something I think a lot of xians don’t get is that while Judaism and Tanakh are absolutely essential to xianity and it making any kind of sense, Judaism in no way needs anything xianity has to offer, nor is modern rabbinic Judaism dependent on the existence of xianity. We exist entirely outside of and independent of xianity and Judaism (both as it was before the fall of the Second Temple as well as modern rabbinic Judaism) would have continued just fine without xianity. If xianity somehow disappears from the earth entirely, Judaism will still be here and will still make sense. 

On the other hand, if Judaism and all of its texts were to disappear, xianity is no longer intelligible. And that is what I mean when I say that xianity is parasitic on Judaism. This is not a mutual or symbiotic relationship, no matter how hard xians seem to want to think it is. 

Ah yes ! The Hunger Games, that book where Swamp-potato Farm-with-wild-pigs goes to fight kids from other parts of her country Bread with her love interest baker Type-of-bread Honeybird to protect her sister Flower !

And I’m not forgetting when she makes a stop to Bread’s capital, Capital, and gets mentored by Big-From-The-Enclosure River and Well-spoken Jewelry, and gets dressed by Cinnamon. Oh and in the arena! When Swamp-potato teams up with Street, gets hunted down by Superhero-Company, Sparkle, Wise and Tree !Well, Street gets killed by Company, and Sprout avenges her by saying Swamp-potato buy it was good ! And in the end, when she saves both her’s and Type-of-bread’s life by threatening to kill themselves, and gets home to her friends Wind Tree and Pearl Look-under !

Ah i loved that book.

I'M TIRED OF PEOPLE NOT TALKING ABOUT THIS:

PTERO👏DACTYL 👏 MEANS 👏 "WING" 👏 "FINGER"

one of those false etymology posts but with the actual etymology of the word

Ok, let me get this straight.

You're telling me it's called Antarctica because it's Anti- Arctic? A??? BECAUSE IT'S OPPOSITE FROM THE ARCTIC????

one of those false etymology posts but with the actual etymology of the word

fun fact: the word "transparent" comes from the Latin "trans", which means "happy pride month", and "pareo", meaning "to appear visible"

this is because pride month makes trans people more visible, or something like that

fun fact: the word "prosthetic" comes from the greek word πρόσθεση (prosthesi[1]), meaning addition

fun fact: the auto- prefix (e.g. automobile, autodefenestration, etc.), means "self" in English. But in Greek (at least, Modern Greek), "αυτό" just means "it" (3rd person neuter singular pronoun) and is pronounced "afto"

fun fact: "diaeresis" (those two dots on ä ë ï ö ü (NOT TO BE CONFUSED WITH GERMAN'S UMLAUT. VERY DIFFERENT THINGS), example: naïve) comes from the Greek word διαίρεση (dieresi[1][2]), meaning "division"

fun fact: there is a word in Spanish for "pulling an all-nighter", "trasnochar". It comes from "trans" (happy pride month), meaning "across", and "noche", meaning "night". Because you're staying awake across the entire night

fun fac-

fun fact: the word "prosthetic" comes from the greek word πρόσθεση (prosthesi[1]), meaning addition

fun fact: the auto- prefix (e.g. automobile, autodefenestration, etc.), means "self" in English. But in Greek (at least, Modern Greek), "αυτό" just means "it" (3rd person neuter singular pronoun) and is pronounced "afto"

fun fact: "diaeresis" (those two dots on ä ë ï ö ü (NOT TO BE CONFUSED WITH GERMAN'S UMLAUT. VERY DIFFERENT THINGS), example: naïve) comes from the Greek word διαίρεση (dieresi[1][2]), meaning "division"

fun fact: there is a word in Spanish for "pulling an all-nighter", "trasnochar". It comes from "trans" (happy pride month), meaning "across", and "noche", meaning "night". Because you're staying awake across the entire night

fun fac-

galacta knight <- galaxy <- gala <- milk in greek (γάλα)

yeah its called "galaxy" because of the Milky Way

(:

Where does the word ‘meme’ come from?

The word meme was originally coined in the 1970s by sociobiologist, Richard Dawkins, from the ancient Greek for imitation. 

He used it to describe how ideas and symbols propagate through a culture like genes through a population. 

With the advent of the Internet, the process became directly observable in how jokes and images were popularized at lightning speed and soon the word came to refer to a certain kind of image.

So ‘meme’ not only describes how words become part of language, the word is a meme itself. As it turns out, there’s a word for words that describe themselves: ‘autological’.

Spread the word! ;)

From the TED-Ed Lesson Where do new words come from? - Marcel Danesi

Animation by TOGETHER

why do people say “don’t be a pussy” when talking about weakness more like “don’t be a man’s ego” because you know there isn’t nothing more fragile than that

Chai Tea

Word for tea in most of the world’s languages are all ultimately related, belonging to two groups of terms.

“Tea” itself belongs to one of those groups.  It was a borrowing from Dutch thee, in turn from tê, the reading of  茶 in the Amoy dialect of Min Nan.  Those languages whose introduction to tea was primaraly from Dutch traders typically use words likewise derived via the Dutch thee.  The Polish herbata is also part of this family, though slightly obscured, being a borrowing from the Latin herba thea.

The other major group is represented by the word chai, a more recent borrowing in English.  Chai was borrowed from the Hindi cāy, which in turn came from a Chinese dialect with a form similar to Mandarin chá.  Languages that use chai-type terms generally were first introduced to tea through overland trade, ultimately to northern China, while those that use tea-type terms were generally introduced to it via sea trade, from Southern China.

Both tê and chá are derived from the same Middle Chinese form, ultimately derived from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *s-la “leaf”.

Oval Eggs

The word egg was a borrowing from Old Norse egg, replacing the native word ey (plural eyren) from Old English ǣġ, plural ǣġru.  Like “children” and “kine” (obsolete plural of cow), the plural ending -en was added redundantly to the plural form in Middle English.  As with most borrowings from Old Norse, this showed up first in northern dialects of English, and gradually moved southwards, so that for a while, ey and egg were used in different parts of England.

In 1490, when William Caxton printed the first English-language books, he wrote a prologue to his publication of Eneydos (Aeneid in contemporary English) in which he discussed the problems of choosing a dialect to publish in, due to the wide variety of English dialects that existed at the time.  This word was a specific example he gave.  He told a story about some merchants from London travelling down the Thames and stopping in a village in Kent 

And one of theym… cam in to an hows and axed for mete and specyally he axyd after eggys, and the goode wyf answerde that she could speke no Frenshe. And the marchaunt was angry, for he also coude speke no Frenshe, but wolde have hadde egges; and she understode hym not. And thenne at laste a-nother sayd that he wolde have eyren. Then the good wyf sayd that she understod hym wel. Loo, what sholde a man in thyse dayes now wryte, egges, or eyren? Certaynly it is hard to playse every man, by-cause of dyversite and chaunge of langage.

The merchant in this story was only familiar with the word egg, while the woman only knew ey, and the confusion was only resolved by someone who knew both words.  Indeed, the woman in the story was so confused by this unfamiliar word egg that she assumed it must be a French word!  The word “meat” (or “mete” as Caxton spelled it) was a generic word for “food” at the time.

The word ey may also survive in the term Cockney, thought to derive from the Middle English cocken ey (”cock’s egg”), a term given to a small misshapen egg, and applied by rural people to townspeople

Both egg and ey derived from the same Proto-Germanic root, *ajją, which apparently had a variant *ajjaz in West Germanic.  This Proto-Germanic form in turn derived from Proto-Indo-European *h2ōwyóm.  In Latin, this root became ōvum, from which the adjective ōvalis meaning “egg-shaped”, was derived.  Ōvum itself was borrowed into English in the biological sense of the larger gamete in animals, while ōvalis is the source of oval.

The PIE root is generally though to derive from the root *h2éwis, “bird”, which is the source of Latin avis “bird”, source of English terms such as aviation.  This word may also be related to *h2ówis “sheep”, which survived in English as ewe.  One theory is that they were both derived from a root meaning something like “to dress”, “to clothe”, with bird meaning “one who is clothed [in feathers]” and sheep meaning “one who clothes [by producing wool]”.

The spread of the word for ‘tea’ across the world.

The Icelandic Language still uses the letters Þ and Ð, which used to be in the English alphabet too but which fell into disuse and were eventually left out altogether. Their pronunciation is the sound made by the “th” in “this” and “that” respectively.

Incidentally, the Þ was not included in early English printing press types. As a substitute they used y, which looks somewhat similar. Thus was the popular misconception born that English people used to say “ye” as in “ye old shoppe.”

Word of the Day: potlatch

n. An opulent ceremonial feast (among certain North American Indian peoples of the north-west coast) at which possessions are given away or destroyed to display wealth or enhance prestige

Image: “Klallam people at Port Townsend” by James Gilchrist Swan. Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons

also @ people rbing saying "wifewolf"/"wifwolf" and/or "manwolf". you get it.

also. learned that "were" (of "werewolf") meant man/male, and thus there's another word for woman/female, "wif", whick is the origin of the "wo-" in woman (wif man), and "man" was just. person. this has been my ted talk, thank you wifs, weres, and men. (also wifwolves and manwolves are things. i declare it to be so. because why not)

also. learned that "were" (of "werewolf") meant man/male, and thus there's another word for woman/female, "wif", whick is the origin of the "wo-" in woman (wif man), and "man" was just. person. this has been my ted talk, thank you wifs, weres, and men. (also wifwolves and manwolves are things. i declare it to be so. because why not)