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This is a special podictionary episode in which I interview Philip Durkin, the Principal Etymologist for The Oxford English Dictionary.
I contacted Dr. Durkin because his book The Oxford Guide to Etymology was recently released in North America and he was kind enough to spend a comfortable 20 minutes talking with me.
Podictionary often concentrates on the changes in meaning that a word goes through over time so when we talked we discussed the other side of etymology—changes in word form.
Dr. Durkin explained some of the tools of etymology as well as talked specifically about the etymologies of the words friar and penguin.
At the moment there is no transcript available of this interview but I encourage you to listen either by clicking the “download” link above or via the website audio player.
Five days a week Charles Hodgson produces Podictionary – the podcast for word lovers, Thursday episodes here at OUPblog. He’s also the author of several books including his latest History of Wine Words – An Intoxicating Dictionary of Etymology from the Vineyard, Glass, and Bottle.
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Thanks very much, I enjoyed this discussion.
L�ofa dr Durkin,
M�n nama is Kenneth Doig, ��fternama m�n sc�ttisc-g��lisc �c w� arun l�hlandes bl��des,(ic w��s in middle-Californian geboren) from Per��sc�re, ��e m�r germanisc ��one celtisc is. Fres���oda from ni��erlendiscum & nor�����odisclendiscum strandum and �ter-�iglandum cw��mun. ��tan (o����e, iutan, eudoses, �otan, and hit is �cendlicnes ����t h�e ��� �lcan ���oda als ‘g�atas’ B�owulfes s�en) M� ���nce�� ����t ��ngle and �tena���oda �n and seo �lce ���ode s�e. M� ���nce�� �alsw� ����t ��� sw�-geclyptan �ngw�niscan ne westgermanan s�en. ����r is gr�ata ǽbǽrenessa in st��re,sw� s��gdun r��mwaran, Tacitus and Iulius Caesar, ymb sume ��wunan, t�� b�gspele, gr�ate �rfulness N�or��es, �n �or��an��s, undergundgod, w�ter��s.N�orp w��s bu carlmann and cw�n. Indo-european���oda h��fdun h�ofon�se, l�oht- ligenting-, ��unor- lyft- sunnan�se. H�ora c�ning goda w��s T�w, ����t �le god als Zeus, D�wos, Iupitter/Ioue, Dyauspitah, a.s.o. (‘and sw� on’). H��tedun h�e �or��angod and �or��anmodorgod. In spr��ccr��ft sind gr�ata ungel�cnessa from westgermaniscum tungum. M� ���nce�� ����t ‘ingvaenic’ �n hlenc betwuxt westgermaniscum and nor��germaniscum tungum. Als dr. Gudmund Schuette in his magnum opus-b��ce “The Gothonic nations : A manual of the ethnography of the Gothic, German, Dutch, Anglo-Saxon, Frisian and Scandinavian peoples”.(1929-33) s��gde, h� g�af ��one naman ‘peninsular Germanic’ �nwines���odum, ‘Peninsular Germanic’, ymb h�ora tungan.
I hope you don’t mind, I am reposting your excellent article from http://www.oed.com/page/oldenglishintro/Old+English$2014an+overview, on my blog. Of course, I give you full attribution, citing you as “Dr. Philip Durkin, OED” with a linkback. The address is http://www.proto-germanic.com/2012/01/some-distinguishing-features-of-old.html. I have made comments and annotations, visibly in red, so readers will not attribute some of my crazy theories to you.
Ge��ancas,
Ken Doig
fyrnl�rcr��aft (archaeology)