Skin-deep: wrinkle, pimple, and mole
The history of “dude” has been documented with amazing accuracy.
Dude: a long history of a short word
The history of “dude” has been documented with amazing accuracy.
Weird Moby-Dick
There are a lot of peculiar phrases in Moby-Dick. My new introduction to the second Oxford World’s Classics edition of Herman Melville’s novel highlights the startling weirdness of the book, both in its literary form and its language.
Becoming Emeritus
When I received the letter granting me emeritus status, I naturally got curious about the etymology.
Say cheese, or l’esprit d’escalier neglected and forgotten
As everybody knows, the phrase in the title, l’esprit d’escalier, refers to a good thought occurring too late.
Some premature gleanings
I decided not to wait another week, let alone another four weeks, and discuss the notes and queries from my mail. As usual, I express my gratitude to those who have read the posts, added their observations, or corrected my mistakes.
In the footsteps of our greatest favorite: vampire
We love books and movies about vampires, don’t we? Everybody knows who Dracula was, and many people believe that we owe the entire myth to him. This, however, is not true. In this blog post, the Oxford Etymologist deals with the history of the word “vampire.”
Post-summer gleanings
The Oxford Etymologist answers readers’ questions on the origin of the word “race”, variants of “in one’s stockinged feet”, the folkloric creature Lady Hoonderlarly, and “bonfire.”
The spell of spelling
English spelling can be endlessly frustrating. From its silent letters (could, stalk, salmon, February, and on and on) to its nonsensical rules (i before e except ….), to the pronunciation of ough (in cough, through, though, and thought).
In one’s stockinged feet
One does not need to be an etymologist to suggest that stocking consists of “stock-” and “-ing”. The trouble is that though “-ing” occurs in some nouns, it looks odd in stocking. Few English words have more seemingly incompatible senses than stock.
Hue and cry, or the mystery of red gold
I have always wanted to write about the enigmatic phrase “red gold.” Our characterization of color is a matter of culture, not physiology.
Crabbed age and youth cannot live together, but crabs and scorpions can
The origin of the word blatherskite ~ bletherskate “foolish talk; foolish talker” is supposedly secure. The Oxford Etymologist investigates…
Do you blather when you skate?
The origin of the word blatherskite ~ bletherskate “foolish talk; foolish talker” is supposedly secure. The Oxford Etymologist investigates…
Being a careful reader
When we are moving briskly though a supermarket, skimming ads, or focusing on a big purchase, it’s easy to be a less-than-careful reader.
Noises off? A guarded tribute to onomatopoeia and sea-sickness
While trying to solve etymological riddles, we often encounter references to sound-imitation where we do not expect them, but the core examples hold no surprise. It seems that nouns and verbs describing all kinds of noises should illustrate the role of onomatopoeia, and indeed, hum, ending in m, makes one think of quiet singing (crooning) and perhaps invites peace, while drum, with its dr-, probably evokes the idea of the noise associated with this instrument.
Three unwilling partners: “heath,” “heathen,” and “heather”
Did heathens live in a heath, surrounded by heather? You will find thoughts on this burning question of our time at the end of today’s blog post.