Clever Hans and beyond
The Oxford Etymologist details the origin and development of the adjective “clever”.
A fool’s cap of etymologies, or the praise of folly
It is amazing how many synonyms for “fool” exist! It is almost funny that fool, the main English word for “a stupid person,” is not native, says the Oxford Etymologist in this week’s exploration of the origins of fools.
Another hopelessly obscure word: brocard
Some words are so rare that few people know and even fewer study them. Such is “brocard”, the “outcast” subject of today’s blog post from the Oxford Etymologist.
Believe it or not: one more book on language and language history
The Oxford Etymologist casts a glance at a book exploring the history of language and its development that is “definitely worth reading.”
Some hopelessly obscure words: the case of cowan
Some words don’t interest anyone. They languish in their obscurity, and even lexicographers miss or ignore them. Yet they too deserve to get their day in court. One such word is “cowan.”
On squashing and occasional squeezing
The Oxford Etymologist explores squash, squeeze, and the development of squ- words featuring the infamous s-mobile.
In praise of sloth
The hero of today’s blog post is the adjective “slow.” No words look less inspiring, but few are more opaque.
Etymology as guesswork, being also a study in the history of the word guess
A good deal of our scholarship is guesswork, and today’s story deals with the origin and history of the word “guess.”
An etymological stinkpo(s)t
The Oxford Etymologist’s subject today is the origin of the verb “stink”.
Language peeves and the word peeve
The Oxford Etymologist considers the etymology of the word “peeve.”
No release from an etymological entanglement
The Oxford Etymologist responds to readers comments on his most recent blog post topics.
A few things at a glance
The Oxford Etymologist responds to readers comments on his most recent blog post topics.
Irregular gleanings and a last shot at Modern English usage
The Oxford Etymologist responds to readers comments on his most recent blog post topics.
An etymological cul-de-sac: the verbs “flaunt” and “flout”
The Oxford Etymologist explores the history and development of the verb “flaunt”, “to display ostentatiously,”
Language history and we, part two (actually, a conclusion)
The Oxford Etymologist considers feminist perspectives of language development, split infinitives, and the pronoun “they” as discussed in Valerie Fridland’s “Like, Literally, Dude: Arguing for the Good in Bad English.”
Language history and we: the case of “like”
The Oxford Etymologist considers “like” as discussed in Valerie Fridland’s “Like, Literally, Dude: Arguing for the Good in Bad English.”