Monthly Gleanings (August 2007)
Anatoly answers questions gleaned from your comments.
Wilhelm Oehl and the butterfly
When I was growing up, I read Paul de Kruif’s book Microbe Hunters so many times that I still remember some pages by heart. Two chapters in the book are devoted to Pasteur. The second is called “Pasteur and the Mad Dog.” A book about great word hunters would similarly enthral the young and the old.
Drinking Up Eisel, Or,
the Oddest English Spellings (Part 9)
Anatoly looks at weird spellings.
Do it Real Quick,
Or The Death of the Adverb
Anatoly Liberman looks at the death of the adverb.
An Embarrassment of Riches,
Or, Eena, Meena, Mina, Mo
Anatoly looks at the origins of words we use today.
Monthly Gleanings: (July 2007)
Anatoly answers this month’s questions.
Break – Broke – Broken
Even a quick look at the history of words meaning “break” shows how often they begin with the sound group br-. Break has cognates in several Germanic languages. The main Old Scandinavian verb was different (compare Modern Swedish bryta, Norwegian bryte, and so forth), but it, too, began with br-.
Does the Cock Neigh?
Anatoly looks at the origin of the word cockney.
There Are More Ways Than One To Be Mad
Anatoly is feeling a bit “mad” this week.
Etymological Embarrassables
Anatoly looks at confusables.
The Curmudgeon and the Catawampus
Anatoly weighs in on curmudgeon and catawampus.
On Faggots & Pimps
Anatoly weighs in on pimps and faggots.
On Pimps and Faggots
Anatoly looks at where pimps and faggots come together.
Monthly Gleanings: May 2007
Anatoly reflects on his work in the past month.
If You Eat A Cake, You Are Sure To Have It Later
By Anatoly Liberman What a blow to national pride: cake is a loanword from Scandinavian, and cookie has been taken over from Dutch! The story of cake is full of dangerous corners, as will become immediately obvious. Anyone who begins to learn Swedish soon discovers that the Swedish for cake is kaka.
Make Music and Carpe Diem,
Or, Etymological Fiddle-Faddle
By Anatoly Liberman The names of musical instruments are often loanwords, in English they are usually from Greek (via French intermediaries) or Italian. Sometimes their original forms are transparent. Thus the medieval wind instrument shawm goes back to Greek kalamos “reed”; nothing could be simpler.