Sib and peace
The Oxford Etymologist has examined the verbs “begin” and “start.” For consistency’s sake, it is now necessary to say something about the noun and the verb “end.”
A shaky beginning of the end and the state of the art
The Oxford Etymologist has examined the verbs “begin” and “start.” For consistency’s sake, it is now necessary to say something about the noun and the verb “end.”
A new beginning: the verb “start”
The Oxford Etymologist explores the origin of the verb “to start”.
The murky beginning of the verb begin
The Oxford Etymologist explores the unfinished story of the word “begin”.
Etymology gleanings for two winter months (2022-2023)
In this blog post, the Oxford Etymologist responds to questions from readers on word borrowing across Hebrew, Greek, and Germanic, plus a few new etymology ideas.
Gr-words as mushrooms
Some words propagate like mushrooms: no roots but a sizable crowd of upstarts calling themselves relatives. Gr-words are the pet subject of all works on sound imitation and sound symbolism.
Monosyllabic moping
The Oxford Etymologist the common but etymologically opaque verb “mope”, and other monosyllabic verbs.
2023 and adventures in the idiom wonderland
The Oxford Etymologist explores a selection of idioms, including the amazing story of the phrase “fox’s wedding.”
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.
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.”
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.