A scramble for information, or dangerous shr-schr words
Words beginning with shr- ~ schr- ~scr- have bothered me for years, partly because of German Schreck “horror.”
Getting lost in revision
Revision, I’ve been told again and again, is the key to effective writing. Yet sometimes I find myself making an essay or chapter worse when I revise it.
Answering two questions from readers
What connects Ghent with John of Gaunt, and are lubber and loblolly related? Anatoly Liberman answers two readers’ questions about names, sounds, and word origins.
Gloves, gauntlets, and gaunt people
Last week, I finished my story with a brief reference to all kinds of gloves. A few days later, a query came about the word gauntlet.
Chemical periodicity: why does the chemistry of some elements resemble the chemistry of others?
Before attempting to answer the title question, we should be clear about what the term ‘periodicity’ actually means—and where better to turn for an explanation than the matchless OED. The entry under ‘chemistry’ is the most relevant, viz. ‘The complex periodic variation of the properties of the chemical elements with increasing atomic number’, the term’s […]
Unsavory etymologies: dung and its kin
Below, I’ll speak about the amazing history of the word dung “manure.” In broad outline, the story is known, but some details are seldom discussed in dictionaries.
Boots (or rather, shoes) on the ground
Few words are harder to trace to their sources than the names of clothing articles. Those names travel with the things to which they belong, and the sources are easily lost sight of.
I had to look (them up)
When I’m reading or listening to a book, I sometimes find myself momentarily drifting away from what the author is saying and worrying about words and phrases I encounter.
Tarry or hurry?
It is surprising how similar the verbs in the title sound, though they are antonyms: tarry means “to linger, delay,” while hurry refers to haste.
On big and little foxes
This is a story about how the fox got its name. I discussed the word fox ten years ago (see the post for March 23, 2016), but today I have more to say about the subject.
Supper with an etymologist
It does not require much philological preparation to guess that supper is a word containing the root sup- and the suffix -er. Yet in the days of King Alfred and even much later, the inhabitants of Anglo-Saxon England had no such word.
The kings of etymological rings
It is amazing how many words Indo-European languages have for “supreme ruler; potentate.” In English, the main one is king.
How can they do it when we can’t?
Salamanders can regenerate lost limbs, but mammals cannot. Recent discoveries about cell potency and positional information are helping scientists understand why, while opening new possibilities for regenerative medicine.
Binomial expressions
Why do we say chicken and egg but never egg and chicken? English has hundreds of these fixed binomial expressions, each following subtle linguistic rules. From Yakov Malkiel’s early studies to the forensic clue that helped catch the Unabomber, binomials reveal how deeply word order shapes meaning.
Brothers and sisters
The readers of this blog may have noticed that I usually try to stay away from the oldest words in English, those with ancient Indo-European roots.
Pen to Paper with Alexander Mikaberidze
Historian Alexander Mikaberidze reframes the Louisiana Purchase as part of a global story of empire, revolution, and political ambition. He discusses archival discoveries, Napoleonic history, and why the Purchase still matters today.