Clever Hans and beyond
The Oxford Etymologist details the origin and development of the adjective “clever”.
The Oxford Etymologist details the origin and development of the adjective “clever”.
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.
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.”
The Oxford Etymologist explores squash, squeeze, and the development of squ- words featuring the infamous s-mobile.
The hero of today’s blog post is the adjective “slow.” No words look less inspiring, but few are more opaque.
A good deal of our scholarship is guesswork, and today’s story deals with the origin and history of the word “guess.”
The Oxford Etymologist’s subject today is the origin of the verb “stink”.
The Oxford Etymologist considers the etymology of the word “peeve.”
The Oxford Etymologist responds to readers comments on his most recent blog post topics.
The Oxford Etymologist responds to readers comments on his most recent blog post topics.
The Oxford Etymologist responds to readers comments on his most recent blog post topics.
The Oxford Etymologist explores the history and development of the verb “flaunt”, “to display ostentatiously,”
The Oxford Etymologist answers readers’ questions about American English vowels, the word “night”, and “love” in English and Greek.
Quite naturally, speakers connect words that sound alike. From a strictly scholarly point of view, “sore” and “sorrow” are unrelated, but for centuries, people thought differently, and folk etymology united the two long ago.
The Oxford Etymologist looks at the origin of the word “day” and its connections across the Indo-European language world.
The Oxford Etymologist tackles the convoluted history of “bud” and “buddy” – the final part of the series.