etymology

Loose Ends and the Etymologicon

Think that 'gene pool', 'car pool' and 'pooling your resources' have something to do with water? Then you'll need to think again, thanks to Mark Forsyth's new book, Etymologicon, a circular tour throu...

READ MORE | 4 Dec 2011
British invasion?

Nice piece on Language Johnson, an Economist blog dedicated to language use, on the recent influx of 'Britishisms' into American English. Apparently, 'kerfuffle', 'snog', 'nick' and 'c...

READ MORE | 15 Nov 2011
Here comes the goom

In the wake, or should I say, train of the Royal Wedding, a wonderful piece on the etymology of the vocabulary of matrimony from the Boston Globe. The 'goom' referred to in the title is the old Englis...

READ MORE | 9 May 2011
Babel or babble?

Thought-provoking article in last week's Economist on the evolution of language. New research appears to confirm the theory that all languages originated in Africa. Just as humanity's origins demonstr...

READ MORE | 21 Apr 2011
The story of the Œ ligature

Œ: Who would have thought that a ligature could be so interesting. Article about the oe ligature on Wikipedia traces the association in old Norse with ancestral home and in modern French with eg...

READ MORE | 27 Feb 2010