Interesting connections
heart and discord “heart” comes from Old English “heorte”, from Proto Germanic *hertô, from Proto Indo European *ḱḗr. All these words mean “heart”. The word “discord” comes from Latin “discors” which comes from “dis” means “apart” and “cor” meaning “heart”. “cor” is also descended from Proto Indo European *ḱḗr. true and tree “true” comes from […]
Words are more connected than you think
When I was growing up, words just seemed random. That was a dog, this was a cat and I just got on with life. It was only much later that I began to notice that the words in other languages seemed strangely familiar. If a word in another language is similar, how did it get […]
How are “boon”, “ban”, “prophet” and “fame” related?
“boon” meaning “blessing, benefit” come from Old Norse “bón” where it meant “prayer” or “petition”. This word ultimately comes Proto Indo European *bʰeh₂- where it meant “to say”. “ban” comes from Proto Germanic *bannaną where it meant “curse” or “forbid” and it too came from Proto Indo European *bʰeh₂- “fame” comes from Old French “fame” […]
The story of how the word “stone” came to be
A long time ago, in the Bronze Age, there were a group of people living in Scandanavia. These people would eventually become the Germanic people. The people living then didn’t really have writing. They had runes but they weren’t used much. They were mostly used for ceremonial purposes like on swords or other blades. The […]
How are “frog” and “spring” related?
Proto Indo European is the grandfather or great grandfather of English (depending on how you count). This means that we can trace elements of Modern English all the way back to Proto Indo European which was spoken about 4000 BC. Proto Indo European, like any language, had its own peculiarities. One of them was the […]
How did language first evolve?
It is a question that has intrigued us for as long as humanity has been around. Some ancient myths talk about gods bestowing the gift of words upon us. We are fascinated by this very complex thing that we do pretty much effortlessly. It is so effortless for us that we often don’t even realise […]
