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Podcasts by Words for Granted - An etymology and linguistics podcast
Words for Granted is a podcast that looks at how words change over time. Host Ray Belli uses linguistic evolution as a way of understanding larger historical and cultural changes.
Further podcasts by Ray Belli
Podcast on the topic Sprachen lernen
All episodes
The Marvels of Translation: Interview with Keith Khan-Harris from 2023-07-08T03:37
What can we learn about the nature of translation by reading a warning message in hundreds of different languages? In this episode, Keith Kahn-Harris discusses his latest book, The Babel Mes...
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The Power (and Omnipresence) of Rhetoric: Interview with Guy Doza from 2023-05-20T18:26
Rhetoric has a bad reputation. We tend to think of it as a linguistic tool used by polticians and marketing execs to maipulate the masses. While this stereotype is true, rhetoric is more than ju...
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A Defense of "Bad" English: Interview with Valerie Fridland from 2023-04-27T04:41
Instead of criticizing deviations from Standard English as "wrong," what if we celebrated them as expressive lingusitic innovations? In this conversation with Valerie, we take a look at some of ...
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Learning New Languages: Interview with Rob Paterson from 2023-03-19T17:30
What goes into building a language learning curriculum? How do designers choose features within a language learing app? Are some approaches to language learning better than others, or is it up t...
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Combatting Bias in Linguistic AI: Interview with Courtney Napoles from 2023-01-22T23:29
As Lead of Language Research at Grammarly, Courtney Napoles is building systems to better help people from around the world communicate. In this episode, we discuss things such as the fundamenta...
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Origins of Place Names: Interview with Duncan Madden from 2022-12-20T00:06
Place names are not random––behind the name of every country is a story of how it came to be. From stories of invasion and rebellion to the fantastical and mundane, author Duncan Madden takes us...
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Grammatical Gender: Interview with Danny Bate from 2022-11-07T00:29
In this interview with linguist Danny Bate, we go deep on all things gender––grammatical gender, that is. Why do some languages have gender while others don't? Where does gender come from? What ...
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Episode 109: Trivia from 2022-09-14T04:25
Trivia refers to obscure or useless information, but this definition is a far cry from the word's etymology. Trivia, or tri-via, literally means "three roads," and in Ancient Roman time...
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African American English: Interview w/ Tracey Weldon from 2022-08-02T00:47:55
In this episode, I speak with Tracey Weldon, linguist and board advisor on the Oxford Dictionary of African American English project. We discuss the origins of AAE, the role of code switching wi...
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Episode 108: Understand from 2022-07-05T00:18:53
What does "standing under" have to do with "understanding?" Nothing at all, which is why most of us probably overlook the obvious fact that "understand" is actually a compound word comprising "u...
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Episode 107: World from 2022-05-22T19:39:52
In Old English, the word "world", or weorold, did not refer to a place. It was a compound word comprising wer, meaing "man", and ald, meaning "age". "World" literally ...
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Deciphering Ancient Scripts: Interview with Silvia Ferrara from 2022-03-12T22:53:27
Have you ever wondered how writing was invented - or, how many times it was invented? How many undeciphered scripts has the ancient world left us, and is there any hope in eventually de...
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Episode 106: Grotesque from 2022-02-02T04:05:40
The etymology of "grotesque" is hiding in plain sight: "grotto-esque". Originally, the word was used to describe a style of ancient art that was discovered in underground grottos––or at least what ...
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Episode 105: Idiot from 2022-01-05T00:51:24
In Ancient Greece, an "idiot", or idiotes, was a "private person", which meant someone who did not hold a political office. In this episode, we explore how the word's modern pejorative ...
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Episode 104: Genius from 2021-12-12T20:19:25
Though people of extraordinary talents and intellect have always existed, the modern sense of "genius" didn't emerge until the relatively recent 18th century. In Ancient Rome, a "genius" was nei...
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Episode 103: Run Amok from 2021-11-21T16:27:43
Most Malay loanwords in English describe the local flora, fauna, and food of Southeast Asia. "Amok", however, is different. Amok, which describes a violent killing spree, is ultimately a Malay w...
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Episode 102: Hyperbola/Hyperbole&Ellipse/Ellipsis from 2021-10-23T16:57:58
"Hyperbola" and "ellipse" are geometrical curves, while "hyperbole" and "ellipsis" are rhetorical terms. At face value, it's not clear how the meanings of "hyperbola" and "ellipse" relate to tho...
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Episode 101: Parabola/Parable from 2021-09-19T15:01:31
The meanings of "parabola" and "parable" have very little to do with one another, yet these words are etymological doublets of a single Greek work, parabole, which meant "a throwing asi...
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Episode 100: Google from 2021-08-21T16:36:39
Before Google was the name of one of the world's biggest tech companies, "googol" was an obscure math term that meant "ten to the one hundredth power". Five decades before the founding of Google...
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Episode 99: Average from 2021-07-25T17:36:12
The word "average" has anything but an average etymology. If the leading theory is correct, "average" ultimately derives from an Arabic word meaning "defect". In this episode, we explore how thi...
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Why Is English Highly Irregular? (Interview with Arika Okrent) from 2021-07-09T03:53:04
English may be spoken by a whopping 1.5 billion ESL speakers around the world, but that doesn't mean it's an "easy" language to learn. For native English speakers, it's easy to take for granted ...
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Episode 98: Lost Letters: Long s (ſ) and Ampersand (&) from 2021-06-27T04:01:20
In many English works printed before the late 19th century, a letter unfamiliar to us today, ſ, is often used in place of the letter S. However, that unfamiliar f-looking letter is actually just...
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Episode 97: Lost Letters: Ash (Æ, æ) and Ethel (Œ, œ) from 2021-05-30T15:21:22
If you've ever encountered the ligatures æ and œ in old texts, you may have wondered: what are they called? Where do they come from? How exactly are they pronounced? Why don't we use them any mo...
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Nine Nasty Words (Interview with John McWhorter) [EXPLICIT] from 2021-05-16T19:04:59
F*ck. Sh*t. C*ck. These are some of the most profane words in the English language, but what exactly makes them profane? Is there something about profanities that makes them different from ordi...
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Episode 96: Lost Letters: Wynn (Ƿ), Insular G (ᵹ), Yogh (Ȝ) from 2021-04-19T00:04:51
Before the letter W was invented, the rune wynn was borrowed into the Latin AngloSaxon alphabet as a way of representing the /w/ sound. The letter yogh evolved out of Insular G, an Ir...
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Interview with Ralph Keyes, Author of "The Hidden History of Coined Words" from 2021-03-28T14:20:26
In this episode, I speak with author Ralph Keyes. Ralph's new book, The Hidden History of Coined Words, is an exuberant celebration of the malleability of the English language. Keyes di...
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Latin 101 Course Announcement! from 2021-03-27T15:29:22
Words for Granted has partnered with Rebecca Deitsch (Harvard University) to offer a Latin 101 course to listeners. To learn more ...
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Episode 95: Lost Letters: Eth and Thorn (Ð,ð and Þ, þ) from 2021-03-14T14:39:19
In Modern English, we use the TH digraph to represent the voiced and voiceless dental fricative sounds. However, English previously had two unique letters that di...
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Episode 94: The Lost Letters of the English Alphabet (Overview) from 2021-02-13T03:11:50
You can't have the English language without the ABC's, right? Wrong. In this overview episode, we look at the history of the alphabet and the many changes it has ...
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Episode 93: Pasta from 2021-01-18T13:43:44
‘Pasta’ is first attested in English during the 1800's, which is later than one might expect. However, in prior centuries, a handful of its closely related cognat...
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Episode 92: Meals (Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner) from 2020-12-27T18:28:36
In today's episode, we look at the etymologies of our meal words––not to mention "meal" itself. (As it turns out, "meal" has a long history of usage as a measurement word.) The meanings of our m...
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Interview with Tim Brookes, founder of Endangered Alphabets from 2020-12-08T06:16:46
In this interview episode, I speak with Tim Brookes, founder of the Endangered Alphabets Project. Among many other things, we discuss why preserving endangered writing systems is so important to...
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Episode 91: Artichoke from 2020-11-22T20:18:11
In ancient Greek botanical literature, there is a reference to a spiny plant called a kaktos. This word would pass into Modern English as "cactus," though the kaktos itself was...
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Episode 90: Apple from 2020-10-25T21:46:20
In this episode, we explore the etymology of the most culturally ubiquitous fruit, the apple. Etymologically, the ubiquity of the apple is fitting, since it originally use...
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Episode 89: Cheese from 2020-09-27T14:03:38
In the episode, we explore the etymology of ‘cheese,’ a Latin-derived word that entered the Germanic languages through trade long before the emergence of English. We also consider why the Italia...
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Episode 88: Egg from 2020-08-17T00:52:11
The word ‘egg’ plays a part in one of the most famous anecdotes in the written record about the evolution of the English language. In this episode, we consider the implications of that story and...
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Proto Indo-Europeans with Kevin Stroud of The History of English Podcast from 2020-06-30T00:02:15
This episode features a conversation I had with Kevin Stroud of the History of English Podcast at this year's virtual Intelligent Speec...
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Episode 87: Dead Ringer from 2020-06-07T16:36:46
The idiom ‘dead ringer’ comes down to us from horse-racing slang, but a widely believed folk etymology links the idiom's origins to being buried alive. In this ep...
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Episode 86: Red Herring from 2020-05-17T22:07:34
The idiom ‘red herring’ is used to describe a distraction from the matter at hand. Literally, a ‘red herring’ is a kipper––that is, a smoked and salted sliced fish––but why would such a fish bec...
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Episode 85: The Proof Is in the Pudding from 2020-04-26T20:47:17
Of all places, why do we put the ‘proof’ in the ‘pudding?’ Like many idioms whose origins date back several centuries, the connection between the literal and figurative meanings of ‘the proof is...
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Interview with Simon Horobin, Author of "Bagels, Bumf, and Buses" from 2020-04-12T03:00:40
In today's episode, I talk with Simon Horobin, Oxford professor and author of "Bagels, Bumf and Buses: A Day in the Life of the English Language," a book that explores the etymology of common wo...
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Episode 84: Break a Leg from 2020-03-25T01:46:33
The etymology of ‘break a leg’ is disputed, but some theories hold up better than others. In today's episode, we look at a handful of plausible explanations for how ‘break a leg’ became theater ...
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Episode 83: Apple of the Eye from 2020-02-24T01:09:37
As we all know, the idiomatic meaning of ‘apple of the eye’ has nothing to do with apples. As it turns out, the origins of the idiom also have nothing to do with apples. In this episode...
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Episode 82: In a Pickle from 2020-02-05T00:48:03
"In a pickle" is one of the oddest sounding idioms in English. It means "in a predicament or bad situation," but it's not clear what pickles have to do with anything. In this episode, we look at...
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Episode 81: Idioms (General Overview) from 2020-01-13T21:01:20
This episode begins a new series on the etymology of English idioms. In this general overview of idioms, we discuss why idioms are syntactically and semantically peculiar, how idioms emerge, how...
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Episode 80: Cannibal from 2019-12-31T03:32:58
The word ‘cannibal’ comes to us by way of a familiar historical figure: Christopher Columbus. The word is ultimately a Hispanicization of the name of an indigenous American group today known as ...
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Episode 79: Philistine from 2019-12-14T22:43:17
In common usage, a ‘philistine’ is a derogatory term for an anti-intellectual materialist. The word derives from the ancient Middle Eastern Philistines, a people best known as an early geopoliti...
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Episode 78: Bohemian from 2019-11-17T14:48:26
As a common noun, ‘bohemian’ describes an artistic, carefree lifestyle usually marked by poverty and unorthodoxy. The word is derived from Bohemia, a region in the modern Czech Republic, but its...
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Episode 77: Gothic from 2019-10-20T16:44:31
Interview with Steve Kaufmann, Polyglot&Co-founder of LingQ from 2019-09-17T23:28:35
In today's episode, I interview Steve Kaufmann. Steve is a polyglot and co-founder of LingQ. He also hosts a popular language learning Listen
Episode 76: Wife from 2019-09-01T11:10:20
In Old English, the word ‘wife’ meant woman. In fact, the word ‘woman’ derives from the wo...
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Episode 75: Grandmother/Grandfather from 2019-08-11T12:18:37
What makes your parents' parents so ... grand? In today's episode, we trace the etymology and emergence of the French-influenced kinship prefix ‘grand.’ We also look at Old English words for ‘gr...
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Episode 74: Sibling from 2019-07-29T00:14:30
Today, ‘sibling’ is one of the most basic kinship terms. However, it wasn't introduced into English until 1903 by a pair of scientists working on genetics. More accurately, ‘sibling’ was re<...
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Episode 73: Papa/Dada/Father from 2019-07-12T17:44:29
In today's episode, we explore the origins of some of the universal characteristics of nursery father terms in languages from around the world, most of which include initial /p/, /d/, or /b/ sou...
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Episode 72: Mama/Mom from 2019-06-30T22:05:47
‘Mama’ is a mysterious word. In the vast majority of languages around the world, the word for ‘mama’ sounds something like ... ‘mama.’ In today's episode, we uncover the reason for this peculiar...
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Episode 71: Noah Webster’s Dictionary from 2019-06-15T18:45:19
Noah Webster is best known as the father of the first truly American dictionary. However, Webster’s dictionary faced an uphill struggle for recognition during his lifetime. In today’s episode, w...
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Episode 70: Noah Webster (Early Works and Spelling Reforms) from 2019-05-26T19:34:45
Noah Webster is best known for his ‘all-American’ dictionary, but in today's episode, we take a look at Webster's earlier works including The Grammatical Institute of the English Language Listen
Episode 69: OK from 2019-05-05T15:04:36
‘OK’ is the most spoken and most written word in the entire world. It's such a fundamental part of modern communication that it's hard to imagine the world without it. But in spite of its ubiqui...
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Episode 68: Yankee from 2019-04-13T15:12:49
Today, the most relevant usage of the word ‘Yankee’ is probably in the name of the baseball team, but etymologically, ‘Yankee’ has nothing to do with baseball. ‘Yankee’ is an elusive word whose ...
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Episode 67: The American Pronunciation of R (Rhoticity) from 2019-03-31T21:20:39
One of the most defining characteristics of the Standard American English accent is its ‘rhoticity,’ or the pronunciation of the letter R. Unlike Standard British English, Standard American Engl...
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Episode 66: The Emergence of the American Lexicon from 2019-03-12T01:11:30
The English spoken in America began to diverge from the English spoken in Britain shortly after British settlers arrived in the New World. In today’s episode, we look at several ways how ‘Americ...
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Interview with Lynne Murphy, Author of "The Prodigal Tongue" from 2019-03-04T00:23:26
In today's episode, I interview linguist, professor, blogger, and author Lynne Murphy about her book, The Prodigal Tongue: The Love-Hate Relationship Between American ...
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Episode 65: Dialect vs. Language from 2019-02-20T01:21:37
‘American English’ is the variety of English spoken in the United States of America ... obviously. But is American English a language unto itself or a dialect of British English? In this episode...
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Episode 64: France from 2019-02-01T17:45:31
The name of France derives from the name of a Germanic tribe called the Franks. In addition to the name of France, the namesake of the Franks also produced a handful of other common English word...
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Episode 63: Turkey from 2019-01-14T01:01:13
In today’s episode, we explore the etymological connection between Turkey the country and turkey the bird. Even though turkeys are native to North America, thanks to 16th century trade routes, t...
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Episode 62: Cincinnati from 2019-01-05T00:45:38
The American city of Cincinnati derives from a patriotic fraternal organization called The Society of Cincinnati. The society itself is named after Cincinnatus, a legendary figure in Ancient Rom...
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Episode 61: International Names of Germany from 2018-12-17T21:34:30
There are more etymologically different names for Germany than there are for any other European country. This is due to a long history of disunity among Gemanic tribes and the geographical locat...
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Episode 61: International Names of Germany from 2018-12-17T21:34:30
There are more etymologically different names for Germany than there are for any other European country. This is due to a long history of disunity among Gemanic tribes and the geographical locat...
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Episode 60: Wales from 2018-12-02T14:22:09
The English name for the country of ‘Wales’ is not native to Wales itself. It actually has origins in a derogatory term given by the AngloSaxons to their Celtic neighbors. The word ‘Wales’ has c...
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Episode 59: Proper Place Names (General Overview) from 2018-11-16T21:58:42
Today's episode kicks off a new series on ‘toponymy,’ or the study of place names. In this general overview, we take a look at some of the historical and etymolog...
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Episode 58: Gymnasium from 2018-10-30T16:48:30
Nowadays, a gym is a place for fitness and exercise. It’s a shortening of the word gymnasium, which derives from the Greek word gymnasion. In the Ancient Greek world, a gymnasion Listen
Episode 57: Category from 2018-10-15T15:09:21
In the court system of Ancient Athens, the kategoria was a formal accusation. However, when the philosopher Aristotle borrowed the word kategoria to enumerate his ‘categories o...
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Episode 56: Apology from 2018-10-01T00:47:11
The Modern English word ‘apology’ derives from the Ancient Greek word apologia. However, in the Ancient Greek work known as Plato's Apology, Plato doesn't ‘apologize’ for anything––at l...
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Episode 55: Sophisticated from 2018-09-12T18:56:08
In Modern English, sophistication is a desirable characteristic. However, the word derives from sophistry, an Ancient Greek intellectual movement with a historically bad reputation. In today's e...
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Episode 54: Philosophy from 2018-09-02T11:55:28
In the pre-modern world, philosophy referred to all forms of intellectual knowledge. Today, the discipline of philosophy is just one aspect of the traditional field of philosophia, or ‘...
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Episode 53: They from 2018-08-20T18:24:32
The pronoun ‘they’ was borrowed into English from Old Norse. Pronouns within a language tend to be conservative over time, so this borrowing of a foreign pronoun into English is a bit unusual. I...
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Episode 52: Linguistic Subjectification (Very, Really, Literally, etc.) from 2018-08-01T00:35:19
Subjectification is a unique linguistic process by which a word evolves to reflect the subjective viewpoint of the speaker using it. For example, the word ‘very’ used to mean ‘true,’ but over ti...
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Episode 51: The from 2018-07-17T00:40:16
The word ‘the’ is the sole definite article in the English language. It's also the most common word in our language. However, for such a grammatically fundamental word, its history isn't as stra...
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Interview with Steve Guerra (The History of the Papacy Podcast) from 2018-07-06T23:02:21
In this conversation, Steve and I discuss the linguistic influence of the King James Bible and some common English idioms that have Biblical etymologies.
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Interview with Steve Guerra (The History of the Papacy Podcast) from 2018-07-06T23:02:21
In this conversation, Steve and I discuss the linguistic influence of the King James Bible and some common English idioms that have Biblical etymologies.
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Episode 50: -ly (Adverbial Suffix) from 2018-06-30T15:48:54
Adverbs ending in the -ly suffix are all contractions hiding in plain sight. -ly is cognate with the word ‘like,’ and indeed, it literally means … ‘like.’ Sadly is literally sad-like. M...
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Episode 49: To Be from 2018-06-14T17:07:50
To be or not to be? Well, if you're conjugating the verb, you're most likely using a form that does not sound like ‘to be.’ ‘To be’ is the most irregular verb in the English language, a...
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Episode 48: History of English Grammar (General Overview) from 2018-06-04T00:14:58
Grammar is one of the defining features of language. In today's episode, we look at some of the fundamentals of grammar in general, and then take a brief tour through the historical evolution of...
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Episode 47: Secular from 2018-05-05T15:22:58
Today's episode serves as an epilogue to the series on Biblical etymology. Secular means ‘unaffiliated with religion,’ but originally, it was a word used to describe the measurement of long span...
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Episode 46: God (and His Biblical Names) from 2018-04-24T17:59:56
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Episode 45: Hell from 2018-04-01T02:07:10
In the Bible, the word Hell is a common English translation of three Greek and Hebrew words, but the meanings of those words hardly resemble Hell as we know it today. In addition to the etymolog...
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Episode 44: Letter J from 2018-03-06T03:31:58
The letter J is a direct descendent of the letter I. Based on their dissimilar sounds, it's an unlikely genetic connection, and today's story explores how this development took place. To keep th...
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Episode 43: Demon from 2018-02-20T21:57:19
Greek gods. Golden Age heroes. Our conscience. Guardian angels. Evil spirits. All of these things and more were once associated with the word daimon, the Ancient Greek predecessor of th...
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Episode 42: Church from 2018-01-26T17:18:20
On average, the word ‘church’ appears in English bibles 115 times. However, kuriakon, the word from which ‘church’ derives, only appears in the original Greek text twice, and its usage ...
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Episode 41: Thou from 2018-01-14T15:34:58
Up until Modern English, the English language distinguished between its singular and plural second-person pronouns. Thou was the singular, and ye was the plural. Today, these have been replaced ...
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Episode 40: Biblical Etymology (General Overview) from 2017-12-31T00:49:28
Today's episode serves as an introduction to an extended series on Biblical etymology. In it, we discuss the difficulties of translating ancient texts--particularly holy texts--into modern langu...
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Episode 39: Eleven/Twelve from 2017-12-15T01:39:27
When compared to the other numbers between ten and twenty, the words for eleven and twelve stick out like a sore thumb. If they followed the construction of the r...
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Episode 38: Algebra/Algorithm from 2017-12-01T17:22:49
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Episode 37: Chemistry from 2017-10-27T15:07:08
Chemistry as we know it is a rational science. However, both the word chemistry and the science of chemistry itself evolved out of the pre-scientific practice of alchemy. In today's episode, we ...
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Episode 36: Serendipity from 2017-10-11T00:05:25
Unlike most Arabic loanwords, the word serendipity was not borrowed from a foreign language, but invented by an eighteenth century Englishman. It's based on Serendip, an old Arabic word for the ...
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Episode 35 Arabic Loanwords in English (General Overview) from 2017-09-24T23:38:54
Today's episode serves as an intro to a miniseries on the influence of Arabic on the English language. As a Semitic language, Arabic is very foreign to English. We take a look at some of the bas...
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Episode 35: Arabic Loanwords in English from 2017-09-24T21:38:54
Today's episode serves as an intro to a series on Arabic loanwords in English. As a Semitic language, Arabic is very foreign to English. We take a look at some of the basic linguistic and cultur...
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Episode 35: Arabic Loanwords in English from 2017-09-24T21:38:54
Today's episode serves as an intro to a series on Arabic loanwords in English. As a Semitic language, Arabic is very foreign to English. We take a look at some of the basic linguistic and cultur...
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Episode 34: Saturday/Sunday from 2017-09-11T17:36:43
At last, the finale in the Words for Granted series on days of the week! ‘Saturday’ comes from a root that literally means ‘day of Saturn.’ Unlike the rest of the English names for the days of t...
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Episode 33: Thursday/Friday from 2017-08-19T14:30:40
Part four of the days of the week miniseries! This time, we investigate Thursday and Friday, or Thor's Day and Frigg's Day. Like the other days of the week discus...
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Episode 32: Wednesday from 2017-08-02T23:56:08
In Old English, the word for Wednesday was Wodnesdaeg, which literally meant ‘Woden's day.’ It comes from a loan translation of the Latin dies mercur...
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Episode 31: Monday/Tuesday from 2017-07-14T03:22:57
In today's episode, we begin our investigation of the etymologies of each day of the week. Both Monday and Tuesday are ultimately loan translations of the Latin w...
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Episode 30: Days of the Week (General Overview) from 2017-07-05T23:45:06
The days of the week are part of the core vocabulary of any language. In English, their etymologies are rooted in ancient pagan mythologies. In this episode, we t...
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Episode 29: How Does a Single Root Word Produce So Many Derivatives? from 2017-06-13T16:23:21
The Latin verb, secare, meaning ‘to cut,’ has produced English derivatives such as ‘section,’ ‘sector,’ and ‘insect,’ among others. One root word, many d...
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Episode 29: How Does a Single Root Word Produce So Many Derivatives? from 2017-06-13T16:23:21
The Latin verb, secare, meaning ‘to cut,’ has produced English derivatives such as ‘section,’ ‘sector,’ and ‘insect,’ among others. One root word, many d...
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Episode 28: Scene from 2017-05-29T13:30:36
The word scene has always had close ties to the theater, but it did not always refer to ‘subdivisions within in a play.’ The meaning of the original Greek skene was ‘tent or booth.’ It'...
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Episode 27: Comedy from 2017-05-15T18:43:49
Today, ‘comedy’ is a genre of entertainment that makes us laugh. However, this was not always the case. The word derives from a Greek compound that most likely meant ‘revel song,’ and it's cultu...
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Episode 26: Tragedy from 2017-04-21T00:30
The word ‘tragedy’ is rooted in ancient Greek theater. It's a dramatic form that stills exists today, but what’s the word’s etymology? Is it connected to sufferin...
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Episode 25: Tyrant from 2017-04-07T23:02:48
The word ‘tyrant’ is steeped in the political history of Ancient Greece. However, it didn't always refer to cruel rulers. Originally, a ‘tyrant’ was a morally neutral word...
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Episode 25: Tyrant from 2017-04-07T23:02:48
The word ‘tyrant’ is steeped in the political history of Ancient Greece. However, it didn't always refer to cruel rulers. Originally, a ‘tyrant’ was a morally neutral word...
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Episode 24: Ethnic Suffixes (-an, -ian, -ean, -ish, -ese, -i) from 2017-03-25T17:43:59
English uses many different suffixes to indicate ethnicities. Each suffix entered the language independently, and each suffix has a story to tell. This episode attempts to elucidate the geopolit...
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Episode 24: Ethnic Suffixes (-an, -ian, -ean, -ish, -ese, -i) from 2017-03-25T17:43:59
English uses many different suffixes to indicate ethnicities. Each suffix entered the language independently, and each suffix has a story to tell. This episode attempts to elucidate the geopolit...
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Episode 23: Filibuster from 2017-03-10T16:05
Today's episode looks at the evolution of the modern sense of the word filibuster. Borrowed from a Dutch word meaning ‘pirate,’ ‘filibuster’ originally referred to Americans who organized unauth...
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Episode 22: Candidate from 2017-02-23T22:30:28
In this episode, we explore the origins of the word ‘candidate.’ It derives from candidus, the Latin word for ‘white,’ which describes the typical attire...
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Episode 21: Inauguration from 2017-02-12T01:06:50
The presidential inauguration is a tradition inherited from Ancient Rome. The word ‘inauguration’ is rooted in augury, the Ancient Roman practice of interpreting ...
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Episode 20: Letter C from 2017-01-27T14:51:31
The letter C has split personalities. Sometimes it has a hard K sound, and sometimes it has a soft S sound. Sometimes it's a part of letter combinations whose pro...
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Episode 20: Letter C from 2017-01-27T14:51:31
The letter C has split personalities. Sometimes it has a hard K sound, and sometimes it has a soft S sound. Sometimes it's a part of letter combinations whose pro...
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Episode 19: Tea from 2017-01-15T21:06:59
Words for ‘tea’ in languages around the world fall into one of two etymological categories: te-derived and cha-derived. Both are ultimately deri...
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Episode 18: Culture from 2017-01-04T03:48:03
According to literary critic Raymond Williams, culture is ‘one of two or three most complicated words in the English language.’ Today's narrative traces the word'...
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Episode 17: Two from 2016-12-21T07:30:53
The spelling of the word ‘two’ is un-phonetic. Today's episode explores the origins of its silent W and the circumstances that eroded its pronunciation. Along the...
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Episode 16: Cologne from 2016-12-10T22:50:35
Men's perfume known as cologne takes its name from the German city in which it was invented. But if Cologne is a German city, why does the perfume named after it ...
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Episode 15: Sinister from 2016-11-26T03:25:03
Today's episode explores the etymological and cultural connections between the words ‘sinister’ and ‘left,’ as in, ‘left-handed.’ In the world of Ancient Rome, the left hand was surrounded by an...
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Episode 14: Calqued Words from 2016-10-11T17:50:36
Calques are words or phrases whose meanings have been literally translated from one language into another, aka ‘loan translations.’ Words such as flea market, sky...
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Episode 14: Calqued Words from 2016-10-11T17:50:36
Calques are words or phrases whose meanings have been literally translated from one language into another, aka ‘loan translations.’ Words such as flea market, sky...
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Episode 13: Beg the Question from 2016-10-09T16:25:47
What is the ‘true’ meaning of the expression ‘to beg the question?’ Well, it depends on what you mean by true. Today, ‘to beg the question’ is often used...
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Episode 12: Ostracize from 2016-10-08T20:33:25
The word ostracism can be traced back to Ancient Athens. For the Ancient Athenians, ostracism was not a sociological phenomenon, but an electoral vote that sought to protect the integrity of dem...
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Episode 11: Amateur from 2016-10-08T04:17:55
The professional/amateur dichotomy portrays amateurs as inept and inexperienced, but amateurs haven’t always had a bad name. In fact, ‘amateur’ derived from the L...
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Episode 10: Handicap from 2016-09-13T14:06:57
The etymology of handicap is the source of a myth that dates back to sixteenth century England. The myth claims that ‘handicap’ is a mutated contraction of the ex...
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Episode 9 (Bonus Episode): Mouse (and Why Its Plural Form Is "Mice") from 2016-09-07T03:07:18
In today's episode, we look at the etymology of mouse, but really, it's a springboard into a far more complicated topic: the word "mice," its irregular plural form. Why do we say "mice" and not ...
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Episode 8: Cellular from 2016-08-26T21:38:43
The English language uses the word ‘cell’ in a handful of contexts. We have prison cells, brain cells, battery cells, and of course, cell phones. At first glance, these various uses of the word ...
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Episode 7: Digital from 2016-08-14T11:54:30
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Episode 6: Comfort from 2016-08-05T15:34:29
The word ‘comfort’ once described the spiritual consolation given by God to an individual. Today, it describes commercialized products like air conditioners, tenn...
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Episode 5: Meat from 2016-07-23T12:30:40
The word ‘meat’ once referred to all forms of solid food, not just animal flesh. In today's episode, we explore the ambiguities of the word ‘meat’ as it appears in the King James Bible. We also ...
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Episode 4 (Bonus Episode): Polysemous Words from 2016-07-08T04:18:20
This episode explores polysemy, the phenomenon by which a single word can have multiple meanings. Why do we use the word ‘foot’ in the compound word ‘footnote?’ Why does the word ‘decimation’ de...
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Episode 3: Weird from 2016-06-26T19:25:38
Today's episode looks at the Old English sense of the word wyrd. Originally, it wasn’t an adjective, but a noun that’s commonly translated into Modern En...
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Episode 2: Nice from 2016-06-10T22:18:30
‘Nice’ has gone through more changes than almost any other word in the English language. Over the course of seven centuries, it has been used to mean stupid, promiscuous, elegant, and effeminate...
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Episode 1: Villain from 2016-06-10T20:04:39
Welcome to Words for Granted! In this debut episode, we'll be looking at how villanus, the Latin word for ‘farmworker,’ became the Modern English word ‘v...
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