When I started learning German, it was funny to see how Lego-like the language was. It made it easy and fun when you could pick…
[Jorge Diz Pico]
When I started learning German, it was funny to see how Lego-like the language was. It made it easy and fun when you could pick…
pornography is a word the French (pornographie) took from the Greek (pornographos), where it meant “depicting prostitutes” (-graphos “write” or “draw”). porno meant “prostitute” after…
Foto dun grupo de turistas vendo o solpor en Cinque Terre.
Foto dun grupo de amigos paseando pola ribeira dun río.
In my Facebook, I used to tell little anecdotes from when I travel to a place where they speak a different language or dialect. Now…
This one won’t be about etymology. Let’s diversify our topics! Rather, let’s talk semantics. There’s an often cited mantra in linguistics that every language can…
We use hush, besides for talking about a great Buffy episode, to speak of a silence. It can also be used as an imperative to…
A person that turns into a wolf is a werewolf. It doesn’t take a genius to suspect that were must be some kind of root meaning…
Wow! Here in northern Spain we usually have rain all year around, as well as cloudy gray skies. But this weekend, the heavens were clear…
According to the Rolling Stones, the devil introduces himself as a man of wealth and taste. We use the verb to introduce in a meeting…
Proto Indo-European *bha meaning to speak or say has been extremely prolific. From it we have gotten: Through Latin fama (reputation): fame, famous, fable, fabulous,…
Semicolon (“;”) is derived from colon (“:”). For a moment there I was tempted to leave the post at that point, but I’m saving the…
Today I’m going to talk about the Spanish alphabet, but a quick and non-scientific look seems to indicate that the same things apply to the…
Background: a ouija is a way of contacting the deceased. It consists of a wooden board with the alphabet engrained, around which the participants gather.…
Peculiar name, that of Rugby. Not as straightforward as football or basketball. Thought I should mention that there’s an alternative explanation for football where it is…
This is going to be a quick entry, but I just found out and I’m mindblown. I was curious about the etymology for neighbour. Apparently,…
Today is the Day of the Galician Language, as every May 17th. I will pay homage by researching on the etymology of some of its…
Canvas comes from the latin cannabis for hemp, after the materials they used to be made of. I do not recommend smoking any paintings though.…
Ah, the berserks! If fantasy has taught us anything, it’s to never stand in front of a furious, muscular, huge warrior wielding an axe. It…
Today’s entry is about bats. That should be cool. Let’s start with Galician/Portuguese. In them, bat is morcego, coming from the latin words for mouse…