Linguist Answers Word Origin Questions | Tech Support | WIRED

Etymology and the Evolution of Words

• The study of the origin and development of words is called atmology, which is a part of historical linguistics that examines language over time and how it changes (14s).
• The word "gossip" originated from the Old English period, where a "godib" referred to someone who had a godfather or godmother relationship with you, and was later used to describe a person who shares gossip (35s).
• Words can become less or more gender-neutral over time, such as the word "bro," which comes from "brother" but is now used to refer to friends regardless of gender (1m11s).
• In Old English, the word "man" was a general term for people, while the word "wer" referred specifically to males, but "man" eventually became associated with males due to societal norms (1m27s).

Origins and Changes in Word Meanings

• The Old English word for "man" is related to the word "world," which comes from the Proto-Germanic words "wer" meaning "man" and "ald" meaning "age" or "age of man" (1m51s).
• The word "guy" originated from the name of Guy Fawkes, who was executed in the Gunpowder Plot, and was later used to refer to someone who was disheveled or grotesque-looking, but in America, it was used as a generic term for a man (2m11s).
• English spelling can be unusual due to changes in pronunciation over time, such as the silent letters in words like "knight" and "gnome," which were once pronounced but are no longer (2m49s).
• The addition of silent letters to words can also occur when words are borrowed into the language, such as the word "doubt," which originally had no "b" but was later added due to its Latin origin (3m29s).
• Effective taboos can lead to the creation of new words, such as "unalived," as people try to skirt around words they are not meant to use, often due to social media-implemented taboos (3m52s).
• The English word "bear" does not come from the same place as most other Indo-European languages, instead tracing back to the Proto-European word for "brown," with theories suggesting this may be due to people not wanting to invoke the horror of the big scary creature by using the word (4m17s).

Sound Changes and Linguistic Laws

• Grim's law refers to a set of sound changes that occurred in the Germanic languages, such as English, Millennia ago, where P became F and C became H, as seen in words like "fish" and "father" compared to their Latin cognates "piscus" and "ped" (4m58s).
• The changes in sound can be understood by imagining pronouncing the same sound over and over, such as "p" eventually becoming "f" (5m36s).

Euphemisms and Taboo Words

• Certain topics, such as sex, defecation, and death, are often avoided in conversation, leading to the creation of euphemisms, like the word "piss" originating from imitating the sound of urination (6m18s).
• The word "piss" itself eventually stopped feeling euphemistic, leading to the use of the word "p" as a shortened form, similar to "f" for "f-off" (6m34s).

Word Formation and Creation

• Humans create new words by combining existing words or using iconic forms, such as combining "frog" and "house" to create "frog house," rather than inventing completely new words from nothing (7m3s).
• Iconic forms can be used to refer to something when there is a lack of common language, such as acting out the idea of cow's milk by mimicking milking a cow (7m29s).
• The process of shortening words or phrases over time is a common occurrence in language development, as seen in the example of "Glo Glo moo" potentially being shortened to "Glo moo" in future interactions (7m46s).

Semantic Shifts and Language Development

• The word "but" in English originally meant "outside," implying physical separation, and later shifted to mean "without" or "except" in an abstract sense (8m4s).
• The development of language is a fascinating aspect of human experience, with languages likely having been around for at least 100,000 years, and possibly hundreds of thousands of years (8m46s).
• It is unclear whether all vocal languages have a common ancestor, but most European languages and some Asian languages belong to the same family, known as Proto-Indo-European (9m6s).

Language Families and Proto-Indo-European

• Proto-Indo-European is believed to have been spoken around 6,000 years ago by nomadic pastoralists in the Pontic-Caspian step, and its words can be reconstructed to infer the lifestyle of its speakers (9m14s).
• The language family tree can be used to show the relationships between languages, with the Germanic branch including languages like Dutch, Frisian, and English, and the Indo-European language family including languages like French, Italian, and Hindi (10m2s).
• Cognates are words in different languages that come from a common root, such as the English word "father" and the Latin word "pater," which can be traced back to a reconstructed Proto-Indo-European word (10m43s).
• The root of the word "father" also appears in other languages and cultures, such as in the name of the Roman god Jupiter, which means "sky father" (11m17s).
• The Indo-European languages can be traced back to Proto-Indo-European, and the Afroasiatic languages can be traced back to Proto-Afroasiatic, which dates back around 10,000 to 15,000 years (11m45s).
• The origins of language families can be traced back roughly 17,000 years, but it's difficult to reconstruct common ancestors due to a high noise-to-signal ratio, making it hard to feel confident about the reconstructions (11m47s).

Human Communication and Language Origins

• Language is specific to humans, but communication is a universal trait that can be observed in other primate species, and humans likely used gestures and sounds to communicate before the development of language (12m16s).
• Complex syntax rules and constraints that organize words into sentences are unique to humans and evolved over time, allowing for the creation of complex meanings (12m30s).

Onomatopoeia and Baby Talk

• When encountering a new object or animal, people often create words based on sounds or characteristics, such as the word for cat in ancient Egyptian, which resembles the sound "mew" (13m2s).
• Words like "bang," "woof," and "meow" are examples of onomatopoeias, which imitate the sounds they describe, and are found in many languages (13m14s).
• Words like "dada," "mama," and "papa" are based on the babbling sounds made by babies, and these words are often reinvented across languages and cultures (13m22s).

Borrowing and Linguistic Mistakes

• The word "orange" originated from Sanskrit and was passed through Arabic, Spanish, and French before entering the English language, with the Spanish word "naran" being reinterpreted as "an orange" due to the association with the indefinite article (14m6s).
• Mistakes in language can sometimes give birth to new words, such as the word "apron," which was originally "napron" but was reinterpreted as "an apron" (14m31s).

Etymology of Specific Words

• The word "poop" likely originated from a word meaning "fart," and its meaning was later euphemistically extended to refer to other bodily waste (14m49s).

Seasonal Terminology and Word Origins

• The word "fall" was not the original English word for the season, but rather "harvest," which was later replaced by "fall" in the 16th century, while "autumn" was also used, but "fall" became more commonly used in American English (15m13s).
• The words "fall" and "autumn" were both used in the 16th century to refer to the season, with "fall" coming from the Old English word "fall" and "autumn" being a borrowing from Latin via French (15m36s).

The Evolution of "Demure"

• The word "demure" has been around since Middle English and probably comes from French, meaning "mature", although the origin of the "du" part is unknown (15m59s).
• The word "demure" has recently gained popularity on TikTok, with people using the phrase "very demure" to refer to various things, showcasing how people like to have fun with language (16m14s).

Slang and Generational Language

• Every generation has experienced a disconnect with the slang used by younger people, with kids not wanting to sound like their parents or their parents' generation (16m46s).
• Slang words often don't get written down in formal writing, but can be found in ancient graffiti, and sometimes survive into modern languages as ordinary words (17m9s).

Word Origins and Semantic Change

• The Latin word for "head" is "caput", but in modern romance languages, words like "testa" in Italian are used, which originally meant "pot" or "potsherd" (17m32s).
• The origin of the word "no" is unknown, but it is a shortening of "nun", which comes from "nan", meaning "not one", and is similar to its Proto-European ancestor "n" (18m7s).
• The word "no" may have originated from the face babies make when they refuse something, but this is just a suggested possibility (18m23s).

The Great Vowel Shift and Sound Changes

• The "great bowel shift" refers to a change in the pronunciation of vowels in the late 14th century, where people started pronouncing vowels differently, such as the word "bit" being pronounced with the tongue further up in the mouth (19m13s).
• The English language has undergone significant changes, such as the shift from "fowl" to "foul" and "bought" to "boot," due to the movement of sounds towards the front of the mouth, resulting in words like "beat" and "bite" (19m30s).

Shakespeare's Vocabulary

• Shakespeare did not invent as many words as people think, and many writers of the same period had similar or larger vocabularies; instead, he often wrote down words that already existed, making him the first recorded instance of their use (19m56s).
• Shakespeare did, however, come up with many fantastic terms and phrases, such as "one fell swoop," and may have been the first person to use certain words like "mockable" (20m18s).

The Decline of "Thee" and "Thou"

• English stopped using "thee" and "thou" because, around the early medieval period, people started using "you" for singulars as well as plurals, possibly due to the influence of Latin or the desire to show respect (20m58s).
• The use of "you" for singulars became more widespread, especially in the southeast of England, around the 17th century, while certain religious groups like the Quakers continued to use "thee" and "thou" (21m37s).

Etymology of "Word" and "Pregnant"

• The English word "word" comes from an Old English root meaning "speech" and originally indicated completed action, with the word "word" meaning something like "spoken" (22m1s).
• The word "pregnant" was not invented by a single person, but rather comes from the combination of "pre-" meaning "before" and "nant" from the word "nasci" meaning "give birth" (22m26s).
• The Spanish word "embarazo" for pregnancy is related to the English word "embarrassed" and originally comes from an Arabic word "maraza" meaning "rope," which referred to being entangled or inconvenienced (22m47s).

Etymology of "Embarrassed" and "Dog"

• The word "embarass" was used as a euphemism for pregnant, and the Spanish word "embarass" is derived from "embarazar," which means something that always fascinates (23m18s).
• The origin of the word "dog" is unknown, as it appeared in late medieval English without a known root word, making it a mystery in etymology (23m26s).
• The word "hound" became more specialized, and the general word for dog is "dog," which is one of a set of words, including "pig," "hog," and "frog," that have an unknown origin and had a "CGA" ending in Old English (23m44s).
• These words, including "dog," were likely used as cute, expressive words in informal settings, such as in the nursery, and were not often recorded in formal writing (24m6s).
• The use of the word "doggo" may be taking the word "dog" back to its origins, as it is a colloquial or informal term (24m17s).