Marcie Sundaram
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alliterative.bsky.social
Marcie Sundaram
@alliterative.bsky.social
1.7K followers 250 following 1K posts
Interdisciplinarian, historical linguist, philologist, medievalist; I make videos & podcasts about words, history, and literature. Married to @AvenSarah. She/her
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alliterative.bsky.social
ICYMI
January 2, 2026 at 10:24 PM
alliterative.bsky.social
ICYMI
January 2, 2026 at 10:23 PM
alliterative.bsky.social
Hmm, I think that was more last year. How much more intrepid can I be!?
January 1, 2026 at 8:31 PM
alliterative.bsky.social
The surprisingly connected origins of "pyrotechnic" and "firework". #etymology #wordnerd #linguistics #HistoricalLinguistics #language #words #lingcomm #pyrotechnics #firework #NewYearsEve
www.youtube.com/shorts/uHZe3...
Pyrotechnic/Firework #Etymology
YouTube video by Alliterative
www.youtube.com
December 31, 2025 at 4:47 PM
alliterative.bsky.social
The #ConnectedAtBirth #etymology of the week is RESOLUTION/LOSE #wotd #resolution #resolutions #lose #NewYear #NewYearsEve #NewYearsResolution
Making any New Years resolutions tonight, like to go to the gym more often and lose a few pounds? Well that only makes sense, etymologically speaking. Resolution comes from Latin re- “again” + solvere “loosen, untie” from the Proto-Indo-European *se-lu- made up of the prefix *se- “apart” and *leu- “loosen, divide, cut apart”. This root through the Germanic branch gives us English lose.
December 29, 2025 at 5:58 PM
alliterative.bsky.social
ICYMI
December 26, 2025 at 10:58 PM
alliterative.bsky.social
ICYMI
December 26, 2025 at 10:58 PM
alliterative.bsky.social
Watching Home Alone for the first time. Already enjoying the John Williams soundtrack
December 25, 2025 at 2:11 AM
alliterative.bsky.social
The surprisingly connected origins of "wassail" and "health". #etymology #wordnerd #linguistics #HistoricalLinguistics #language #words #lingcomm #wassail #health #toast youtube.com/shorts/HnAlm...
Wassail/Health #Etymology
YouTube video by Alliterative
youtube.com
December 24, 2025 at 5:13 PM
alliterative.bsky.social
The #ConnectedAtBirth #etymology of the week is YULE/JOKE #wotd #Yule #Yuletide #joke #cracker #ChristmasCracker #Christmas #Christmas2025
Over the Yuletide season, you may sit down to dinner and pull one of those Christmas crackers, which in addition to their bang will give you a tissue paper crown, a small trinket, and a terrible joke. And you know what, that joke may be etymologically the perfect thing for Yule. Because you see, Yule, which originally referred not to Christmas but a pagan Germanic midwinter fertility festival, may ultimately descend from the Proto-Indo-European root *yek- “to speak”, from which we also get words such as joke, juggle, and jewel, probably through the notion of festivity. Unless Yule comes from the root *kwel- “to turn” because of the turning of the year that happens at that time.
December 22, 2025 at 6:00 PM
alliterative.bsky.social
ICYMI
December 19, 2025 at 9:13 PM
alliterative.bsky.social
ICYMI
December 19, 2025 at 9:12 PM
alliterative.bsky.social
The surprisingly connected origins of "vice" (as in vice-president) and "weak". #etymology #wordnerd #linguistics #HistoricalLinguistics #language #words #lingcomm #vice #vicepresident #weak

youtube.com/shorts/fn-gk...
Vice/Weak #Etymology
YouTube video by Alliterative
youtube.com
December 17, 2025 at 5:15 PM
alliterative.bsky.social
The #ConnectedAtBirth #etymology of the week is PARTRIDGE/FART #wotd #partridge #fart #Christmas #Xmas #TheTwelveDaysOfChristmas #The12DaysOfChristmas
Next time you sing the Christmas carol The Twelve Days of Christmas, don’t interrupt the partridge to fart loudly. Or perhaps you should. Because the only English word related to partridge is the word fart. These words descend from the Proto-Indo-European root *perd- “to fart loudly”. Apparently the sound of the partridge’s wings beating was reminiscent of the farting sound.
December 15, 2025 at 8:06 PM
alliterative.bsky.social
ICYMI
December 12, 2025 at 11:29 PM
alliterative.bsky.social
ICYMI
December 12, 2025 at 11:29 PM
alliterative.bsky.social
The surprisingly connected origins of "stream" and "rhythm".

#etymology #wordnerd #linguistics #HistoricalLinguistics #language #words #lingcomm #stream #rhythm

youtube.com/shorts/upLX8...
Stream/Rhythm #Etymology
YouTube video by Alliterative
youtube.com
December 10, 2025 at 4:46 PM
alliterative.bsky.social
The #ConnectedAtBirth #etymology of the week is RUDOLPH/WOLF #wotd #Rudolph #wolf #RudolphTheRedNosedReindeer
#Christmas #Christmas2025 #Xmas
As it turns out, all of the other reindeer probably should have been shunning Rudolph, as he seems to be a wolf in reindeer’s clothing. The name of that most famous reindeer of all, Rudolph, literally means “famous-wolf”, the -olph part related to the word wolf, a common Germanic name element found in the name of the hero Beowulf, and the first part from Germanic hruod “fame, glory”, also a Germanic name element also found in the name Roger, literally “famous spear”.
December 8, 2025 at 4:55 PM
alliterative.bsky.social
Far too many food pics in my camera roll to choose from, so here’s the most recent, the shrimp-filled ice bowl I made for this year’s cocktail party
#SundayPixMemorableFood
Ice bowl with wildflowers frozen in the clear ice, filled with shrimp
December 7, 2025 at 7:50 PM
alliterative.bsky.social
ICYMI
December 5, 2025 at 11:21 PM
alliterative.bsky.social
ICYMI
December 5, 2025 at 11:21 PM
alliterative.bsky.social
The surprisingly connected origins of "vital" and "quick". #etymology #wordnerd #linguistics #HistoricalLinguistics #language #words #lingcomm #vital #quick
youtube.com/shorts/-ZGI9...
Vital/Quick #Etymology
YouTube video by Alliterative
youtube.com
December 3, 2025 at 5:20 PM
alliterative.bsky.social
The #ConnectedAtBirth #etymology of the week is ADVENT/DIABETES #wotd #advent #diabetes #diabetic #AdventCalendar
Many people are enjoying their chocolate-filled Advent calendars right now, but of course those who are diabetic have to make sure they don’t eat too many sugary treats. Advent, the period preceding Christmas, in reference to the “coming” of Christ, first appeared in English as aduent in late Old English, coming from Latin adventus “a coming, approach, arrival”, with specific reference in Church Latin to “the coming of the Savior”, and is the past participle of the Latin verb advenire “to arrive at, come to”, made up from ad “to, toward” (from Proto-Indo-European *ad- “to, near, at”) + venire “to come”, from *gw(e)m-yo-, a suffixed variant form of the PIE root *gwa- “to go, come”. PIE *gw- typically becomes v- in Latin, pronounced [w], but in Greek this consonant went a number of different ways such as b, d, or g, so *gwa- produced the Greek verb bainein “to go, walk, step”, which, when combined with the prefix dia- “through” (probably from PIE *dwo- “two”), produced the verb diabainein “to pass through” and the Late Greek noun diabetes, literally “a passer-through, siphon”. The 2nd c. CE Greek physician Aretaeus the Cappadocian first used the term diabetes to refer to the disease because of its chief symptom “excessive discharge of urine”.
December 1, 2025 at 7:40 PM
alliterative.bsky.social
ICYMI
alliterative.bsky.social Marcie Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · Nov 22
Check out my new single “If This Is Love”, a song I wrote when I was a teenager but recently recorded! Available on all the platforms: distrokid.com/hyperfollow/... #newsong #newsingle #music
November 28, 2025 at 11:46 PM
alliterative.bsky.social
ICYMI
November 28, 2025 at 11:46 PM