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Marcie Sundaram

Marcie Sundaram

@alliterative.bsky.social

1.7K followers 250 following 990 posts

Interdisciplinarian, historical linguist, philologist, medievalist; I make videos & podcasts about words, history, and literature. Married to @AvenSarah. She/her

Posts Replies Media Videos

Marcie Sundaram

@alliterative.bsky.social

The #ConnectedAtBirth #etymology of the week is MAYOR/MAJOR #wotd #mayor #major #ZohranForNYC #Mamdani

The cause of progressivism in the US won a major victory with the election of Zohran Mamdami as mayor of New York City, and etymologically that makes sense. The word mayor, borrowed from Old French maire ca. 1300 in the sense “head of a city or town government” but with the original sense “greater, superior”, comes from Latin maior, the comparative form of the adjective magnus “large, great, big, high, tall, long, broad, extensive, spacious”. Latin maior was also borrowed directly into English in its original sense of “bigger, greater, more important” as major.

November 10, 2025 at 6:30 PM

Marcie Sundaram

@alliterative.bsky.social

An Etruscan mirror. Needs a bit of a polish. #sundaypixmirror

Etruscan bronze mirror in a display case at the British museum

November 9, 2025 at 4:14 PM

Marcie Sundaram

@alliterative.bsky.social

New cover song! My version of “Mess Around” originally performed by Ray Charles! Check out the full song here: youtu.be/TKuv17boF4w?...

November 9, 2025 at 12:44 AM

Marcie Sundaram

@alliterative.bsky.social

ICYMI

Marcie Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · 11d

Watch now the lyric video of my new single “Interesting Times”! 🎸🎬⏰
#NewSong #NewSingle #LyricVideo #InterestingTimes

youtu.be/DrQby_xnkRY?...

Interesting Times | lyric video

YouTube video by Rockin’ Pneumonia

November 7, 2025 at 9:39 PM

Marcie Sundaram

@alliterative.bsky.social

ICYMI

Marcie Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · 6d

The surprisingly connected origins of "energy" and "work". #etymology #wordnerd #linguistics #HistoricalLinguistics #language #words #lingcomm #energy #work

youtube.com/shorts/4fUIq...

Energy/Work #Etymology

YouTube video by Alliterative

November 7, 2025 at 9:27 PM

Marcie Sundaram

@alliterative.bsky.social

ICYMI

Marcie Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · 8d

The #ConnectedAtBirth #etymology of the week is NUCLEAR/TEST/NUT/TESTICLES #wotd #nuclear #test #nut #testicle #NuclearTesting

Trump’s plan for the US to restart testing of nuclear weapons is nuts and shows that he’s thinking with his testicles rather than his brains. Nuclear, formed from nucleus in reference to the splitting of the nucleus of the atom, comes from Latin nucleus “kernel” from nucula “little nut”, the diminutive of nux “nut”, which can be traced back to the Proto-Indo-European *knuk-, an extended zero-grade form of the root *kneu- “nut”, which also had the extended zero-grade form *knud- which produced the Proto-Germanic root *hnut- leading to Old English hnutu “nut” and Modern English nut. Since nuts were considered a special treat the plural nuts gained the sense “any source of pleasure or delight” in the 17th c., and in the 18th c. the expression be nuts on meant “be very fond of”, and by the 19th c. nuts came to mean “crazy”. The slang sense of nuts meaning “testicles” first appears by 1915. As for the word testicle itself, it comes from Latin testiculus, a diminutive of testis “testicle”, whose origin is debated, either from another Latin word testis meaning “witness” (source of the English word testify), from the notion that testicles bear witness to male virility, or it might instead be a figurative sense coming from the Latin word testa “pot, shell” — compare for instance French tête “head” which also comes from Latin testa. In Medieval Latin, testum “earthen pot” referred to an earthen vessel, also known as a cupel, in which the purity of a metal was ascertained by exposing it to high temperatures, and by analogy came the English word test by which a teacher may ascertain a student’s knowledge.

November 7, 2025 at 9:27 PM

Marcie Sundaram

@alliterative.bsky.social

The surprisingly connected origins of "energy" and "work". #etymology #wordnerd #linguistics #HistoricalLinguistics #language #words #lingcomm #energy #work

youtube.com/shorts/4fUIq...

Energy/Work #Etymology

YouTube video by Alliterative

November 5, 2025 at 5:41 PM

Marcie Sundaram

@alliterative.bsky.social

The #ConnectedAtBirth #etymology of the week is NUCLEAR/TEST/NUT/TESTICLES #wotd #nuclear #test #nut #testicle #NuclearTesting

Trump’s plan for the US to restart testing of nuclear weapons is nuts and shows that he’s thinking with his testicles rather than his brains. Nuclear, formed from nucleus in reference to the splitting of the nucleus of the atom, comes from Latin nucleus “kernel” from nucula “little nut”, the diminutive of nux “nut”, which can be traced back to the Proto-Indo-European *knuk-, an extended zero-grade form of the root *kneu- “nut”, which also had the extended zero-grade form *knud- which produced the Proto-Germanic root *hnut- leading to Old English hnutu “nut” and Modern English nut. Since nuts were considered a special treat the plural nuts gained the sense “any source of pleasure or delight” in the 17th c., and in the 18th c. the expression be nuts on meant “be very fond of”, and by the 19th c. nuts came to mean “crazy”. The slang sense of nuts meaning “testicles” first appears by 1915. As for the word testicle itself, it comes from Latin testiculus, a diminutive of testis “testicle”, whose origin is debated, either from another Latin word testis meaning “witness” (source of the English word testify), from the notion that testicles bear witness to male virility, or it might instead be a figurative sense coming from the Latin word testa “pot, shell” — compare for instance French tête “head” which also comes from Latin testa. In Medieval Latin, testum “earthen pot” referred to an earthen vessel, also known as a cupel, in which the purity of a metal was ascertained by exposing it to high temperatures, and by analogy came the English word test by which a teacher may ascertain a student’s knowledge.

November 3, 2025 at 6:58 PM

Marcie Sundaram

@alliterative.bsky.social

Watch now the lyric video of my new single “Interesting Times”! 🎸🎬⏰
#NewSong #NewSingle #LyricVideo #InterestingTimes

youtu.be/DrQby_xnkRY?...

Interesting Times | lyric video

YouTube video by Rockin’ Pneumonia

October 31, 2025 at 11:56 PM

Marcie Sundaram

@alliterative.bsky.social

ICYMI

Marcie Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · 13d

The surprisingly connected origins of "cancel", "culture", and "polarize".

m.youtube.com/shorts/clTMW...

#etymology #wordnerd #linguistics #HistoricalLinguistics #language #words #lingcomm #cancel #culture #cancelculture #polarizing #TaylorSwiftCancelled #CancelledSong

Cancel/Culture/Polarize

YouTube video by Alliterative

October 31, 2025 at 10:13 PM

Marcie Sundaram

@alliterative.bsky.social

ICYMI

Marcie Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · 15d

The #ConnectedAtBirth #etymology of the week is FRANKENSTEIN/FRANCHISE/MONSTER/MONEY #wotd #Frankenstein #franchise #monster #money

It’s spooky season, and right on cue there’s a new monster movie in the moneymaking Frankenstein franchise, and etymologically that’s appropriate. Mary Shelley named the creator of the monster Victor Frankenstein, and this German name means literally “stone of the Franks”, the Franks being one of the Germanic tribes that dates back to the middle ages, which moved into Gaul, or modern day France. It’s a common enough German name, often being used to refer to a rocky mountainous terrain, and there are a number of old fortifications in Germany named Burg Frankenstein or Castle Frankenstein. The Franks, who took their name from a type of javelin that was their preferred weapon (or it might have been the other way around), were conquerors, and so the word frank came to mean “superior” or “free” (in contrast to those they conquered who weren’t free), so when you speak frankly you’re speaking “freely” or “openly”. We can see this sense too in the Old French word franchise “freedom, exemption; right, privilege”, which came into English in the late 14th c. with the sense “a special right or privilege (by grant of a sovereign or government)”, later developing into “right to buy or sell” and “right to exclude others from buying or selling, a monopoly” and in the 20th c. “authorization by a company to sell its products or services” and by extension “a series of related works (such as novels or films) each of which includes the same characters or different characters that are understood to exist and interact in the same fictional universe with characters from the other works”. Monster comes from Latin monstrum, which could refer to a “monster” or something with an abnormal shape, but really had the more general sense of “omen” or “portent”, since such abnormalities were taken as a sign, usually bad, of what was to come.

The word comes from the verb monere “to remind, admonish, warn, instruct”, so literally a monster is a “warning”, and because of a particular incident in ancient Rome when the sacred geese around the temple of the goddess Juno honked loudly warning the Romans of a surprise nighttime attack by the Gauls, a Celtic tribe, she was given the epithet Juno Moneta from that same word monere, which was transfered to the contents of that temple, which was where coins were struck and stored, passing through Old French to give us the English word money.

October 31, 2025 at 10:13 PM

Marcie Sundaram

@alliterative.bsky.social

COVID and flu vaccinations double whammy. Efficient, but which side will I be able to sleep on tonight… 🤔

October 29, 2025 at 8:44 PM

Marcie Sundaram

@alliterative.bsky.social

The surprisingly connected origins of "cancel", "culture", and "polarize".

m.youtube.com/shorts/clTMW...

#etymology #wordnerd #linguistics #HistoricalLinguistics #language #words #lingcomm #cancel #culture #cancelculture #polarizing #TaylorSwiftCancelled #CancelledSong

Cancel/Culture/Polarize

YouTube video by Alliterative

October 29, 2025 at 5:06 PM

Reposted by Marcie Sundaram

Marcie Sundaram

@alliterative.bsky.social

Check out my new single “Interesting Times” on your platform of choice!

distrokid.com/hyperfollow/...

October 28, 2025 at 1:38 AM

Marcie Sundaram

@alliterative.bsky.social

Check out my new single “Interesting Times” on your platform of choice!

distrokid.com/hyperfollow/...

October 28, 2025 at 1:38 AM

Marcie Sundaram

@alliterative.bsky.social

The #ConnectedAtBirth #etymology of the week is FRANKENSTEIN/FRANCHISE/MONSTER/MONEY #wotd #Frankenstein #franchise #monster #money

It’s spooky season, and right on cue there’s a new monster movie in the moneymaking Frankenstein franchise, and etymologically that’s appropriate. Mary Shelley named the creator of the monster Victor Frankenstein, and this German name means literally “stone of the Franks”, the Franks being one of the Germanic tribes that dates back to the middle ages, which moved into Gaul, or modern day France. It’s a common enough German name, often being used to refer to a rocky mountainous terrain, and there are a number of old fortifications in Germany named Burg Frankenstein or Castle Frankenstein. The Franks, who took their name from a type of javelin that was their preferred weapon (or it might have been the other way around), were conquerors, and so the word frank came to mean “superior” or “free” (in contrast to those they conquered who weren’t free), so when you speak frankly you’re speaking “freely” or “openly”. We can see this sense too in the Old French word franchise “freedom, exemption; right, privilege”, which came into English in the late 14th c. with the sense “a special right or privilege (by grant of a sovereign or government)”, later developing into “right to buy or sell” and “right to exclude others from buying or selling, a monopoly” and in the 20th c. “authorization by a company to sell its products or services” and by extension “a series of related works (such as novels or films) each of which includes the same characters or different characters that are understood to exist and interact in the same fictional universe with characters from the other works”. Monster comes from Latin monstrum, which could refer to a “monster” or something with an abnormal shape, but really had the more general sense of “omen” or “portent”, since such abnormalities were taken as a sign, usually bad, of what was to come.

The word comes from the verb monere “to remind, admonish, warn, instruct”, so literally a monster is a “warning”, and because of a particular incident in ancient Rome when the sacred geese around the temple of the goddess Juno honked loudly warning the Romans of a surprise nighttime attack by the Gauls, a Celtic tribe, she was given the epithet Juno Moneta from that same word monere, which was transfered to the contents of that temple, which was where coins were struck and stored, passing through Old French to give us the English word money.

October 27, 2025 at 5:20 PM

Marcie Sundaram

@alliterative.bsky.social

Nothing makes me feel happier than thinking of times spent with people I love and who love me, & I certainly love you dear Wombat. Here we are from the Beatles tour we went on together, seeing all the Liverpool sights and singing Beatles songs!
#SundayPixWombie
#SundayPixWombat
@wombat37.bsky.social

October 26, 2025 at 7:57 PM

Marcie Sundaram

@alliterative.bsky.social

Now available on all your favourite platforms: “Interesting Times”, a song about change!

distrokid.com/hyperfollow/...

October 25, 2025 at 2:58 AM

Marcie Sundaram

@alliterative.bsky.social

ICYMI

Marcie Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · 20d

The surprisingly connected origins of "flu" and "influence".

youtube.com/shorts/HGVoe...

#etymology #wordnerd #linguistics #HistoricalLinguistics #language #words #lingcomm #flu #influence #influenza #astrology #flushot

Flu/Influence #Etymology

YouTube video by Alliterative

October 24, 2025 at 8:33 PM

Marcie Sundaram

@alliterative.bsky.social

ICYMI

Marcie Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · 22d

The #ConnectedAtBirth #etymology of the week is CEASEFIRE/SUCCEED #wotd #ceasefire #succeed

Negotiators have succeeded in establishing a ceasefire, and in addition to this being a tremendous relief it’s also etymologically appropriate. Ceasefire first appeared in the 19th c., initially as a military command to stop shooting (as in sounding the ceasefire with bugles), and then as a (temporary) truce itself at the end of the First World War, developing from the verb phrase cease fire. The word cease first appeared in English around 1300, coming from Old French cesser “to come to an end, stop, cease; give up, desist”, from Latin cessare “to be remiss, delay, loiter, cease from, stop, give over”, the frequentative form of cedere “to go, to go from, to yield, withdraw, depart, retire, yield”, ultimately traceable back to the Proto-Indo-European root *ked- “to go, yield”. Latin cedere was also combined with sub “under, below, beneath, underneath, behind” which as a prefix could have the meaning “next to, after, in addition to”, producing succedere “to go below, come under, enter; to follow, follow after, succeed”, which passed into Old French as succeder “to follow on”, and coming into English in the 14th c. initially with the sense “to come next after and take the place of”, as in “succeeding to a position of rule or an estate”, and then by the 15th c. developing its modern sense of “to turn out well, arrive at a happy issue, have a favourable result, terminate according to desire” as a shortening of the phrase to succeed well. And of course for a lasting peace, diplomacy is always necessary, a word also from this same PIE root, from the prefixed and suffixed form *ne-ked-ti- “(there is) no drawing back”, which became Latin necesse “inevitable, unavoidable” before passing through Old French into English.

October 24, 2025 at 8:33 PM

Marcie Sundaram

@alliterative.bsky.social

#NewSong “Interesting Times”! 🎸

distrokid.com/hyperfollow/...

October 24, 2025 at 4:08 AM

Marcie Sundaram

@alliterative.bsky.social

New song coming tomorrow! 🎸
distrokid.com/hyperfollow/...

October 23, 2025 at 9:31 PM

Marcie Sundaram

@alliterative.bsky.social

The surprisingly connected origins of "flu" and "influence".

youtube.com/shorts/HGVoe...

#etymology #wordnerd #linguistics #HistoricalLinguistics #language #words #lingcomm #flu #influence #influenza #astrology #flushot

Flu/Influence #Etymology

YouTube video by Alliterative

October 22, 2025 at 7:33 PM

Marcie Sundaram

@alliterative.bsky.social

🚨New song alert!🚨 Coming soon “Interesting Times”, a song about how change can be both positive and negative, both scary and exciting! 🎸

distrokid.com/hyperfollow/...

Interesting Times by Mark Sundaram

Stream and Pre-save Interesting Times - Distributed by DistroKid

October 22, 2025 at 2:03 AM

Marcie Sundaram

@alliterative.bsky.social

The #ConnectedAtBirth #etymology of the week is CEASEFIRE/SUCCEED #wotd #ceasefire #succeed

Negotiators have succeeded in establishing a ceasefire, and in addition to this being a tremendous relief it’s also etymologically appropriate. Ceasefire first appeared in the 19th c., initially as a military command to stop shooting (as in sounding the ceasefire with bugles), and then as a (temporary) truce itself at the end of the First World War, developing from the verb phrase cease fire. The word cease first appeared in English around 1300, coming from Old French cesser “to come to an end, stop, cease; give up, desist”, from Latin cessare “to be remiss, delay, loiter, cease from, stop, give over”, the frequentative form of cedere “to go, to go from, to yield, withdraw, depart, retire, yield”, ultimately traceable back to the Proto-Indo-European root *ked- “to go, yield”. Latin cedere was also combined with sub “under, below, beneath, underneath, behind” which as a prefix could have the meaning “next to, after, in addition to”, producing succedere “to go below, come under, enter; to follow, follow after, succeed”, which passed into Old French as succeder “to follow on”, and coming into English in the 14th c. initially with the sense “to come next after and take the place of”, as in “succeeding to a position of rule or an estate”, and then by the 15th c. developing its modern sense of “to turn out well, arrive at a happy issue, have a favourable result, terminate according to desire” as a shortening of the phrase to succeed well. And of course for a lasting peace, diplomacy is always necessary, a word also from this same PIE root, from the prefixed and suffixed form *ne-ked-ti- “(there is) no drawing back”, which became Latin necesse “inevitable, unavoidable” before passing through Old French into English.

October 20, 2025 at 4:52 PM