Word Family Friday
@wordfamilyfriday.bsky.social
᚛ᚐᚔᚇᚐᚌᚅᚔ᚜
Explorations of Etymology / Historical Linguistics. Usually on Fridays.
www.aidanem.com
Tips: https://ko-fi.com/aidanem
Subscription: https://www.patreon.com/aidanem
Explorations of Etymology / Historical Linguistics. Usually on Fridays.
www.aidanem.com
Tips: https://ko-fi.com/aidanem
Subscription: https://www.patreon.com/aidanem
English "tram stop" translates into Vietnamese as "trạm xe điện".
"xe điện": "tram"
"trạm": "stop"
"xe điện": "tram"
"trạm": "stop"
December 2, 2025 at 6:38 PM
English "tram stop" translates into Vietnamese as "trạm xe điện".
"xe điện": "tram"
"trạm": "stop"
"xe điện": "tram"
"trạm": "stop"
Farewell to bounced Czech Sir Tom Stoppard (né Tomáš Sträussler). May his memory be a blessing.
November 30, 2025 at 2:53 AM
Farewell to bounced Czech Sir Tom Stoppard (né Tomáš Sträussler). May his memory be a blessing.
Story time! The star Betelgeuse gets its name from Arabic يد الجوزاء <Yad al-Jawzāʾ>: "Hand of Orion" (kind of, see below). In the 1200s this was misread as بد الجوزاء <Bad al-Jawzāʾ>, and was transliterated into Latin as "Bedalgeuze."
🧵 1/10
🧵 1/10
November 28, 2025 at 10:40 PM
Story time! The star Betelgeuse gets its name from Arabic يد الجوزاء <Yad al-Jawzāʾ>: "Hand of Orion" (kind of, see below). In the 1200s this was misread as بد الجوزاء <Bad al-Jawzāʾ>, and was transliterated into Latin as "Bedalgeuze."
🧵 1/10
🧵 1/10
Thanksgiving reminds me that the $1 level of my patreon is "Þankō Þek", and there is a special where you get the $3 rewards currently
patreon.com/aidanem
patreon.com/aidanem
Get more from AidanEM on Patreon
creating Word Family Friday
patreon.com
November 27, 2025 at 8:29 PM
Thanksgiving reminds me that the $1 level of my patreon is "Þankō Þek", and there is a special where you get the $3 rewards currently
patreon.com/aidanem
patreon.com/aidanem
Reposted by Word Family Friday
Living Languages of the Americas, a quick overview
www.aidanem.com/living-langu...
#IndigenousPeoplesDay
www.aidanem.com/living-langu...
#IndigenousPeoplesDay
October 13, 2025 at 3:29 PM
Living Languages of the Americas, a quick overview
www.aidanem.com/living-langu...
#IndigenousPeoplesDay
www.aidanem.com/living-langu...
#IndigenousPeoplesDay
Another fun item in this family is the Gallo-Roman name Iulia Salicogenna—Julia Willowborn—recorded in a funeral inscription in Langres
The world met Ferdinand de Saussure on a night like this (in 1857)
A presumed European substrate word *salik-/*selik-/*welik-: "willow" -> salicylic, Saussay/Saussure, sargasso, sallow, willow
#WorldLinguisticsDay
circumvent bsky image compression in the link
A presumed European substrate word *salik-/*selik-/*welik-: "willow" -> salicylic, Saussay/Saussure, sargasso, sallow, willow
#WorldLinguisticsDay
circumvent bsky image compression in the link
November 27, 2025 at 6:54 AM
Another fun item in this family is the Gallo-Roman name Iulia Salicogenna—Julia Willowborn—recorded in a funeral inscription in Langres
The world met Ferdinand de Saussure on a night like this (in 1857)
A presumed European substrate word *salik-/*selik-/*welik-: "willow" -> salicylic, Saussay/Saussure, sargasso, sallow, willow
#WorldLinguisticsDay
circumvent bsky image compression in the link
A presumed European substrate word *salik-/*selik-/*welik-: "willow" -> salicylic, Saussay/Saussure, sargasso, sallow, willow
#WorldLinguisticsDay
circumvent bsky image compression in the link
November 27, 2025 at 2:13 AM
The world met Ferdinand de Saussure on a night like this (in 1857)
A presumed European substrate word *salik-/*selik-/*welik-: "willow" -> salicylic, Saussay/Saussure, sargasso, sallow, willow
#WorldLinguisticsDay
circumvent bsky image compression in the link
A presumed European substrate word *salik-/*selik-/*welik-: "willow" -> salicylic, Saussay/Saussure, sargasso, sallow, willow
#WorldLinguisticsDay
circumvent bsky image compression in the link
Happy World Linguistics Day from California!
November 26, 2025 at 5:19 PM
Happy World Linguistics Day from California!
Obviously this should read 1965-2024, not 165-2024 🙃
I do like old data, but published top names lists for the US do not go back to the Roman Principate
I do like old data, but published top names lists for the US do not go back to the Roman Principate
A chance comment sent me haring off on baby name data by year and first letter. I've loaded up the data for the US top 1000 names in each masculine and feminine per year for 165-2024 so far.
Thread to keep statistical insights:
Thread to keep statistical insights:
November 25, 2025 at 5:53 PM
Obviously this should read 1965-2024, not 165-2024 🙃
I do like old data, but published top names lists for the US do not go back to the Roman Principate
I do like old data, but published top names lists for the US do not go back to the Roman Principate
A chance comment sent me haring off on baby name data by year and first letter. I've loaded up the data for the US top 1000 names in each masculine and feminine per year for 165-2024 so far.
Thread to keep statistical insights:
Thread to keep statistical insights:
November 25, 2025 at 5:41 PM
A chance comment sent me haring off on baby name data by year and first letter. I've loaded up the data for the US top 1000 names in each masculine and feminine per year for 165-2024 so far.
Thread to keep statistical insights:
Thread to keep statistical insights:
An interesting triple-double: Tenby, Denbigh, and Dunvegan—Proto-Celtic *Dunom Biggom/Biggagnom
November 24, 2025 at 8:26 PM
An interesting triple-double: Tenby, Denbigh, and Dunvegan—Proto-Celtic *Dunom Biggom/Biggagnom
Me
* Looking at all the different etymologies for the name "Rohan"
* Seeing the House of Rohan is from Mor-Bihan in Breizh
* Realizing I don't have any coverage of Celtic *biggos: "small"
* Looking at all the different etymologies for the name "Rohan"
* Seeing the House of Rohan is from Mor-Bihan in Breizh
* Realizing I don't have any coverage of Celtic *biggos: "small"
November 24, 2025 at 6:10 PM
Me
* Looking at all the different etymologies for the name "Rohan"
* Seeing the House of Rohan is from Mor-Bihan in Breizh
* Realizing I don't have any coverage of Celtic *biggos: "small"
* Looking at all the different etymologies for the name "Rohan"
* Seeing the House of Rohan is from Mor-Bihan in Breizh
* Realizing I don't have any coverage of Celtic *biggos: "small"
Fibonacci, "Son of Good-?"
November 23, 2025 at 9:21 PM
Fibonacci, "Son of Good-?"
My son misremembered "bibliophile" as "dʒibliophile"—apparently channeling from an alternate universe in which 𐤂𐤁𐤋 was known to the Greeks as Γύβλος, instead of assimilating the Βύβλος 😄
November 22, 2025 at 11:50 PM
My son misremembered "bibliophile" as "dʒibliophile"—apparently channeling from an alternate universe in which 𐤂𐤁𐤋 was known to the Greeks as Γύβλος, instead of assimilating the Βύβλος 😄
Thinking about "loup-garou" ("wolf-man-wolf"), and other words for werewolf
November 22, 2025 at 12:38 AM
Thinking about "loup-garou" ("wolf-man-wolf"), and other words for werewolf
Racking my brain trying to think of ways to tell cool stories of sign language etymologies without having to learn to either make video or draw hands.
November 21, 2025 at 7:42 PM
Racking my brain trying to think of ways to tell cool stories of sign language etymologies without having to learn to either make video or draw hands.
Latinate "quote" from PIE *kʷoti. Germanic doesn't have that, but it's the adverb of *kʷod -> Latin "quod" and English "what"
Germanic "quoth" from PIE *gʷéteti. Latin doesn't have that, but the homophonous root gʷet- through p-Celtic or p-Italic gives Latin "bitumen" (Eng. "cud", ScGlc "bìth")
😄
Germanic "quoth" from PIE *gʷéteti. Latin doesn't have that, but the homophonous root gʷet- through p-Celtic or p-Italic gives Latin "bitumen" (Eng. "cud", ScGlc "bìth")
😄
"quote" and "quoth" are not related. Quote is from Medieval Latin (via French) quotāre (“to distinguish by numbers, number chapters”), itself from Latin quotus (“which, what number"). Quoth is from ME quoth, quath, from OE cwæþ (first and third person past indicative of cweþan = to say).
November 9, 2025 at 4:08 PM
Latinate "quote" from PIE *kʷoti. Germanic doesn't have that, but it's the adverb of *kʷod -> Latin "quod" and English "what"
Germanic "quoth" from PIE *gʷéteti. Latin doesn't have that, but the homophonous root gʷet- through p-Celtic or p-Italic gives Latin "bitumen" (Eng. "cud", ScGlc "bìth")
😄
Germanic "quoth" from PIE *gʷéteti. Latin doesn't have that, but the homophonous root gʷet- through p-Celtic or p-Italic gives Latin "bitumen" (Eng. "cud", ScGlc "bìth")
😄
Now past 5k English words and 10k reconstructed forms!
November 8, 2025 at 9:33 PM
Now past 5k English words and 10k reconstructed forms!
And any day where you get to put Commander Shepard and King Skerdilaidas in the same thread is a good day 😄
† Unless Albanian herdhe: "nest" is related. Albanian h- usually reflects PIE *sk-. And then since herdhe implies Proto-Albanian *škerdā, that raises the possibility of a connection in the Illyrian king recorded in Greek as Σκερδιλαΐδας <Skerdilaïdas>.
November 7, 2025 at 8:33 PM
And any day where you get to put Commander Shepard and King Skerdilaidas in the same thread is a good day 😄
By Patreon request! This year, N7 day is a Friday, so we've got "Shepard".
www.aidanem.com/word-family-...
(Family of sheep not included ... it's a huge mess!)
www.aidanem.com/word-family-...
(Family of sheep not included ... it's a huge mess!)
November 7, 2025 at 3:40 PM
By Patreon request! This year, N7 day is a Friday, so we've got "Shepard".
www.aidanem.com/word-family-...
(Family of sheep not included ... it's a huge mess!)
www.aidanem.com/word-family-...
(Family of sheep not included ... it's a huge mess!)
November 5, 2025 at 4:38 PM
There is a street in Dublin called "Castle Avenue". In Irish it is "Ascaill an Chaisleáin". Since "ascaill" is descended from a borrowing of Latin "axilla", this is "Armpit of the Castle" 😆
November 2, 2025 at 3:17 PM
There is a street in Dublin called "Castle Avenue". In Irish it is "Ascaill an Chaisleáin". Since "ascaill" is descended from a borrowing of Latin "axilla", this is "Armpit of the Castle" 😆
Seven years ago my then-4yo requested "Witch" as a word family for Halloween 😄
www.aidanem.com/word-family-...
www.aidanem.com/word-family-...
October 31, 2025 at 6:24 PM
Seven years ago my then-4yo requested "Witch" as a word family for Halloween 😄
www.aidanem.com/word-family-...
www.aidanem.com/word-family-...
Reposted by Word Family Friday
I present, the lenition hypercube
October 29, 2025 at 4:51 PM
I present, the lenition hypercube