Word Family Friday
@wordfamilyfriday.bsky.social
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Explorations of Etymology / Historical Linguistics. Usually on Fridays.
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Explorations of Etymology / Historical Linguistics. Usually on Fridays.
www.aidanem.com
Tips: https://ko-fi.com/aidanem
Subscription: https://www.patreon.com/aidanem
("xe": "wheeled vehicle" is also Sino-Xenic—"車": "chariot"—and may be an old Indo-European borrowing, compare Old Chinese reconstructed pronunciation *kla with e.g. Tocharian B <kleŋke>: "wagon")
December 2, 2025 at 6:38 PM
("xe": "wheeled vehicle" is also Sino-Xenic—"車": "chariot"—and may be an old Indo-European borrowing, compare Old Chinese reconstructed pronunciation *kla with e.g. Tocharian B <kleŋke>: "wagon")
trạm is Sino-Xenic from 站, and related through there to a Central Asian word for a postal relay station
A Tuoba Xianbei word recorded as "鹹" <*ɣyam> in the Book of Qi in the early 500s
Middle Mongolian "ᠵᠠᠮ" <dʒam>
Yakut "дьам" <dʑam>
Russian "ям" <jam>
A Tuoba Xianbei word recorded as "鹹" <*ɣyam> in the Book of Qi in the early 500s
Middle Mongolian "ᠵᠠᠮ" <dʒam>
Yakut "дьам" <dʑam>
Russian "ям" <jam>
December 2, 2025 at 6:38 PM
trạm is Sino-Xenic from 站, and related through there to a Central Asian word for a postal relay station
A Tuoba Xianbei word recorded as "鹹" <*ɣyam> in the Book of Qi in the early 500s
Middle Mongolian "ᠵᠠᠮ" <dʒam>
Yakut "дьам" <dʑam>
Russian "ям" <jam>
A Tuoba Xianbei word recorded as "鹹" <*ɣyam> in the Book of Qi in the early 500s
Middle Mongolian "ᠵᠠᠮ" <dʒam>
Yakut "дьам" <dʑam>
Russian "ям" <jam>
The Greek is epenthetic, but I had to double check, because sometimes things like that are part of the oblique stem, like for the Greek word "elephas", the genitive is "elephantos", the plural nominative is "elephantes", etc., and compounds use that "elephant-" stem, not "*elepha-".
December 2, 2025 at 2:52 AM
The Greek is epenthetic, but I had to double check, because sometimes things like that are part of the oblique stem, like for the Greek word "elephas", the genitive is "elephantos", the plural nominative is "elephantes", etc., and compounds use that "elephant-" stem, not "*elepha-".
In the Spanish, it's actually left over from "hijo de algo".
The German may be epenthetic, or it may be from the genitive: Gesichtes/Gesichts.
The German may be epenthetic, or it may be from the genitive: Gesichtes/Gesichts.
December 2, 2025 at 2:52 AM
In the Spanish, it's actually left over from "hijo de algo".
The German may be epenthetic, or it may be from the genitive: Gesichtes/Gesichts.
The German may be epenthetic, or it may be from the genitive: Gesichtes/Gesichts.
The term I think you're looking for is "epenthetic" (or "excrescent" which is the subtype of epenthetic specifically with consonants).
Though not everything that looks epenthetic actually is:
Though not everything that looks epenthetic actually is:
December 2, 2025 at 2:52 AM
The term I think you're looking for is "epenthetic" (or "excrescent" which is the subtype of epenthetic specifically with consonants).
Though not everything that looks epenthetic actually is:
Though not everything that looks epenthetic actually is:
Or alternatively from a complete unrelated *mlh₂gos, related to μέλας and Latvian melns. Like *bragną from *mrogʰnom
November 30, 2025 at 11:28 PM
Or alternatively from a complete unrelated *mlh₂gos, related to μέλας and Latvian melns. Like *bragną from *mrogʰnom
yeah, maybe from the root-form of φλέγω/flagrāre and φλέγμα/flagma (→ flamma) instead. Compare "blakeren"
*bʰleg-/*bʰelg- ← *bʰel- → *bʰley- → *bʰleyǵ-
*bʰleg-/*bʰelg- ← *bʰel- → *bʰley- → *bʰleyǵ-
November 30, 2025 at 11:28 PM
yeah, maybe from the root-form of φλέγω/flagrāre and φλέγμα/flagma (→ flamma) instead. Compare "blakeren"
*bʰleg-/*bʰelg- ← *bʰel- → *bʰley- → *bʰleyǵ-
*bʰleg-/*bʰelg- ← *bʰel- → *bʰley- → *bʰleyǵ-
And "black" may well be a close relative of "white" in other languages (blank, blanc, blanco, etc.) 😆
November 30, 2025 at 10:47 PM
And "black" may well be a close relative of "white" in other languages (blank, blanc, blanco, etc.) 😆
Almost anything current quote from my son, I could notate with “(the context is minecraft)” 🙃
November 30, 2025 at 7:50 AM
Almost anything current quote from my son, I could notate with “(the context is minecraft)” 🙃
(because playing a video games always involves pouring through _The Lexicon of Proto Oceanic, Vol 2: the Physical Environment_, Ch 6: "Navigation and the heavens", § 5.2: "Individual stars and star groups", right?)
November 29, 2025 at 12:23 AM
(because playing a video games always involves pouring through _The Lexicon of Proto Oceanic, Vol 2: the Physical Environment_, Ch 6: "Navigation and the heavens", § 5.2: "Individual stars and star groups", right?)
Brought to you by my current Stellaris game, in which I'm playing with the new Infernal (i.e. Volcanic) species and using proto-Polynesian based names.
🧵 10/10
🧵 10/10
November 28, 2025 at 10:40 PM
Brought to you by my current Stellaris game, in which I'm playing with the new Infernal (i.e. Volcanic) species and using proto-Polynesian based names.
🧵 10/10
🧵 10/10
and in Faka-Tikopia "te Opiŋa a o Manu": "the armpit of Manu, Betelgeuse" (Proto-Oceanic *qafi-ŋa: "armpit")
🧵 9/10
🧵 9/10
November 28, 2025 at 10:40 PM
and in Faka-Tikopia "te Opiŋa a o Manu": "the armpit of Manu, Betelgeuse" (Proto-Oceanic *qafi-ŋa: "armpit")
🧵 9/10
🧵 9/10
in Paka-Anuta, "te Kaokao o Manu": "the armpit of Manu, Betelgeuse" (from Proto-Polynesian *kao-kao: "rib, flank, side" but meaning "armpit" in Paka-Anuta)
🧵 8/10
🧵 8/10
November 28, 2025 at 10:40 PM
in Paka-Anuta, "te Kaokao o Manu": "the armpit of Manu, Betelgeuse" (from Proto-Polynesian *kao-kao: "rib, flank, side" but meaning "armpit" in Paka-Anuta)
🧵 8/10
🧵 8/10
But in a shocking twist! In some of the Polynesian languages of the Solomon Islands, especially te taranga Paka-Anuta (Anutan) and Faka-Tikopia (Tikopian), this same star Betelgeuse is actually called "armpit"! The armpit of Manu(k), the Great Bird constellation.
🧵 7/10
🧵 7/10
November 28, 2025 at 10:40 PM
But in a shocking twist! In some of the Polynesian languages of the Solomon Islands, especially te taranga Paka-Anuta (Anutan) and Faka-Tikopia (Tikopian), this same star Betelgeuse is actually called "armpit"! The armpit of Manu(k), the Great Bird constellation.
🧵 7/10
🧵 7/10
(It is also called, in native Persian vocabulary, شَبانشانه <Shobân-shâne>, "Shepherd-shoulder". I can't find any evidence of Orion being called <Shobân>; but it seems reasonable.)
🧵 6/10
🧵 6/10
November 28, 2025 at 10:40 PM
(It is also called, in native Persian vocabulary, شَبانشانه <Shobân-shâne>, "Shepherd-shoulder". I can't find any evidence of Orion being called <Shobân>; but it seems reasonable.)
🧵 6/10
🧵 6/10
In Persian, Betelgeuse is called بطالجوزا <Ibt al-Joza>/<Bat al-Joza>, I'm not sure if that's a backport from the Latin misinterpretation, or if the misinterpretation first happened in Persian and was transferred from Persian to Latin.
🧵 5/10
🧵 5/10
November 28, 2025 at 10:40 PM
In Persian, Betelgeuse is called بطالجوزا <Ibt al-Joza>/<Bat al-Joza>, I'm not sure if that's a backport from the Latin misinterpretation, or if the misinterpretation first happened in Persian and was transferred from Persian to Latin.
🧵 5/10
🧵 5/10
(For the inverse error, see Yūdhasaf/Ioasaph/Josaphat ultimately from Bodhisattva; "But not till the mid-nineteenth century was it recognised that, in Josaphat, the Buddha had been venerated as a Christian saint for about a thousand years." www.aidanem.com/word-family-...)
🧵 4/10
🧵 4/10
Word Family - Bid
www.aidanem.com
November 28, 2025 at 10:40 PM
(For the inverse error, see Yūdhasaf/Ioasaph/Josaphat ultimately from Bodhisattva; "But not till the mid-nineteenth century was it recognised that, in Josaphat, the Buddha had been venerated as a Christian saint for about a thousand years." www.aidanem.com/word-family-...)
🧵 4/10
🧵 4/10
Then when Renaissance Europeans tried to figure out what the heck <Bad al-Jawzāʾ> meant, they came up with they decided it must be a form of إبط <ʾibṭ>: "armpit" (of which باط <baṭ> is a common dialectal version, backformed from the plural آباط <ʾābaṭ>)
🧵 3/10
🧵 3/10
November 28, 2025 at 10:40 PM
Then when Renaissance Europeans tried to figure out what the heck <Bad al-Jawzāʾ> meant, they came up with they decided it must be a form of إبط <ʾibṭ>: "armpit" (of which باط <baṭ> is a common dialectal version, backformed from the plural آباط <ʾābaṭ>)
🧵 3/10
🧵 3/10
(Properly Orion is called الجبار <al-Jabār>: "the Giant" in Arabic, and الجوزاء <al-Jawzāʾ> is the next constellation over, Gemini. But apparently someone was calling Orion "al-Jawzāʾ" when they named Betelgeuse.)
🧵 2/10
🧵 2/10
November 28, 2025 at 10:40 PM
(Properly Orion is called الجبار <al-Jabār>: "the Giant" in Arabic, and الجوزاء <al-Jawzāʾ> is the next constellation over, Gemini. But apparently someone was calling Orion "al-Jawzāʾ" when they named Betelgeuse.)
🧵 2/10
🧵 2/10
And because to say I am the world's worst business man is ludicrous in that it implies I'm some kind of business man, feel free to tell me on what patreon rewards I should be offering that I'm not
November 27, 2025 at 8:29 PM
And because to say I am the world's worst business man is ludicrous in that it implies I'm some kind of business man, feel free to tell me on what patreon rewards I should be offering that I'm not
That's a much harder problem—I would be way out of my depth!
November 27, 2025 at 8:23 PM
That's a much harder problem—I would be way out of my depth!