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Mark Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · 2d

The #ConnectedAtBirth #etymology of the week is FURLOUGH/LOVE/LIVELONG #wotd #furlough #love #livelong #Shutdown2025 #GovernmentShutdown

No one loves a furlough of government workers, but hopefully it won’t last a livelong time. Furlough, the temporary layoff of workers, originally meant a “leave of absence”, with the first element related to the English intensifying or negating prefix for- meaning “away, opposite, completely” and the second element related to the English noun leave meaning “permission” (from Old English leaf “permission” and not at all related to the verb leave meaning “to go away, cause to remain”). It was borrowed into English in the 1620s from Dutch verlof meaning literally “permission” from Middle Dutch ver- “completely, for” + lof “permission”, which comes from Proto-Germanic *laubo, ultimately traceable back to *loubh- the o-grade form of Proto-Indo-European *leubh- “to care, desire, love” from the notion of “pleasure, approval”. The zero-grade form of this root *lubh- in the suffixed form *lubh-a- came into Germanic as *lubo which became Old English lufu “love” and Modern English love. As for the somewhat old fashioned word livelong meaning “very long” most often seen in the phrase livelong day, the first element is completely unrelated to the word live, but in fact comes from the PIE root *leubh-, specifically the suffixed form *leubh-o-, which came into Germanic as *leubaz, becoming Old English leof “dear, beloved”, which not only gave us the now archaic word lief “dearly, gladly, willingly”, but was also used as an emotional intensifier with the word long in Middle English to give us livelong literally “dear long”.

Mark Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · 7d

Excellent! You’re quite welcome!

Mark Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · 7d

It should be available by ILL if your library doesn’t have it. It does all the legwork of finding the passages, and I believe Boethius is in there

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Mark Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · 7d

Actually an easy way to find parallel passages is The English Language: A Historical Reader by A.G. Rigg (my thesis advisor)

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Mark Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · 7d

How about Boethius?

Mark Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · 7d

Well there are lots of other biblical passages you could use, the opening of Genesis for example

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Mark Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · 7d

The surprisingly connected origins of "in" and "inn".

#etymology #wordnerd #linguistics #HistoricalLinguistics #language #words #lingcomm #inn #innsofcourt

youtube.com/shorts/QlrKO...

In/Inn #Etymology

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Mark Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · 9d

Today is Goose Day when geese are often eaten for Michaelmas, so the #ConnectedAtBirth #etymology of the week is GOOSE/SMORGASBORD #wotd #goose #smorgasbord #gooseday #Michaelmas

Etymologically speaking you should find goose served in a smorgasbord. Goose has a pretty straight forward history, from Old English gos, Proto-Germanic *gans-, and Proto-Indo-European *ghans- meaning “goose, swan” and is probably imitative of the honking sound the bird makes. Unsurprisingly Swedish has the word gås “goose”. What is more surprising is the Swedish compound word smörgås, which is literally “butter-goose” but is used to mean “slice of bread with butter”. The first element smör, related to English smear, is Swedish for “butter” and in this context gås means “lump of butter” by way of comparison to goose fat. Smörgåsbord then, with bord (related to English board) meaning “table”, came to refer to food served buffet-style, and entered English as smorgasbord eventually gaining the figurative sense of “medley, miscellany”.

Mark Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · 12d

Thanks!

Mark Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · 12d

Yes, tender is indeed from the same root! It comes into English via Latin and Old French

Thin/Tent/Tension #Etymology

Mark Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · 12d

ICYMI

Mark Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · 14d

The surprisingly connected origins of "thin", "tent", and "tension". #etymology #wordnerd #linguistics #HistoricalLinguistics #language #words #lingcomm #thin #tent #tense #tension

www.youtube.com/shorts/JbMGW...

www.youtube.com

Thin/Tent/Tension #Etymology

Mark Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · 12d

ICYMI

Mark Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · 16d

The #ConnectedAtBirth #etymology of the week is FREE/AFRAID/FRIEND #wotd #free #afraid #friend #FreeSpeech #JimmyKimmel #StephenColbert

The Trump regime crackdown on free speech, cancelling late night hosts, might have some afraid, but no fear my friends, I don’t think they’ll be that easily frightened off the air. The word afraid was originally the past participle of the now rare verb affray “to frighten, terrify; to fear, be afraid of” (related to the noun affray “public fight, quarrel, brawl”). Affray, which surprisingly is not etymologically connected to either fear or fright, with the three all coming from completely separate origins, came into Middle English from Anglo-Norman French afrayer, Old French esfreer “to worry, concern, trouble, disturb”, ultimately from Vulgar Latin *exfridare literally “to take out of peace”, made up of the Latin prefix ex- “out of” + the Frankish word *frithu “peace”, from Proto-Germanic *frithuz “peace, consideration, forbearance” (also the source of the Old English word friðu “peace”), ultimately traceable back to *pri-tu- a suffixed form of the Proto-Indo-European root *pri- “to love, like, feel well-disposed, friendly”. The suffixed form of this root *priy-o- also came into Old English as freo becoming Modern English free, from the notion of those in your family or clan, whom you therefore “loved”, who were were “free” as opposed to the servants or slaves who were not “free”. Also the suffixed participial form of this same root *priy-ont- “loving” came into Old English as freond becoming Modern English friend.

Mark Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · 14d

The surprisingly connected origins of "thin", "tent", and "tension". #etymology #wordnerd #linguistics #HistoricalLinguistics #language #words #lingcomm #thin #tent #tense #tension

www.youtube.com/shorts/JbMGW...

Astrology/Stellar/Disaster/Star #Etymology

www.youtube.com

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Mark Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · 16d

The #ConnectedAtBirth #etymology of the week is FREE/AFRAID/FRIEND #wotd #free #afraid #friend #FreeSpeech #JimmyKimmel #StephenColbert

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Mark Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · 19d

ICYMI

Mark Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · 21d

The surprisingly connected origins of "astrology", "stellar", "disaster", and "star".

#etymology #wordnerd #linguistics #HistoricalLinguistics #language #words #lingcomm #astrology #disaster #stellar

youtube.com/shorts/wypsy...

Astrology/Stellar/Disaster/Star #Etymology

Mark Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · 19d

ICYMI

Mark Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · 23d

The #ConnectedAtBirth #etymology of the week is KAREN/SURE/WORK #wotd #karen #sure #work #phillieskaren

We’ve all encountered Karens before: an entitled middle-aged white woman who is overly sure of herself and is quite a piece of work. The name Karen is a Danish shortened form of Katherine, from Medieval Latin Katerina, ultimately from Greek Aikaterine. The etymology of this Greek name is uncertain and much debated, but it might either come from the Greek word hekateros “each of two, each singly”, which itself comes from hekas “far off”, from the Proto-Indo-European reflexive pronoun *s(w)e “self”, which has many other English derivatives including sure from the Latin reflexive pronoun se “self” + cura “care” coming into English directly as secure and through Old French seur as English sure, or from the name Hekate, the Greek goddess of witchcraft and crossroads. The etymology of Hekate is itself uncertain, but it might come from Greek hekaergos, an epithet of Apollo meaning literally “far-worker” from that same word hekas “far off” + ergon “deed, work” from the PIE root *werg- “to do”, which also became Old English weorc and Modern English work.

Mark Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · 21d

The surprisingly connected origins of "astrology", "stellar", "disaster", and "star".

#etymology #wordnerd #linguistics #HistoricalLinguistics #language #words #lingcomm #astrology #disaster #stellar

youtube.com/shorts/wypsy...

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Mark Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · 23d

The #ConnectedAtBirth #etymology of the week is KAREN/SURE/WORK #wotd #karen #sure #work #phillieskaren

Bureaucracy/Pyrotechnics #Etymology

Mark Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · 26d

ICYMI

Mark Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · 28d

The surprisingly connected origins of "bureaucracy" and "pyrotechnics". #etymology #wordnerd #linguistics #HistoricalLinguistics #language #words #lingcomm #bureau #pyrotechnics #bureaucracy

youtube.com/shorts/xl3f-...

Mark Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · 26d

ICYMI

Mark Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · Sep 8

The #ConnectedAtBirth #etymology of the week is WAR/WORSE & DEFENSE/BANE #wotd #war #worse #defense #bane #DepartmentofDefense #DepartmentofWar #DoD

Trump’s decision to rename the Department of Defense to the worse name Department of War clearly shows he wants the US to be the bane of world peace. The word war was borrowed into late Old English from Old North French werre “war”, which itself was borrowed from Frankish *werra, from Proto-Germanic *werz-a-, ultimately traceable back to the Proto-Indo-European root *wers- “to confuse, mix up”, which also came directly into English as wyrsa “worse” and wyrsta “worse” from the comparative and superlative Germanic forms *wers-izon- and *wers-ista-, giving us Modern English worse and worst. The word defense comes into English from Old French defense, from Latin defensus, the past participle of defendere “to ward off, protect”, made up from the prefix de- “from, away” + -fendere “to strike, hit, push”, traceable back to PIE *gwhen-do-, a suffixed form of the root *gwhen- “to strike, kill”, which also had the o-grade form *gwhon-, which came into Old English as bana “slayer, cause of ruin or destruction” eventually giving us Modern English bane.

Bureaucracy/Pyrotechnics #Etymology

Mark Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · 26d

The deadline for submissions is Monday, September 15th

Mark Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · Aug 5

CFP: Patterns of Language: Meaning, Metaphor, and Metalinguistics
Modality: Virtual
Sponsor: Society for Medieval Languages and Linguistics
wmich.edu/medievalcong...

Patterns of Language: Meaning, Metaphor, and Metalinguistics
Modality: Virtual
Sponsor: Society for Medieval Languages and Linguistics
Organizer: Andrew Troup (atroup@csub.edu)
Paul A. Johnston
Patricia Voichahoske Lehman
Students of medieval texts look into a different culture through the lens of language. They see words, phrases, and
discourses different from their own. Learning to decipher and interpret these language elements is essential to
understanding medieval texts. For this session, we invite papers that focus on the elements of language: vocabulary,
phrase structure, metrical patterns, and so forth. All disciplinary approaches to language study—linguistic, literary,
rhetorical, philosophical, etc.—are welcome.

Mark Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · 28d

The surprisingly connected origins of "bureaucracy" and "pyrotechnics". #etymology #wordnerd #linguistics #HistoricalLinguistics #language #words #lingcomm #bureau #pyrotechnics #bureaucracy

youtube.com/shorts/xl3f-...

Mark Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · Sep 8

The #ConnectedAtBirth #etymology of the week is WAR/WORSE & DEFENSE/BANE #wotd #war #worse #defense #bane #DepartmentofDefense #DepartmentofWar #DoD

Mark Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · Sep 5

ICYMI

Mark Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · Sep 3

The surprisingly connected origins of "arrive" and "river".

#etymology #wordnerd #linguistics #HistoricalLinguistics #language #words #lingcomm #arrive #river

youtube.com/shorts/SoIuT...

Arrive/River #Etymology