A few interesting things from the old year: A look back at the “Sokal hoax,” an event of the mid-90s that made it possible for me to stop studying Deconstructionism. (Michael Bérubé)* “Etymology is perhaps the most intellectually frustrating field of study because, as a general rule, all clever theories about the origin of any [...]
All posts tagged etymology
An extreme case of the etymological fallacy
Yesterday on Language Log, Mark Liberman posted about the a curious claim that in the language of the Pashtun people of Afghanistan, “the word for ‘cousin’ is the same as the word for ‘enemy.’” Professor Liberman cannot find evidence to bear this claim out, and strongly suspects that it is bogus. What sticks in my mind is this [...]
Posted by acilius on July 17, 2009
http://losthunderlads.com/2009/07/17/an-extreme-case-of-the-etymological-fallacy/
Convergence
Thanks to ukulelehunt for this video of “Hot for Words” on the origin of the word “ukulele.”
Posted by acilius on November 26, 2008
http://losthunderlads.com/2008/11/26/convergence/
Etymology of First Names
Multicultural and quite lengthy. Search for names, and search for “words in meaning” as well as “words in description” of the names. http://www.behindthename.com/
Posted by CMStewart on November 20, 2008
http://losthunderlads.com/2008/11/20/etymology-of-first-names/
A Trip to Dictionary Land
Alison Bechdel describes her recent visit to the office where they put The American Heritage College Dictionary together.
Posted by acilius on October 14, 2008
http://losthunderlads.com/2008/10/14/a-trip-to-dictionary-land/
Etymology Teaching Illustrated
In 1982, Hollywood gave us a glimpse of what etymology teaching could be.
Posted by acilius on September 6, 2008
http://losthunderlads.com/2008/09/06/etymology-teaching-illustrated/
The web’s most popular etymologist
Some will ask, “Why is this funny?” Some will drool with lust. Some will think, hey, I should show this to my class. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04XyHuxIrR0 http://www.hotforwords.com/
Posted by acilius on August 15, 2008
http://losthunderlads.com/2008/08/15/the-webs-most-popular-etymologist/
Chance resemblances between words in unrelated languages
Another link I could have sworn I posted here months ago: http://www.zompist.com/chance.htm Zompist editor Mark Rosenfelder lays out a simple statistical model for answering the question, “How likely is it that words in unrelated languages will resemble each other in sound and meaning?” Of course, to answer this question one must first ask what counts as a resemblance. [...]
Posted by acilius on August 15, 2008
http://losthunderlads.com/2008/08/15/chance-resemblances-between-words-in-unrelated-languages/
“Mama” and “Papa” Words
I keep thinking I’ve already posted this link here and keep finding I haven’t, so here it is. http://www.sussex.ac.uk/linguistics/documents/where_do_mama2.pdf Yes, yes, it’s pdf, but it’s worth it. The late linguist R. L. (“Larry”) Trask puts into very clear terms Roman Jakobson’s explanation for the fact that so many languages have words for “mother” that sound [...]
Posted by acilius on August 15, 2008
http://losthunderlads.com/2008/08/15/mama-and-papa-words/
Oxford Etymologist
Here’s a blog on the Oxford University Press website. Linguist Anatoly Liberman takes on a variety of etymological questions. His post about the origin of words like “east” and “west” is particularly fun. http://blog.oup.com/category/reference/oxford_etymologist/
Posted by acilius on October 1, 2007
http://losthunderlads.com/2007/10/01/oxford-etymologist/
-
Who writes this?
losthunderlads
vthunderlad
lefalcon
acilius
believer1
