Linguist Answers Word Origin Questions | Tech Support | WIRED

Linguist Gareth Roberts introduces etymology as a fascinating offshoot of historical linguistics. He illustrates this with the word 'gossip,' which originally referred to a godparent or someone related through a sacred bond. These individuals were confidantes, leading to the word's evolution to mean a person who shares personal information, and eventually the verb 'to gossip'. This word dates back to the Old English period.

Roberts discusses how words become more or less gender-neutral. Terms like 'dude' and 'bro,' derived from 'brother,' are increasingly used to refer to friends regardless of gender. Conversely, 'man' in Old English was a general term for people, with 'wer' (surviving in 'werewolf') meaning a male. Over time, 'man' became associated specifically with males, reflecting a society where men were the default. The word 'world' in Proto-Germanic also originated from 'age of man,' offering insight into historical perspectives.

The word 'guy' comes from Guy Fawkes, whose effigies were burned after the Gunpowder Plot. These effigies were called 'guys,' which then became a derogatory term for a disheveled person, and later a generic term for a man. Roberts also explains silent letters, like the 'k' in 'knight' or 'g' in 'gnaw.' These letters were once pronounced but became silent over time, with spelling remaining unchanged. Some silent letters, like the 'l' in 'could' or 'b' in 'doubt,' were added due to historical linguistic influences or attempts to reflect Latin origins.

The word 'unalived' exemplifies linguistic taboos, where people avoid certain words and create euphemisms. A similar phenomenon is seen with the word 'bear.' The English word 'bear' is not cognate with its equivalents in Latin, Welsh, or Greek. This suggests an ancient linguistic taboo, where people avoided saying the actual name of the fearsome animal, possibly referring to it as 'the brown one' (from Proto-European 'bher-').

Roberts explains Grimm's Law, a set of sound changes that occurred in Germanic languages millennia ago. For example, Proto-Indo-European 'p' became 'f' (e.g., Latin 'piscus' to English 'fish') and 'k' became 'h' (e.g., Latin 'canis' to English 'hound'). He likens this to subtle pronunciation shifts happening over repeated sounds, demonstrating how these systematic changes led to divergence in language families.

People avoid discussing certain topics like sex, defecation, and death, leading to the creation of euphemisms. The word 'piss' originated from an onomatopoeic imitation of urination (from Latin 'pisso'). When 'piss' became less euphemistic, 'pee' emerged as a further abbreviation. This illustrates how language continuously adapts to social sensibilities.

Most new words aren't invented from scratch. People often combine existing words, like 'frog house.' They also use iconic forms, mimicking sounds or gestures to convey meaning, especially when communicating across language barriers. For instance, 'moo' and 'gurgle' to request cow's milk could evolve into new terms. The word 'but,' originally meaning 'outside,' transformed through 'without/except' to its modern contrasting function, demonstrating abstract semantic shifts.

Linguists don't know if all languages share a single common ancestor. However, many European and Asian languages belong to the Proto-Indo-European family, spoken around 6,000 years ago by nomadic pastoralists in the Pontic-Caspian steppe. By reconstructing their vocabulary (e.g., words for dairy, wagons, houses), we can infer aspects of their culture. Languages branch from this common ancestor, forming families like Germanic, Romance, Celtic, and Slavic languages, with cognates retaining traceable ancestral links (e.g., English 'father' and Latin 'pater').

Before complex language, humans communicated through sounds and gestures, similar to other primates. Language evolved to include complex syntax and meaning. New names for unfamiliar concepts often arise from onomatopoeia, like 'meow' or 'mew' for cats, as seen in ancient Egyptian. Words like 'bang,' 'woof,' 'dada,' and 'mama' also derive from imitations of sounds or babbling, with parental terms like 'Papa' in Proto-Indo-European originating from infant sounds.

The word 'orange' entered English from French, tracing back through Spanish and Arabic to Sanskrit. The 'n' in the Spanish 'naran' was reinterpreted as part of the indefinite article, leading to 'an orange.' Similar transformations occurred with 'napron' becoming 'an apron' and 'n addre' becoming 'an adder.' The word 'poop' likely originated as an onomatopoeic term similar to 'puff,' meaning 'fart,' and then euphemistically broadened to refer to other bodily excretions.

Neither 'fall' nor 'autumn' were the original English words for the season; 'harvest' was used, cognate with German 'Herbst.' In the 16th century, both 'fall' (from 'the fall of the leaves') and 'autumn' (a borrowing from Latin via French) emerged as alternatives in Britain. While 'harvest' became more specific to crop gathering, 'fall' and 'autumn' largely replaced it, with 'fall' becoming more prevalent in American English.

The word 'demure,' existing since Middle English, likely comes from French 'meur' (mature). Its recent popularity on platforms like TikTok exemplifies how people play with language, using words ironically or to generate reactions. Slang, though rarely preserved in formal historical texts, reveals informal language evolution. Its role in differentiating generations is significant, as younger speakers use new terms to distinguish themselves from older generations. An example is the Latin 'testa' (pot shard) becoming a slang term for 'skull' and eventually 'head' in Romance languages, replacing the formal 'caput'.

The word 'no' is a shortening of 'none,' deriving from 'not one,' with the 'n' tracing back to a Proto-Indo-European ancestor. One theory for its origin is the 'no face' babies make when refusing something. The Great Vowel Shift, occurring in the late 14th century, dramatically changed vowel pronunciations in English. For example, the vowel in 'bit' moved to sound like 'beet,' and 'boot' shifted to 'bout.' This involved changes in tongue and jaw position within the vocal tract, transforming vowel sounds.

Shakespeare invented fewer words than commonly believed, but he was influential in popularizing many. His works served as crucial sources for early dictionary compilers. Roberts also explains the disappearance of 'thou' and 'thee' from English. Originally singular forms, they were replaced by the plural 'you' as a mark of respect, similar to 'tu'/'vous' distinctions in French. By the 17th century, especially in southeastern England, 'thou' and 'thee' abruptly declined, possibly due to association with certain religious groups like the Quakers.

The English word 'word' comes from a Proto-Indo-European root meaning 'speech,' with an ending indicating 'completed action,' so 'word' essentially means 'spoken thing.' The word 'pregnant' combines 'pre-' (before) and '-gnant' (from 'nasci,' to give birth), meaning 'before giving birth.' Latin 'nasci' is cognate with 'genesis' and 'generate.' Interestingly, the Spanish word 'embarazada' connects to 'embarrassed,' originally meaning 'entangled' (from an Arabic word for 'rope'), used euphemistically for 'pregnant.' Finally, the origin of 'dog' is a mystery; it appeared in late medieval English, replacing 'hound' as a general term. It's part of a group of Old English words (like 'pig,' 'hog,' 'frog') that had a '-ga' ending, possibly expressive or 'cute' terms not typically recorded in formal writing.