The Proto-Indo-European language (the hypothesized original ancestor language of most modern languages in Europe and South Asia, hereafter abbreviated “PIE”) had a root *ǵʰelh₃- ‘yellow, green’. Aside: How can this word refer to both ‘yellow’ and ‘green’? Historically, color terms in the world’s languages referred to a broader range of colors than they do today,Continue reading “Words you didn’t know are related: gold, yellow, cholera, arsenic, yolk, and more!”
Category Archives: etymology
shrinkage
It’s winter here in Chicago, which means it’s time to talk about shrinkage (the word, that is). The -age suffix at the end of shrinkage is a common suffix for making new nouns, where the noun denotes something belonging to or functionally related to the stem: (Prefer a video version of this post? Watch here!)Continue reading “shrinkage”
turkey
Why is it called a turkey if the bird is from North America, not the country of Turkey? (Prefer a video version of this post? Watch here!) Well it turns out it is from Turkey—sort of. Guinea fowl from Madagascar were imported into Europe through the Ottoman Empire, so most Europeans called the bird aContinue reading “turkey”