Ye olde word

What do the words companion and mate have in common with food? What is a Calque? Listen to this episode to find out! Sources: https://www.merriam-webster.com/wordplay/history-of-word-companion https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/companion#:~:text=companion%20(plural%20companions),accompany%20or%20travel%20with%20another. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mate https://www.smh.com.au/national/mate-what-s-the-history-of-our-most-treasured-salutation-20210513-p57rhk.html https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/comrade

What do ancient theatre goers of Rome and the word explode have in common? Listen to the episode to find out! Sources: https://mashedradish.com/2017/03/28/the-dramatic-roots-of-explode/ https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/explode

What are words which contradict themselves called? Fast means to go fast, but, to stand fast means to not move at all. Listen to this episode to understand such words! Sources: https://medium.com/@jackashepherd/these-extremely-cool-words-mean-the-opposite-of-themselves-8e4f5fd63cd3 https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/words-own-opposites#:~:text=A%20'Janus%20word'%20is%20a,antagonyms%2C%20or%20auto%2Dantonyms. https://blog.maltalingua.com/what-are-janus-words/ https://www.economist.com/culture/2022/09/08/some-words-have-two-opposite-meanings-why https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janus#:~:text=In%20ancient%20Roman%20religion%20and,named%20for%20Janus%20(Ianuarius). https://www.andersonlock.com/blog/god-doors/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auto-antonym#:~:text=An%20auto%2Dantonym%20or%20autantonym,or%20%22to%20bind%20together%22.

What is the difference between a pirate and a privateer? What link has the pirate William Dampier has to guacomole, mango chutney, and to Charles Darwin? Listen to the episode to find out! Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Dampier https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Selkirk https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Hatley https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/article/eat-like-a-pirate https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/first-food-writer https://ocean.si.edu/human-connections/exploration/william-dampier-pirate-who-collected-plants https://www.nma.gov.au/defining-moments/resources/arrival-of-english-explorer-william-dampier https://www.britannica.com/story/pirates-privateers-corsairs-buccaneers-whats-the-difference#:~:text=A%20privateer%20was%20a%20pirate,belonging%20to%20a%20rival%20country. https://blog.marinersmuseum.org/2012/09/the-difference-between-pirates-privateers-and-buccaneers-pt-1/

What does the word cereal and panic have to do with Greek mythology? Listen to the episode to find out! Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceres_(dwarf_planet) https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cereal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan_(god) https://drhoffman.com/article/the-origin-of-panic-3/ https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/the-mythological-origin-of-panic https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronos https://www.etymonline.com/word/victory https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victoria_(mythology) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nike_(mythology) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oceanus

Are the words humid and humour related? What does the word melancholy have to do with bile? Listen to the episode to find out! Sources: https://www.sciencefriday.com/articles/the-origin-of-the-word-humor/ https://www.britannica.com/science/humor-ancient-physiology https://uselessetymology.com/2017/11/29/the-etymology-of-humor/ https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/112655/how-did-the-word-humor-which-originally-represented-bodily-fluids-end-up-rep https://www.thecolourworks.com/hippocrates-galen-the-four-humours/

What does the word 'ado' mean in the phrase much ado about nothing? Why do we say fast food and not quick food? Listen to the episode to find out! Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fossil_word https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/fossil-words/shod-in-slipshod-and-roughshod https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irreversible_binomial https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_collocations https://www.englishclub.com/vocabulary/collocations.htm http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/myl/Malkiel1959.pdf

What does pandemic and pandemonium have in common? Listen to the episode to find out! Sources: https://letsproofread.com/text/124/ https://wordhistories.net/2016/08/25/pandemonium/ https://blog.oup.com/2008/10/pandemonium/ https://www.etymonline.com/word/pandemonium https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pand%C3%A6monium_(Paradise_Lost) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradise_Lost

Was the animal sloth named after the Cardinal sin or was it the other way around? Listen to this episode to find out! Sources: https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/sloth https://mashedradish.com/2016/02/26/sloth/ https://www.etymonline.com/word/sloth https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sloth_(deadly_sin) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acedia

What does the Goddess of love have to do with the etymology of the word venom? Listen to find out! Sources: https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/venom-and-the-goddess-of-love https://www.etymonline.com/word/poison https://www.reddit.com/r/etymology/comments/o4x247/the_revered_deadly_beasts_loved_gonorrhea_venus/ https://www.etymonline.com/word/*wen-?ref=etymonline_crossreference#etymonline_v_52678 https://www.etymonline.com/word/venom

What does the word accolade have to word with a knight? Listen to this episode to find out! Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knight https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accolade https://www.britannica.com/topic/knight-cavalryman https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/inspire-me/brief-history-of-knights/ https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/dcslfi/how_did_one_become_a_knight_in_the_medival_ages/ https://www.reddit.com/r/etymology/comments/jcs078/accolade_an_embrace_kiss_especially_that_given_to/ https://historyofyesterday.com/how-did-squires-become-knights-in-the-medieval-era-e8a10d2f2db7

What does milk have to do with the Milky way? Does asterisk means little star? Answers to all these questions are found in this episode! Sources: https://www.sciencefriday.com/articles/science-diction-sun/ https://www.etymologynerd.com/blog/sunny-disposition https://medium.com/the-philipendium/word-connections-sun-moon-stars-946d9d0e5a13 https://starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/StarChild/questions/question48.html https://www.history.com/news/who-named-the-planets https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/word-history-of-galaxy https://wordhistories.net/2016/08/11/galaxy-lettuce/

Was the fruit orange named after the colour or is it the other way around? Listen to this episode to find out! Sources: https://www.bonappetit.com/test-kitchen/ingredients/article/the-etymology-of-the-orange https://lithub.com/color-or-fruit-on-the-unlikely-etymology-of-orange/

In this episode, we look into certain words that describe words like onomatopoeia, embolalia, portmanteau, tmesis and bahuvrihi. Sources: https://www.history.com/news/where-did-the-word-barbarian-come-from https://www.britannica.com/topic/barbarian https://www.britannica.com/topic/portmanteau-word https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onomatopoeia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formulaic_language https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tmesis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bahuvrihi https://humanparts.medium.com/ten-great-words-about-words-63c6e8622cca

Who is Jack and why is he associated with Halloween? Listen to this episode to find out! Sources: https://www.history.com/topics/holidays/samhain https://perma.cc/D4X6-PSHX https://www.dictionary.com/e/jack/ https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/abroad/the-story-of-jack-o-lantern-if-you-knew-the-sufferings-of-that-forsaken-craythur-1.4065773 https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/article/the-twisted-transatlantic-tale-of-american-jack-o-lanterns https://www.history.com/news/history-of-the-jack-o-lantern-irish-origins

What does the S.O.S distress signal have to do with the Titanic's fateful crash? Listen to find out! Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayday https://yorkshireairmuseum.org/latest-news/its-mayday-but-that-means-trouble-for-aviators/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan-pan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SOS https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/31911/what-does-sos-stand https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/why-titanic-first-call-help-not-sos-signal

Why are Vampires called Vampires? Are there different types of Vampire like creatures in other cultures? Listen to find out! Sources: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Vlad-the-Impaler https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vlad_the_Impaler https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vampire https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vampire_folklore_by_region Wilson, K. M. (1985). The History of the Word “Vampire.” Journal of the History of Ideas, 46(4), 577. doi:10.2307/2709546

Where did the word juggernaut come from? Did it come from the name of a Hindu god? Listen to find out! Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juggernaut https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Mandeville https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odoric_of_Pordenone https://www.learnreligions.com/rath-yatra-1770555 https://blog.oup.com/2017/08/origins-juggernaut-jagannath/

Why is a potato called a potato? Is it related to the poisonous nightshade family? Who is Parmentier and what did he do to popularise potatoes? Listen to the episode to find out! Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potato https://culturedarm.com/cultural-history-potato-earth-apple/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antoine-Augustin_Parmentier https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_the_Great https://www.farmersalmanac.com/parmentier-made-potatoes-popular https://laidbackgardener.blog/2016/02/23/how-the-potato-got-its-name/ https://wordhistories.net/2017/09/29/spud-potato-origin/

What is the purpose of Gargoyles? Why are they called Gargoyles? Listen to the episode to find out! Source: https://www.academia.edu/9706139/A_Collision_of_Gargoyles_in_Evental_Aesthetics_2013_ https://goingtotehran.com/the-history-of-gargoyles/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gargoyle

Have you ever wondered why Bluetooth technology was called Bluetooth? Listen to the podcast to find out why! In this episode we discuss the history of the word Bluetooth. Sources: https://www.bluetooth.com/about-us/bluetooth-origin/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluetooth https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harald_Bluetooth https://www.britannica.com/biography/Harald-I-king-of-Denmark

What does the gemstone amethyst have to do with drinking and intoxication? Listen to the episode to find out! Sources: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/amethyst https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/rosetta-stones/the-origin-of-amethysts-may-leave-you-tingly/ https://www.gia.edu/amethyst-history-lore https://sententiaeantiquae.com/2016/11/12/amethyst-the-sober-stone/ https://www.ducksters.com/history/ancient_greece/dionysus.php

Here in this episode we cover the history of one of the most versatile words in the English language. Curious to know what O.K. means? Listen to the episode to find out! Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_proposed_etymologies_of_OK https://www.history.com/news/the-birth-of-ok-175-years-ago https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/the-hilarious-history-of-ok-okay https://www.chronicle.com/blogs/linguafranca/2017/11/16/ok-is-a-four-letter-word/ https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-12503686

Why do the words tock-tick and raff-riff seem weird to hear? Listen to this episode to find out! Sources: https://www.scienceabc.com/social-science/ablaut-reduplication-why-does-saying-flip-flop-feels-more-correct-than-flop-flip.html#:~:text=Most%20people%20do%20not%20realize,that%20you%20are%20doing%20so https://www.academia.edu/10100970/Extra_grammatical_morphology_English_reduplicatives https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20160908-the-language-rules-we-know-but-dont-know-we-know https://www.almtranslations.com/news/blogs/why-do-we-say-hip-hop-instead-of-hop-hip/ https://www.ef.com/ca/english-resources/english-grammar/ordering-multiple-adjectives/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reduplication

Why is a trailer called a trailer when it is shown before movies? What is a cliff-hanger? Listen to this episode, to have these questions answered. Sources: https://priceonomics.com/why-are-movie-trailers-called-trailers/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trailer_(promotion) http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/hardy/diniejko6.html

In this episode, we go over different theories pertaining to the origin of the infamous rhyme 'Ring a ring o' roses'. Did it really have anything to do with the plague? Listen to find out! Sources: Wilde, Robert. "Fact or Fiction: Debunking Ring a Ring a Roses." ThoughtCo, Aug. 25, 2020, thoughtco.com/debunking-ring-a-ring-a-roses-1221610. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ring_a_Ring_o%27_Roses https://blogs.loc.gov/folklife/2014/07/ring-around-the-rosie-metafolklore-rhyme-and-reason/

Here we discuss the origin and history of the word 'Kamikaze'. Sources: https://medium.com/history-of-yesterday/the-origins-of-kamikaze-2344148484e8 https://www.ancient.eu/article/1415/the-mongol-invasions-of-japan-1274--1281-ce/ https://www.britannica.com/event/kamikaze-of-1274-and-1281