#etymology

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History
fromMedievalists.net
9 hours ago

Famous Medieval Words and Their Surprising Origins - Medievalists.net

Many common medieval terms originated in Latin, Greek, or Old French and evolved meanings over centuries, reflecting historical functions and later reinterpretations.
fromMedievalists.net
15 hours ago

Before the Holy Grail: The Original Meaning of the Medieval 'Graal' - Medievalists.net

When most people today hear the word Grail, they picture a glittering chalice, the Holy Grail of Christian legend, often imagined as the cup of Christ at the Last Supper or the vessel that caught his blood at the Crucifixion. Yet in its earliest literary appearances the graal was nothing of the sort. Far from being a holy chalice, it was a large, ordinary serving dish - a domestic object brought at mealtime in the court of the mysterious Fisher King.
History
Arts
fromwww.npr.org
4 days ago

The not-so-spooky origins of 'ghost' and why the word still haunts our language

Ghost originated from Old English gast meaning breath and spirit, later shifting to haunted apparitions influenced by ancient myths and Christian concepts.
Agriculture
fromwww.npr.org
1 week ago

'Broadcasting' has its roots in agriculture. Here's how it made its way into media

The term broadcasting originates from agricultural seed-scattering; modern broadcasting now faces political pressure and industry disruption affecting commercial and public media.
fromwww.npr.org
2 weeks ago

Pumpkin: A favorite sign of fall, with a bit of shady history

Headlines about the arrival of pumpkin spice lattes signal summer's end. And soon after the last bites of pumpkin pie at the Thanksgiving table, we turn to plans for winter holidays. In between, jack-o'-lanterns are the stars of Halloween. The seasonal gourds also evoke a romanticized ideal of simpler times, according to Cindy Ott, author of Pumpkin: The Curious History of an American Icon.
Food & drink
Science
fromBig Think
3 weeks ago

The "atom" lost its original meaning, and that's good for science

Atoms consist of smaller particles—electrons, nuclei, protons, neutrons, quarks, and gluons—and the historical term "atom" retained its name while its meaning evolved with scientific knowledge.
fromwww.npr.org
1 month ago

Love pumpkin spice lattes? Learn some of its spicy history

"For a long, long time, spicy meant exactly what it is supposed to be: that which is containing spice, or redolent of spice," Anatoly Liberman, a linguist at the University of Minnesota. But it was around the 19th century, that records show people started to use spicy in other less literal ways, he said. It can also refer to "racy" or "engagingly provocative" in reference to scandalous gossip or anything tantalizing.
US news
Food & drink
fromTasting Table
1 month ago

The Word 'Lobster' Is Built Upon The Crustacean's Creepy Appearance - Tasting Table

Lobsters resemble insects in appearance and have historically shared names with locusts, reflecting cultural confusion despite crustaceans being a distinct taxonomic group.
Science
fromwww.scientificamerican.com
1 month ago

Skibidi' and Brain Rot' Are Part of Millennia-Old Patterns of Language Evolution

Algorithms and social media accelerate language change, producing novel words that follow historical linguistic patterns and serve important social functions.
fromTasting Table
1 month ago

This Is The Only Acceptable Name For The End Of A Bread Loaf - Tasting Table

And right there, at the very end of the loaf, facing you as you look in the bag, is...what? Is that the end of the loaf? The butt? The crust? The answer is none of those. It's the heel - the heel of the bread. It's OK if you used to call it something else, but heel is the correct term.
Food & drink
fromMedievalists.net
1 month ago

20 Phrases that Originated in the Middle Ages - Medievalists.net

Many of the phrases we casually toss around today have surprisingly long histories, with roots that stretch back to the medieval world. From English law to Chaucer's poetry, from French allegories to Irish chronicles, these expressions reveal just how much of our everyday language was shaped by the Middle Ages. Here are 20 phrases that originated in the Middle Ages - and are still alive and well today.
History
Writing
fromOpen Culture
1 month ago

The Earliest Known Appearance of the FWord (1310)

Profanity has long accompanied literature and public discourse and remains pervasive in modern social media and political communication.
fromWorld History Encyclopedia
1 month ago

The Meanings of Mjolnir: Thor's Hammer & More

In the extant myths of the Norse people and in the archaeological record alike, Mjölnir seems to have had several meanings. From its creation by dwarves to Bronze Age rock carvings, through the Christian conversion of Scandinavia to Thor's dressing as a bride after its theft by a giant, and into the mythic aftermath of Ragnarök, Mjölnir's symbolism reverberated through time.
History
Cocktails
fromTasting Table
1 month ago

The Bloody Mary's Original Name Was Somehow Even More Gruesome - Tasting Table

The Bloody Mary cocktail originated in 1920s Paris as a simple vodka-and-tomato drink and later adopted the Bloody Mary name in the 1930s with uncertain etymology.
LGBT
fromwww.npr.org
1 month ago

What's tea? No, seriously. What's 'tea'?

“Tea” is Black gay slang meaning gossip, originating in southern Black communities and distinct from the beverage whose English name derives from Chinese "ch'a".
Philosophy
fromAeon
2 months ago

The sovereign individual and the paradox of the digital age | Aeon Essays

Jacques Perret proposed the French term 'ordinateur' for IBM's new class of machines, and the term quickly became the standard name in France.
#language
fromDefector
3 months ago

Fatal Battles In Common Loons: A Subsequent Analysis | Defector

My ignorance of loons was such that when I first saw a loon while kayaking, I thought it was a duck. To my great shame, I went so far as to ask these two other kayakers who were also looking at the loon, "What kind of duck is that?" That is how I learned what loons looked like. This is also when I took the only photo of a loon I got the entire weekend.
Miscellaneous
US news
fromwww.npr.org
5 months ago

Word of the Week: Before the Birdman of Alcatraz, the island was known for its birds

Alcatraz is back in the news as Trump orders its reopening to house the nation's most violent offenders.
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