Word Facts

  Hebrew uses an abjad rather than an alphabet, meaning the vowels are not written. There are diacritics (known as nikudos) written above (e.g פֿ / פ), below, or inside the letters (e.g. תּ / ת). Some of these will indicate vowels, but other functions exist as well, including for cantillation and changing the nature of consonants, as with the examples before, depending on tradition. Because they can be written in multiple places and have different functions—only included later in history—in certain texts multiple per letter will be used. In the special case of the 10 commandments , the word תִּֿרְצָֽח (“you will murder”) has 3 diacritics on the first letter in some versions, because the dot inside תִּֿ as well as the line above function the same but are used in different traditions; merely תִּ is more traditional here though because line known as 'rafe' is no longer used for Hebrew and so is just less practical. Watch the newest video, about historical languages . Get Word Facts

  Now used exclusively by the Church, the terms 'vicar' and and 'diocese' come from Roman administrative terms, used in the government of that empire. 'Vicar' was used to mean 'second in command' in Rome but it came to mean 'deputy' (i.e. a divine proxy) ecclesiastically. It actually comes from the root 'vicārius' meaning 'change' refers more to the idea of 'interchange' like 'vicarious' means today. In the case of the Vicar of Bray (1540) though, he famously was a Catholic vicar twice, and also a Protestant vicar in the span of 48 years in the same place, making the meaning more literal. Watch the newest video, about historical languages . Get Word Facts Merch . Support on Patreon.com/wordfacts

  People would probably not be terribly surprised to learn that the word ‘kilt’ comes from the same root as ‘skirt’; they are both from Old Norse and basically look the same. What people might not have guessed is that the root of kilt is a lot more feminine than that, as that root has been traced back to the Proto-IndoEuropean root ‘ gelt- ’ meaning ‘womb’. Indeed, the English word ‘child’ ultimately comes from that root, as do other child-rearing related words like the Swedish ‘kilta’ (to swathe/swaddle). Watch the newest video, about historical languages . Get Word Facts Merch . Support on Patreon.com/wordfacts

The adjective 'novel' and the same word's use as noun have seemingly very different meanings. In German, French, and Dutch a novel is called 'Roman' from the French 'romanz' meaning 'common language'. In English, 'novel' in both senses (at least originally) meant 'new' with the book coming from the Italian 'novella storia' (new story) but the generic nominal form was eventually replaced by 'novelty'.   Check out the new video:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3qWOEUXr3k Get Merch:  teespring.com/stores/word-facts Support on  Patreon.com/wordfacts

  There are certain instances when a contraction can’t be used, such as at the end of “that’s just the sort of nice man *he’s”. The reason for this is because there are multiple uses of certain types of verbs including ‘have’, ‘do’, and ‘be’. It is not for that same principle though in the reverse as to why it doesn’t work. The imperative verb ‘don’t’ in “don’t you dare!” cannot be parsed further into “do not you dare” because it is idiomatic, but in “do not/don’t go in there!” this makes no difference. The reason is actually because imperative verbs, verbs that give a direct command, don’t have a subject, and to include a subject one would need to add a different, modal verb “you must not dare”. Dare is actually somewhat of an exceptional verb, so check out more here . Watch the newest video, about historical languages . Get Word Facts Merch . Support on Patreon.com/wordfacts

  English has more distinct words than just about any other language, depending upon the metrics, and that fact alongside more flexibility with consonant clusters means that compared to Hawai'ian —with a relatively short vocabulary, fewer letters , and an inability for two consonants to appear together —the words in English can more easily be shorter. For instance, the word for 'zoo' in Hawai'ian is 'kahua hōʻikeʻike holoholona laka ʻole' meaning something like "lockable animal display site". Watch the newest video, about historical languages . Get Word Facts Merch . Support on Patreon.com/wordfacts

The '-ic' suffix is used for forming adjectives and certain nouns such as 'psychic'. That sound-combination exists in other places of course, but those will typically have a -k, making a word like 'frolic' look slightly exceptional. Indeed, 'frolic' was originally an adjective, from the Dutch 'vrolijk' meaning 'merry' or 'cheerful', though these days it is usually a verb, or the noun associated with that verb meaning "to move joyously". Watch the newest video, about historical languages . Get Word Facts Merch . Support on Patreon.com/wordfacts